Being a big fan of Jonathan Safran Foer's writing, I was ecstatic when I looked at the syllabus and saw that we were assigned to read "The Very Rigid Search." This story is the basis for one of my all time favorite books, Everything is Illuminated. After reading the short story, I couldn't help but wonder what it was that made this an outwardly Jewish piece of literature. I know that we discussed it in class today, but I don't know if I still have a good understanding of what makes this story "Jewish."
Ok, so the character "Jonathan Safran Foer" is a Jewish man who is looking to find the home of his Grandfather in a small shtetl in Ukraine. I get that his Jewish roots are what brought him on this "rigid search" to begin with, but is there anything in the actual story that makes it Jewish? Safran Foer wrote in the notes about the story that when he looks at it, he sees the writing of a Jewish author. Maybe I am missing an undertone of Jewish values or some message that promotes Judaism in some way, but I think that overall the story can go either way. I guess I can understand why this story was included in a collection of Jewish short stories by Jewish authors (the book is called Lost Tribe, I suggest everyone looks into it, I have read some pretty good stories that are found in that book), but I don't know if it could be considered a Jewish story overall.
I guess I am just curious to see what everyone else thinks about it. Has anyone found anything outwardly Jewish about this story?
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In all honesty, this class has taught me that the way we identify things as "Jewish" can be based on anything. Things don't necessarily have to have "Jewish content" for us to view them as "Jewish." We tend to look towards anything that could possibly relate to Judaism so that we can classify something as "Jewish." Realistically, whether or not something is "Jewish" doesn't mean that only Jewish people can relate to it. I guess what makes this book "Jewish" is Safran's search for HIS Jewish roots. If Safran had been looking for his Irish roots instead, I don't know that this would still be seen as a "Jewish" book, but instead something that perhaps Jewish people could relate to.
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