Elaine is not Jewish

In the repeat episode this evening, the one where Jerry needs to debug his apartment due to an infestation of fleas, Elaine "crossed" herself just before she went in Jerry's apartment to retreive her script.

I actually think that the episode where she tells a Rabbi that she's not of his faith is pretty compelling evidence.

It sure is! I personally loved the episode with the Rabbi! It was one of the funniest Seinfeld episodes I have seen...but that's a little off topic, though!

Brendan

On Tue, 25 Jun 1996, RFerrie wrote:

Are you talking about being jewish in the charachter she plays or in real life?

WILLY

In character, she is "Elaine". In real life she is "Julia Louis-Dreyfus", or possibly "The actress who plays Elaine". When we discuss "Elaine", and "episodes", you can usually assume we are discussing the character.

Definite sign of Catholic upbringing. In the Nipple episode too, she mentions sending a card to Father ???? and Sister ?????.

-- Joe Clarke "This truly is a great wall!" UMIS/UofP Nixon's remark upon visiting the Great Wall of China.

In [email] (Joe Clarke) writes:

debug his apartment due to an infestation of fleas, Elaine "crossed" herself just before she went in Jerry's apartment to retreive her script.

Yes, but did you notice that she crossed herself backwards? She touched her forehead, then her chest, then her RIGHT side, then her left side. That's backwards! IMHO it was not a mistake on the part of Elaine or the actress or the writers. It's just another little joke....on us!

--Susan

In the beginning a good bit was made of Elaine coming from a WASP family (with that writer as her father) So I always thought she was a Prostestant

Yes, I think there's a lot of evidence that Elaine is Catholic (possibly lapsed). She occasionally wears a crucifix pendant, earrings, etc., also.

Re the "crossing herself" moment -- I think it is also evidence that there are no Catholics or ex-Catholics working on the show -- because she did it backwards. You're supposed to touch your left shoulder first. The right-shoulder-first version is Eastern Orthodox (aka Russian Orthodox).

Or maybe we should start a thread on "Is Elaine Eastern Orthodox?"

I don't know how (or if) they do it in Latvian Orthodox.

Bo who was raised Catholic

In article , greg andrews wrote:

Yes Yes YES !!!!! I caught that as well, end of discussion -- Elaine is NOT Jewish.

I think its well established that the Elaine character isn't Jewish though Julia-Louis Dreyfus happens to be of Jewish heritage. I have been wondering , though , as her last name is "Benes" , if she is supposed to be of Czech background on her father's side. If I am not mistaken there was a post WW2 Czech premier named Benes and it sounds like an unusual name. In at least one episode that I know of, Elaine's hometown is referred to as Baltimore, MD, and one early episode featured her father who played a gruff, Maileresque writer type guy. Can anyone shed any light on the name Benes, and does anyone know if there is a substantial immigrant Czech presence in Baltimore?

Michael Josefson wrote:

A friend of mine has a Czech grandmother who lives in Baltimore, and apparently she has a group of Czech friends there, all of whom speak Czech when they get together. Thus, I'm inclined to think yes.

Kirk Knutson wrote:

I doubt that a handful of Czech friends could be considered a substantial presence. It's quite common for people of similar nationalities (especially immagrants) to live in the same neighborhoods since many of their forefathers did not speak English well. There are large concentrations of Slavic people in larger cities like Cleveland and Chicago. I don't know about Baltimore.

I also can't say whether or not Benes is a Czech name. I can say that there is a prominent Major League baseball pitcher named Andy Benes whom I believe is Hispanic.

Monty

In article Ixalot, [email] writes:

Ahhh... But is she Catholic? Meghan

greg andrews wrote:

Also, in the episode where Jerry and Elaine are flying back to NY (from St. Louis, I think, though I don't remember why) and Jerry gets to fly first class while Elaine flies coach, she returns to her seat from the bathroom and finds that they haven't left a meal for her. When she asks for one, the flight attendant says that all they have left is a kosher meal and Elaine replies something like "What IS a kosher meal?"

thats funny she doesnt look druish