Jewish Characters

Sep 16, 2006, 5:34 AM ET27 posts by 14 posters
🧩 Trivia

Thread discusses and catalogs Jewish characters appearing on Seinfeld, with debate about whether adopted characters converted to Judaism count as Jewish.

27 posts
Dimitrios Paskoudniakis

Having recently done a list of Italian characters, I thought I'd try a list of Jewish characters:

Definitely

Jerry Seinfeld Helen and Morty Seinfeld, Jerry's parents Leo, Jerry's Uncle and Helen's brother Stella, Jerry's Aunt (The Pen) Nana, Jerry's Grandmother and Helen and Leo's mother Mr. Lippman, Elaine's boss at Pendant Publishing Adam Lippman, Mr. Lippman's son (The Serenity Now) Rabbi Glickman from Elaine's apartment building (she calls him Rabbi Kirschbaum in The Postponement) Tim Whatley, Jerry/Kramer/Elaine's dentist Mac, Jerry's Uncle (The Stakeout) Artie and Carol Levine, Jerry's cousins (The Stakeout) Myra and Stan Flick, and their baby Steven (The Bris) The Mohel who performed the bris on baby Steven Rachel Goldstein, Jerry's girlfriend (The Raincoats, The Hamptons, The Opposite) Mr. Goldstein, Rachel's father (The Raincoats) Fred Savage (The Trip) Mel Torme (The Jimmy) Bette Midler (The Understudy) Eddie Sherman, the fatigue-wearing psycho at J. Peterman (The Fatigues) Geraldo Rivera (The Finale)

Jewish Characters frequently mentioned but never appeared

Lomez, Kramer's friend Jeffrey, Jerry's cousin and Uncle Leo's son

Possible (but can't confirm)

Estelle Costanza, George's mother (plays Mah Jongg, won't ride in a German car, house smells of kasha (Jewish cuisine), ...) George Costanza (if his mother is Jewish, then he is Jewish, seems to know Jewish men like to date non-Jewish women due to their "shiksappeal") Estelle Costanza's Mah Jongg girlfriends (The Handicap Spot) (Mah Jongg is a game that as a stereotype is played by elderly Jewish women) Joel Horneck, Jerry's childhood friend (Male Unbonding) (Jerry would presumably have Jewish childhood friends, Jewish sounding name, Joel is a Hebrew name) Manya and Isaac, (The Pony Remark) (Manya's Yiddish accent, Isaac is a Hebrew name) Levitan, George's real estate boss (The Revenge) (Jewish sounding surname) Tabachnick the bootleg cable installer (The Baby Shower) (Russian Jewish sounding surname, many Russian Jews live in NYC) Mr Cohen the Chinese Restaurant regular (The Chinese Restaurant) (Cohen is a Hebrew surname) Joe Bookman, Library Cop (The Library Cop) (Jewish sounding name) Sherry Becker, Jerry's high school classmate (The Library Cop) (Jewish sounding name) Jack and Doris Klompus, Jerry's parents' neighbors (Jerry's parents presumably have Jewish friends/acquaintances, Jewish sounding names) Evelyn, Jerry's parents' neighbor (ditto) Old man/Polar Bear Club member at the Intervention (The Pez Dispenser) (his Yiddish accent/use of words, acknowledged in DVD commentary) Mrs. Lenore Sokol, George's Unemployment caseworker, and her daughta' Carrie (The Boyfriend) (Jewish sounding name) Doctor Dembrow (The Wallet) (Jewish sounding surname) Naomi, Jerry's funky-giggling girlfriend (The Watch, The Bubble Boy) (Naomi is a Hebrew name) Shelly, George's cousin (The Contest) (if his mother is Jewish) Mr & Mrs Harold Reichman, George's friend's parents (The Opera) (Jewish sounding surname) Sharon Leonard, NYU student (The Outing) (Jewish sounding name, Sharon is a Hebrew name) Sid Fields, old man with record collection (The Old Man) (Jewish sounding name, named for the real Sid Fields, Jewish actor of Abbott and Costello fame) Dr Siegel (The Junior Mints) (Jewish sounding surname) Sal Bass, Salman Rushdie lookalike (The Implant) (Jewish sounding surname, has been to the Middle East) Barry Profit, Jerry/Kramer/Newman's accountant (The Sniffing Accountant) (Jewish sounding name) Jake Jarmel, Elaine's boyfriend and author (Jewish sounding name, Jacob is a Hebrew name) Arthur Pensky, George's client of the Pensky file (The Barber) (Jewish sounding name) Joel Rifkin, Elaine's boyfriend (The Masseuse) (Jewish sounding name, Joel is a Hebrew name) Stu Chermak, NBC employee (The Pitch, The Ticket, The Virgin, The Pilot, The Finale) (Jewish sounding name) Rita Kierson, NBC president (The Virgin, The Pilot) (Jewish sounding name) Sylvia, the furniture repair store employee (The Cigar Store Indian) (common Jewish female name, recognized the smell of kasha from George's parents' house) Aaron, Elaine's boyfriend, the close talker (The Raincoats) (Aaron is a Hebrew name) Jocelyn Landis of Doubleday (The Chaperone, The Switch) (Jewish sounding surname) Ronnie Kaye, the prop comic (The Fire) (Jewish sounding name) Aronson, the Poland Spring/Morgan merger businessman (The Gymnast) (Jewish sounding surname) Gary Fogel, Jerry/George's lying about cancer friend, (The Scofflaw) (Jewish sounding name) Mr. Mandel, interviewing Elaine at Viking Press (The Doodle) (Jewish sounding surname) Sid Farkus, Frank Costanza's bra salesman friend, (The Sniffing Accountant, The Dinner Party) (Jewish sounding name) Dr. Howard Cooperman, aka The Assman, Frank Costanza's Proctologist (The Fusilli Jerry) (Jewish sounding name) Alec Berg, Jerry's friend (The Face Painter) (Jewish sounding name, and great "John Houseman" name) Fred Stoller, Elaine's forgetful date, (The Secret Code) (Jewish sounding name) Mrs. Mabel Choate, Jerry's parents' neighbor and marble rye victim (The Rye) (see above about Jerry's parents' neighbors, shops at Schnitzer's, a Jewish delicatessen) Herb, Ralph, "Bldg A", "Bldg B", and "Bldg C", Jerry's parents' neighbors (The Cadillac) (see above about Jerry's parents' neighbors) Bob Grossberg, hard-of-hearing Peterman employee (The Friars Club) (Jewish sounding name) Ethan the gay Wigmaster (The Wig Master) (Ethan is a Hebrew name) Jeannie Steinman, Jerry's fiancee (The Invitations, The Foundation) (Jewish sounding surname) Ned Isakoff, Elaine's communist boyfriend (The Race) (Jewish sounding name) Dr. Stern and Dr. Resnick, Elaine and Uncle Leo's Doctors (The Package) (Jewish sounding surnames) Cynthia Pearlman, the mentor and Banya's girlfriend (The Fatigues) (Jewish sounding surname, presumably took Banya to Kramer's Jewish singles event) Ben the intern, Elaine's boyfriend (The Abstinence) (Benjamin is a Hebrew name) Mr. Shellbach, Kramer's living will attorney (The Comeback) (Jewish sounding name) Ruthie Cohen, Monk's Cashier (The Gum, The Foundation, plus cameos in many others) (Ruth and Cohen are Hebrew names) Emily, Kramer's girlfriend with the jimmy legs (The Money) (she took Kramer to Schnitzer's, a Jewish deli, and her friends are the Feinermans, a Jewish sounding surname) Steven Koren, disputed Susan Ross scholarship winner and member of the Van Buren Boys (The Van Buren Boys) (Jewish sounding name) Izzy Mandelbaum, neighbor of Jerry's parents (The English Patient, The Blood) (see above about Jerry's parents' neighbors, Jewish sounding name) Izzy's father (The English Patient) and son (The English Patient, The Blood) Shlomo, Frogger truck driver (The Frogger) (Shlomo is a Hebrew name) Sid Luckman, Jerry's parents' neighbor in the exercise room at Del Boca Vista (The English Patient) (see above about Jerry's parents' neighbors, Jewish sounding name) "Fragile" Frankie Merman, Jerry's childhood friend (The Junk Mail) (see above about Jerry's childhood friends like Joel Horneck, Jewish sounding surname) Lou Filerman, Elaine's sidler colleague at J. Peterman (The Merv Griffin Show) (Jewish sounding name) Gwen, Jerry's two-faced girlfriend (The Strike) (met Jerry at Whatley's Hanukkah Party) Mr. Elinoff, New Yorker magazine (The Cartoon) (Jewish sounding surname) The Old Men who couldn't use tip calculators (The Wizard) (Jerry's parents' neighbors) Irwin Lubeck, Peterman's pastry appraiser (The Frogger) (Jewish sounding name) Bobby, grandson of the late Gammy Kranz (The Maid) (Gammy has Jewish sounding surname)

More of a Stretch

Meryl, Jerry's fake wife (The Wife) (female name used by Jews and non-Jews) Carol (You Gotta See the Bay-Bee), Michael, and their Bay-Bees, Jerry/Kramer's former neighbors (The Boyfriend (2), The Hamptons, The Soul Mate, The English Patient) (Hamptons/ugly baby Adam is a Hebrew name, though Michael being the Jewish son of a lobsterman is a bit of a stretch) Mel Sanger, the bubble boy's father (The Bubble Boy) (name sounds Jewish, but they live in a presumably non-Jewish area upstate) Mrs. Sanger and Donald the Bubble Boy (if Mel is Jewish) Dr. Bakersoll, Estelle's eye surgeon (The Fusilli Jerry) (made-up Jewish sounding surname) Donna Chang(stein), Jerry's girlfriend (The Chinese Woman) (made-up Jewish sounding surname) Dr. Beth Lookner, Elaine/Jerry's friend (The Wait Out, The Yada Yada) (obvious Jewish sounding name, but she made an anti-semitic remark in The Yada Yada) David Lookner, Beth Lookner's first husband (The Wait Out) (Jewish sounding name) Arnie, Beth Lookner's second husband (The Yada Yada)

<list snipped>

Very nice job!

So my mother will let me date Naomi Watts? WOW!!! ;-)

Adopted, so not really Jewish.

=========================================================== How about Jewish famous, and infamous celebrities mentioned =========================================================== David Steinberg [The Friars Club] Dustin Hoffman [The Calzone] Elliot Gould [The Merv Griffin Show] Harrison Ford [The Engagement] James Caan [The Letter] Kirk Douglas (p)[The Gum],[The Good Samaritan] Sammy Davis Jr. [The Foundation] Dennis Franz [The Bizarro Jerry] Fred Savage [The Trip] Paul Winchell [The Pie] Buddy Hackett [The Parking Garage] Curly Howard [The Trip][The Heart Attack] Gabe Kaplan [The Fatigues] George Burns [Good News Bad News] Jerry Lewis [The Soulmate] [The Strongbox] Larry Fine [The Beard] Lenny Bruce [Male Unbonding] Milton Berle [The Friars Club] Moe Howard [The Jacket] Shep [The Trip] Abbie Hoffman [The Library] Golda Meir [The Outing] Jesus [The Strongbox] Abel [The Merv Griffin Show] Abraham [The Bris] Herod [The Label Maker] Joseph [The Wig Master] Moses [The Pick] [The Little Kicks] [The Butter Shave] Virgin Mary [The Understudy] Al Jolson [The Old Man] Art Garfunkel [The Merv Griffin Show] Artie Shaw [The Mom and Pop Store] Benny Goodman [The Old Man] Leonard Bernstein [The Maestro][The Doll] Neil Diamond [The English Patient] Paul Simon [The Glasses] Robert Schuman [The Jacket] Harry Houdini [The Mango] Ann Landers [The Trip] Arthur Miller [The Summer of George] Larry David [The Wizard] Leo Tolstoy [Marine Biologist] Neil Simon [The Letter] Woody Allen [The Alternate Side] Richard Loeb [The Junior Mint] Albert Einstein [The Seven] [The Old Man] Andrey Dmitriyevich Sakharov [The Baby Shower] Sigmund Freud [The Heart Attack] Calvin Klein [The Pez Dispenser][The Pick] Moe Ginsberg [The Subway] Bernhard Goetz [The Baby Shower]

"TheNewsGuy(Mike)" wrote in message news:3f52d$450c0777$cf705e5d$[email]...

Hmmm, I can't agree with that. By your logic, is Tim Whatley not Jewish either? Or Sammy Davis Jr who is on your list? Children who are known to be ethnically non-Jewish at birth and adopted by Jewish parents undergo some of the same Jewish religious rituals (ie circumcision (bris) for males, ritual bath (mikvah) for all) that adult converts undergo and are converted to Judaism. A convert to Judaism is as Jewish as someone born Jewish, so the fact that Joel Rifkin is adopted is meaningless.

===========================================================

He was actually in the episode, so he was on my list.

That's Shemp Howard (Curly's and Moe's brother)

Can't be; he lived and died before Abraham.

His character was in the episode, so I'll add him to my list, Thanks!

I know; but it was the defensive response by Jewish people linking the religion to a serial killer. "He may have converted but since there was no real lineage..." ;-) I will accept your argument, though.

Still think you have done a great job.

Seinfeld Lists http://tinyurl.com/f7k9d California Photos http://tinyurl.com/ann2l Sawyer's Nicknames http://tinyurl.com/gowma
larsDimitrios Paskoudniakis

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 11:17:13 -0400, "Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote:

I thought Sammy Davis had one jewish parent and one black. Isn't that so?

Are you saying he was adopted into a jewish family?

Lars Stockholm

KarenCannolilars

"Lars" wrote in message news:[email]...

I believe he converted. CareWren

osmiumlars

"Lars" writes:

??? The usual way to go about this business is to have two parents.

LRodJeff Gagnon

On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:35:04 -0400, [email] (Jeff Gagnon) wrote:

No, no, no.

It's "sweet, fancy Moses!"

LRod Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999 http://www.woodbutcher.net
nana2bLRod

and "Moses smell the Roses!"

Nana

Dimitrios Paskoudniakislars

"Lars" wrote in message news:[email]...

Both parents were black. He converted, just like Tim Whatley.

larsDimitrios Paskoudniakis

On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 19:56:32 -0400, "Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote:

I just remember him joking about how tough it was being unusually short, black and jewish. I thought he was referring to his childhood, but probably not then. Unless he was a child convert ;-)

Lars Stockholm

james_powersDimitrios Paskoudniakis

"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message news:[email]...

list

a

a

(his

Carrie

(Naomi

a

a

The

(common

(Jewish

Accountant,

Rye)

Jewish

(Jewish

sounding

Kramer

Jewish

Blood)

parents'

non-Jews)

Soul

though

Jewish

sounding

Does Jerry's dentist count, if he only converted for the jokes? Oops, does that make me an anti-dentite?

Weezeljames_powers

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 10:28:17 -0400, "james_powers" wrote:

A rabid Anti-dentite. You anti-dentite Bastard!

LRodDimitrios Paskoudniakis

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 05:34:26 -0400, "Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote:

Should we be talking about this?

LRod Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999 http://www.woodbutcher.net

"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message news:[email]...

George is not intended to be Jewish: In The Opposite Jerry says to George "so your Messiah is the anti-Christ". No Jew suggests to another Jew, that his Messiah is Christ. In a another epsisode which has George sitting on a couch along side his girlfriend's good ear, he makes the sign of the cross when he overhears that she learns one of her relatives died. No Jew crosses himself. (I've never crossed myself, nor do I know how to.) Although Estelle supposedly prepares kashsa she also makes bologna sandwiches in the Puffy Shirt. Jews hardly ever, or never prepare/eat bologna sandwiches, (I haven't had one in over 50 years).

ErNorman M. Schwartz

"Norman M. Schwartz" wrote in message news:QQSPg.88$[email]...

He is, on the other hand, circumcised. All Jewish men have that done (to them). And he did convert to Latvian Orthodox, with no word of denouncing.

Er

Norman M. SchwartzEr

"Er" wrote in message news:[email]...

Jewish men most likely have it done, (if they believe it should be done) and Gentile men may have it done if they care for it to be done, by a physician.

And if he had denounced something it most probably would not have been Judaism. In any event born of a Jewish mother, or for that matter, a Jewish grandmother, you're still Jewish regardless of what you do, e.g., the Third Reich. Jewish mothers are less likely to prepare/serve bologna sandwiches than are Gentile men be circumsised. :-) I'm pretty sure Larry David (who wrote the show) did not have a mother who made bologna sandwiches; that's a dead giveaway, all we'd have to told is that they were made using white bread :-) .

LRodNorman M. Schwartz

On Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:41:10 -0400, "Norman M. Schwartz" wrote:

You don't think all the pig parts in bologna might be a deciding factor?

LRod Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999 http://www.woodbutcher.net
nana2bLRod

There such a thing as Kosher All Beef Bologna. Nana

ErLRod

"LRod" wrote in message news:[email]...

Well, "Mechanically separated pork and/or beef and/or chicken and/or mutton" MAY include some pig parts.

Exactly WHICH pig parts are included we are left to ponder, however, that is for the better.

Er

"Norman M. Schwartz" wrote in message news:XtZPg.726$[email]...

The items you cite by George - remember his father is Catholic (gets Kramer his K of C hall to hold the Jewish singles function in The Fatigues, and has an ethnic Italian surname). So if his father is Catholic and his mother is Jewish, and he learns to make the sign of the cross from his Catholic father, and Jerry calls his Messiah the anti-Christ because his father's Messiah is Christ - his mother is still Jewish and therefore he is Jewish.

His mother could have served kosher bologna. She could be non-observant (after all she married a Catholic), and serve pork chops, but she would still be Jewish. I'm Jewish and I have eaten bologna sandwiches, pork chops, crab cakes, lobster, ... and that doesn't mean I'm not Jewish. So what if Estelle serves such a thing.

You haven't said anything to refute that Estelle could be Jewish. And if she is, George is. Bologna, crosses, and Messiahs wouldn't matter.

"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message news:[email]...

Does anyone (have to) _denounce_ their former faith to enter the new chosen one?

Surnames don't always give away a person's faith.

So if his father is Catholic and his mother is

Same here. However my mother would never have prepared bologna sandwiches (kosher or otherwise) for others to eat. (She did prepare lobster for us to eat, but never bologna for others, it's insulting.)

So

I've eaten kosher and non-kosher bologna. Kosher or non-kosher, bologna sandwiches is not something my mother would have prepared for *others* to eat. It is about as low as you can get on the kosher luncheon meat scale and near insulting to offer to others. Larry David's mother (Jewish, of course) wouldn't have done so and I believe he's telling you Estelle is not Jewish.

Estelle could also have been an atheist, as could the entire lot of them, perhaps with the exception of Jerry and Elaine.

"Norman M. Schwartz" wrote in message news:ALwQg.913$[email]...

No, but Frank is a member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization, as mentioned in The Fatigues.

What nonsense. Just because your mother wouldn't serve a bologna sandwich doesn't mean that another Jewish woman can't, or that your mother represents everything all Jews do or don't do. Remember the Costanzas have no class. Remember their visit to the Ross' for a dinner party in The Rye? She never heard of merlot. She served bologna because she has very little class, not because she is not Jewish.

Whether she was an atheist, being Jewish is also an ethnicity, and a given if her mother was Jewish.

Please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estelle_Costanza. This article indicates that Larry David himself, in describing the character of Estelle Costanza, "she can't be anything but Jewish." .

Also please refer to http://www.seinfeldchronicles.com/faq.html#3.6. This article indicates Estelle wears a chai in The Serenity Now.

What say you now?

"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message news:[email]...

Yea, if one is either an Orthodox Jew or a Nazi.

In recent years Sammy Davis (converted, by who knows what branch of Judaism, not Orthodox for sureI don't) had worn a Star of David ALL THE TIME.

Your points taken; but the big bagel is that George doesn't consider himself to be Jewish, since he crosses himself (no one considering themselves Jewish does such a thing, (and moreover some or most Jews would consider it sinful to do so). Secondly George's best friend, the Jewish Jerry doesn't consider George to be Jewish either, or he wouldn't have suggested to him (in The Opposite) that his Messiah is the Antichrist.

Even if in fact Estelle is Jewish, that makes George Jewish ONLY in the eyes of Orthodox Jewish Law or in the eyes of the Nazis.

WillDimitrios Paskoudniakis

"Dimitrios Paskoudniakis" wrote in message news:[email]...

Pronounced Le-Veen, not Le-Vine, thank you very much.