The Jewish Body (Jewish Encounters)

by: Melvin Konner

Published by: Schocken Books (January release)

Reviewed by Muhammed Hassanali

The Jewish body has come under scrutiny from several perspectives – some dating back to pre-Biblical days. More recently the focus has been on the religious, ethnic (if one can classify Judaism as “ethnic”) and historical perspectives. While a large part of this discussion is in journals, some of it has made its way in books. These books include Presner’s Muscular Judaism: The Jewish Body and the Politics of Regeneration, Gilman’s The Jew’s Body and others. Konner’s The Jewish Body is one more contribution to the growing body of the same discussion.

The book opens with the idea of a God without a body and the iconoclast notions that may result from such a belief. It quickly moves to circumcision and contrasts it (as an act of faith) to the prohibition of tattoos and other forms of body art that mutilate the body. While the text focuses on the body, it also draws from references to religion, culture and the prevailing ideas of sexuality.

The book explores other stereotypical physical descriptions of the Jewish body (such as the shape of the Jewish nose and ears, flat footedness, and others). Whether these stereotypes originate from the Jews themselves or from the non-Jews is not explored. Since the descriptions discussed tend to be disparaging, the text assumes that they originated from non-Jewish sources. As the field of genetics advanced, we enlisted its aid in our discriminatory efforts and eugenics was born. The text starts this discussion within the context of Nazi Germany, but that is not the only episode where the eugenics was found useful.

While there is much material on the Jewish body in pre-modern and even ancient times, this book focuses primarily on developments in the twentieth century. As far as content goes, it does not offer anything novel. However, its objective is not to reveal anything new, but to present contemporary notions within the broader framework surrounding the Jewish body. As such, it presents the tension between the “book” and the “body” in Judaism from a variety of diverse sources. This approach weaves a narrative that is not just a Jewish story, but one of humanity’s many stories–one where we learn of our brutalities as well as of our resilience to adhere to what we believe is important.

Armchair Interviews says: Most interesting subject matter.