Even people that have converted to Judaism would have a difficult time
getting Israeli citizenship.

People born in Israel, that are not Jewish face a very tough row to hoe,
when they apply for citizenship.

By Israel’s standards, Salinger was not Jewish.

I can say emphatically, he was not Scotch-Irish, which would possibly indicate to others (not North Americans) that he was born from some percentage (or proof if you will) of Scotch whiskey and well, Irish whisky (correct Irish spelling) just to further abuse the analogy.

The correct term is Scots-Irish, and while I can extend latitude in this to our American cousins and the quirkiness of custom and tradition in expressed language, I am sure (as are all the above contributors sure of theirs) that Mr Salinger himself would object to sloppy and incorrect historically common terms, and to having his ancestry defined thus. Of course the question remains, was the man’s enormous talent as a result of his Irish background, or other? Let’s get back to that shaved, not sliced turkey, shall we?

Patrick (Irish-Irish)

The carping about whether he is Jewish according to traditional Jewish law is silly. Yes the quiblers are accurate that an Orthodox or Conservative rabbi would not consider him Jewish. Ms. Heffernan is not nominating for Chief Rabbi or insisting that some traditional rabbi accord him the status of a Jew. She is discussing his identity and traits.

I am not sure I am persuaded by this article, but I find it plausible that some element of his outsider identity as a Jew became part of the Holden Caufield persona, albeit in WASP accents.

Thank you for an interesting take on JD Salinger: Jew, misogynist, and New Hampshire emigrant. Mabye he is isn’t a Jew. Either way, olav hashalom, as the Jews say about the deceased

I never thought in a million years that I’d have to defend J.D. Salinger’s claim to Jewish roots —

I’m the Coordinator of the Half-Jewish Network, the largest international organization for adult children and other descendants of intermarriage. As a member of Jewish outreach, I was recently informed that one of Mr. Salinger’s descendants currently lives as a Jew.

If the rumor is true, I sure hope that his descendant does not see this thread, filled with ethnocentric attacks on Mr. Salinger’s connection to the Jewish people and negative comments implying that the author of the article, Ms. Heffernan, is unworthy to comment on Jewish topics because she is Jew by Choice (convert).

The negative remarks of the commenters would likely cause Mr. Salinger’s descendant to question the wisdom of affiliating with the Jewish people.

Many of the commenters’ attacks on Mr. Salinger display a profound ignorance of the situation in which many children of intermarriage find themselves, and of Mr. Salinger’s tragic personal history in particular.

Mr. Salinger was Jewish enough for the Reform and Reconstructionist movements. Both denominations require that the child of either a Jewish mother or a Jewish father be brought up as a Jewish from birth, and given life cycle rituals like a bar or bat mitzvah.

Even though no Jewish outreach to interfaith families existed when Mr. Salinger was born, he was raised as a Jew, and had a bar mitzvah. That would have been enough for Reform and Reconstruction nowadays.

Shortly after his bar mitzvah, he was told that his mother — coerced by her Jewish in-laws — had been hiding her Christian identity.

Can you imagine the impact of this discovery on a 13 year old? No wonder the heroes of his fiction display a contempt for adult “phonies” and a suspicion towards all conventional appearances.

Now many of the commenters criticizing Mr. Salinger’s claim to any Jewish connections note that he did not live as a Jew as an adult and sought spirituality in other religions. They appear resentful of this.

Given the unwelcoming attitudes in many of the comments decrying his Jewishness, can you blame him? And this is the year 2010. Imagine the icy reception Mr. Salinger would have received from other Jews, in, say, 1936, if, as an unknown writer, he had expressed any interest in conversion or living as a Jew.

I know from interviewing adult children of intermarriage who grew up in that era that the American Jewish community — unlike the German Jewish community — was very rejecting of them.

There was no organized interfaith family outreach in American Judaism until the early 1980s, when Mr. Salinger was in his sixties. And even today, adult childen and grandchildren of intermarriage are routinely snubbed and rebuffed when attempting to gain entry to the Jewish community.

At the present time, there is outreach for interfaith couples and Jews by Choice, but almost none for half-Jewish people.

Now, about Mr. Salinger’s personal history with the Holocaust — none of the hostile commenters appear aware that Mr. Salinger spent World War II as a staff sergeant in the Army, suffering through bloody campaigns in Europe against the Nazis, helping liberate a concentration camp, and then serving — because of his fluent French and German — as an interpreter to American officials rounding up German prisoners of war.

Salinger’s experiences in WWII were so bad that he had a nervous breakdown. I would say that those are substantial services to Judaism and humanity, and should be treated with some respect.

With regard to the comment that Mr. Salinger, as a trainee in his father’s business, was in no danger in 1938 Vienna, because he had an American passport — please consult any history of the Holocaust — and see report after report of people being killed or injured in the streets everywhere in the Nazi empire — from 1934 onward — because they “looked Jewish.” Which Salinger assuredly did. Roving gangs of Nazi thugs did not always ask for their victims’ paperwork first.

It is not “stereotyping” for Ms. Heffernan to suggest that someone named “Jerome David Salinger,” who apparently looked like the Polish-Jewish side of his family, might have been in some danger.

Now, with regard to article itself — as a convert Ms. Heffernan is to be considered a Jew, and has every right to discuss Jewish topics. Her article about her knowledge of Mr. Salinger’s life while he lived in New Hampshire, and the attitude of the people of Cornish towards him, is a tiny and precious snapshot which will be greatly appreciated by future Salinger biographers and scholars. Her knowledge of other “mountain Jews” in the area provides another bit of context to Mr. Salinger’s life there.

Her perception of Mr. Salinger as a kvetching New York Jew in the utterly non-Jewish setting of Cornish, NH and his momentary kindness to her, is in keeping with what is known of his character and behavior. Irregardless of his adult spiritual beliefs, his early New York Jewish upbringing was marked in his behavior and outlook throughout his life.

While, as Ms. Heffernan notes, Mr. Salinger left much to be desired in his treatment of family members,lovers, and other writeres — he was a complex man who had many personal demons — but he is often recorded as showing kindness to flustered young people, such as Ms. Heffernan was at that time.

In conclusion, I would like to state that the negative comments on Mr. Salinger’s connections to Judaism appearing on this comment thread epitomize the double-bind experiences that many half-Jewish people find themselves in today when they encounter the Jewish community.

We are often told that we are “not Jewish” — and if we attempt to live as Jews, obstacles are put in the way of our converting or entering Jewish communities. Then we are berated, subtly or openly, by some Jews with two Jewish parents, for having explored other spiritualities.

If we do convert to Judaism, our conversions are repeatedly challenged as not authentic enough. It is classic crazymaking behavior.

It my earnest hope, as the leader of the Half-Jewish Network and of the Inclusivist Judaism Coalition that I will live to see a Judaism that is multicultural and multiracial, and where the number and gender of one’s Jewish ancestors will not be as important as one’s spiritual or secular culture ties to them, and that all persons connected to the Jewish people by family ties will see those ties honored.

Sincerely,
Robin Margolis
http://www.half-jewish.net
http://www.inclusivistjudaism.wordpress.com

A man (white) born of an English protestant mother and an Irish catholic father. (feel free to generalise)