Family Goy

As a rabbi with a lifelong passion for comedy, I often find myself torn between my love of a good (or even a bad!) joke, and my reverent religious beliefs. The TV program that challenges my sensibilities the most is probably Family Guy.

A recent episode of that notorious and unfailingly offensive show called “Family Goy” skewered a host of clichés with even more blatant disregard for propriety than usual.

In that episode, Lois, the “mom” on the show, discovers that her mother, Barbara Pewterschmidt, is a Holocaust survivor who later renounced her Judaism to help her husband get into country clubs (“It was the right thing to do, dear,” says Mrs. Pewterschmidt ).

“So Grandma Hebrewberg is actually Jewish?” exclaims Lois.

“Yes,” her mother explains. “When she moved to America, her family changed their name. It was originally Hebrewbergmoneygrabber.”

“Family Goy” includes the resurrection of Jewish accountant Max Weinstein, the popular mensch character from a well-known previous episode called “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein.” Written by Mark Hentemann, the newer script’s humor takes a few dark, mean-spirited turns.

At first, Peter embraces his wife’s Jewish heritage, going so far as donning a tallit, kippah and Star of David necklace (chest hair included). He even adopts a Hebrew name that is nothing more than a long guttural “chchchchchch” sound.

When Lois objects, Peter kvetches: “Leave it to a Jew to take all the fun out of being a Jew.”

Peter is then visited by the ghost of his father Francis, who warns him that he will go to hell for renouncing his (nominal) Catholicism. Sure enough, the next day, Peter turns anti-Semitic. That is, he attempts to shoot Lois with a sniper rifle!

Incredibly, Peter is purposely emulating Amon Leopold Göth, the Plaszów concentration camp commandant featured in “Schindler’s List.” Peter sits shirtless in his bedroom window with a rifle, shooting at his wife and the town’s only other well-known Jew, Mort.

After Lois apologizes for Peter’s violent behavior, Mort responds, “No problem, Lois. That’s just how people say hello to me.”

In the end, Peter and Lois apologize to each other, but are left wondering which religion to follow now, if any.

Needless to say, the “Family Goy” episode generated plenty of controversy. Dvir Abramovich editor of the Australian Journal of Jewish Studies, complained that the show “dredged up age-old stereotypes about Jews and money and reinforced deeply embedded prejudices that still abound today”.

In my humble opinion, that is exactly the point.

While interfaith catastrophes and travesties abound in “Family Goy”, that’s what makes it so brutally honest. Why not get these stereotypes out in the open and mock them?

By confronting our insecurities through cutting edge humor, and looking at them through the lens of comedy, we can start controlling those feelings instead of letting them control us.

Family Guy is a necessary counterpoint to the glossy veneer of Jewish-gentile harmony that has become de rigueur in contemporary prime-time comedy.

The world, after all, isn’t always a paradise of peace and harmony. Just this week, the world witnessed the theft of the infamous “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work makes you free”) sign that once hung over the gates of Auschwitz. Meanwhile, as its horrors recede into the distant past, the macabre phenomenon of Holocaust denial is growing. What does it tell us that at the same time, today’s generation of post-modern comedians, like Sarah Silverman, have declared the Holocaust “on limits” as a subject of humor.

As a rabbi, much of that humor makes me deeply uncomfortable. It certainly isn’t material for a Shabbat sermon. However, context and narrative point of view are everything, and can be the difference between a harsh but insightful gag and a tasteless joke. Family Guy uses absurdity to remind us of the gravity of the Holocaust, not make fun of it. By playing the character of a no-excuses bigot, Peter Griffin forces the audiences to confront their own prejudices.

In a final Shtick Shift, Lois actually is a Jew and is voiced by Jewish actress Alex Borstein. So what’s my lesson for this latest member of the tribe, I will have to quote my namesake Max Weinstein who comments in “Family Goy”, “becoming Jewish doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process that involves spiritual education and good works.”

Simcha Weinstein is an internationally known best-selling author. His first book, Up, Up and Oy Vey! received the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best book of 2007. He has appeared on CNN “Showbiz Tonight,” and NPR, and has been profiled in leading publications including The New York Times, The Miami Herald and the London Guardian. He is a regular contributor to the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). He chairs the Religious Affairs Committee at the renowned New York art school, Pratt Institute. His latest book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st century (Barricade Books: 2008) is on sale now.