MORE ON HIPSTER JEWRY: Salon has a piece on the "Jewsploitation" craze, pretty much summing up what I've been saying for the last several months. Money graf:
Today's Jewish tastemakers lust not after inclusion but the edginess that comes from exclusion. Trendy and creative contemporary Jewishness is - as it has been at least since the Jazz Age, but more so in hip-hop America - about the coolness factor that its players associate with being black.
I also love the revelation that Jonathan Kesselman, writer/director of "The Hebrew Hammer," has never read a Philip Roth novel, or seen more than a handful of Woody Allen films. Not as bad as Mayor Bloomberg never having seen "Seinfeld," but still.
One aspect of this I can get behind, however, is Mattisiyahu, the "Hasidic reggae superstar" who I saw perform in Brooklyn last week. Not merely in costume or in character, Mattisiyahu is an actual Hasid who is well-versed in both rap and reggae. A highlight was when he stopped between songs to recite that evening's Hannukah blessing.