Language:
English
Year of publication:
2002
Titel der Quelle:
Studies in Contemporary Jewry
Angaben zur Quelle:
18 (2002) 23-42
Keywords:
War History
;
Jews History
;
Jews Sports
;
History
;
Antisemitism History 1500-
Abstract:
Discusses the European and American stereotype of Jewish males as lacking virility, particularly in terms of their failure to react to aggressive attacks. Focuses on the phenomenon of Jewish boxers, especially in England from the 1760s-1820 (e.g. Daniel Mendoza) and in the U.S. in the 1920s-30s (e.g. Benny Leonard), whose pugilistic prowess provided a heroic image with which many Jews identified. The boxers provided an image of a muscular Jew (like the ideal popularized by Max Nordau) to counter the shameful father-image held by Jews like Freud. Notes reactions of Jews that surprised non-Jews, when Judaism was perceived to be threatened in 19th-century Jerusalem and early 20th-century Brooklyn; these reactions are seen as having medieval precedents, when Jews reviled the religious symbols of their persecutors. Jewish American gangsters like Meyer Lansky were appreciated for the way that they, like the boxers, deviated from the non-violent stereotypes and defended Jews.
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