Fans debate whether Elaine being asked to be a godmother at a bris contradicts her lack of knowledge about Jewish religious practices, with most agreeing her last name is Benes, not Venice.
Sorry - I hate to join this whole Jewish / Not Jewish debate, but this has bothered me since the first time I saw the episode in syndication:
Elaine is asked to be the Godmother for a Bris, yet she hasn't the foggiest idea of what a Moil (sp?) is or how to retain the services of one. To me, this seems like a direct conflict with each facet of the episode: strong suggestion that she is Jewish, followed by another strong indication that she is not.
Any ideas?
:
:
I agree, plus with a last name of "Venice", I would not expect Elaine to be Jewish. What's more, not in a single show (as far as I know) has Elaine ever made any hint that you may be Jewish by birth.
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
------=_NextPart_000_01BC5DF3.4822AF40 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Her last name is "Benice" not Venice!
Elaine
------=_NextPart_000_01BC5DF3.4822AF40 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<html><head></head><BODY bgcolor=3D"#FFFFFF"><p><font size=3D2 = color=3D"#000000" face=3D"Arial">Her last name is "Benice" not = Venice!<br><br><br><br> <br>> I agree, plus with a last name of = "Venice", I would not expect Elaine to<br>> be Jewish. = What's more, not in a single show (as far as I know) has Elaine<br>> = ever made any hint that you may be Jewish by birth.<br>> <br>> = </p> </font></body></html> ------=_NextPart_000_01BC5DF3.4822AF40--
Actually, it's spelled "Benes".
In article , [email] (Friend ) wrote:
Of course she's Jewish--remember when she consulted her rabbi about wanting to meet some nice, eligible men, and he went around telling everyone he met, plus mentioning it on his TV counselling show?
[email] (Gloria Puester) wrote:
Wrong. On that show, Elaine did visit with a rabbi, but she made a point to tell him that she was not of his faith, i.e. NOT JEWISH.
Sheldon Levin, [email]
P.S. Her last name is Benes, not Venice or Benice
In article , [email] says...
"never was"??
Of course she's not. She appears to be Catholic. Who really cares anyway?
In article , [email]. says...
I would just like to clarify that I (Huckleberry) actually do consider a proclamation, especially for a TV character, to be "ample" evidence. However, I do not consider it to be *conclusive* evidence.
And, regarding Mr. Tharp -- I am starting to think that he cannot help or control what he says, so his...curious posts should not be attacked as behavior but are merely symptoms of his...condition. I find it hard to attack someone because of their condition, but only hope for his sake that his is not permanent.
In article , [email] says...
I'm going to make an assumption that you, Sheldon Levin, are Jewish. I know that you may not be, because last names do not guarantee anything. If you are not Jewish, please disregard the question:
Take a Jewish person, let's say the current leader of Israel. If for some reason (not really important here), said leader of Israel denies Judaism as his religion and becomes an atheist, a Buddhist, a Christian -- whatever -- it doesn't matter here. Is it incorrect to refer to said person as Jewish? What if someone were to ask him "I'm Polish, what are you?" What should he or can he answer and not be lying or in error?
That wasn't *her* rabbi was it, just some religious fellow she felt she could turn to.
In article , [email] says...
has
foggiest
me,
strong
that
Exactly!! Later in that episode Elaine mentions her confusion over the behavior of some Jewish person. Jerry responds (to the effect) 'Elaine, what you don't understand about the Jewish people is we...' seemingly excluding her from that particular group (being Jewsih). Ideas?
Perfect! I couldn't have said it better myself.
In the episode where Jerry's apt gets sprayed for fleas, before Elaine goes into the poison-filled apt to get the FedEx she CROSSES herself.
Doesn't sound Jewish to me.
"Mabster" wrote:
:Sorry - I hate to join this whole Jewish / Not Jewish debate, but this has :bothered me since the first time I saw the episode in syndication:
:Elaine is asked to be the Godmother for a Bris, yet she hasn't the foggiest :idea of what a Moil (sp?) is or how to retain the services of one. To me, :this seems like a direct conflict with each facet of the episode: strong :suggestion that she is Jewish, followed by another strong indication that :she is not.
:Any ideas?
She's not. She gave out Christmas cards.
<snip>
The "sandek" (note corrected transliteration) is the person who holds the infant during circumcision. It is an honor that has been accorded since ancient times, but a "sandek" is not a godparent. As pointed out above, there are no godparents per se in Judaism.
---Alvin H. Nichter
The character Elaine is not Jewish. She said as much in an episode, a couple of seasons ago. I don't remember the plot line, but it involved a rabbi and, at one point, Elaine said to the Rabbi, "I am not of your faith". gary