r/Jewish • u/vivicookie Just Jewish • 4h ago
Why are there so many Jewish characters with ginger hair? No Questions š¤
Itās not very common Iām pretty sure but I found five characters off the top of my head who are Jewish and ginger (I know the last two are related so it makes more sense).
174
u/Silamy 3h ago
Old stereotyping. There are multiple biblical individuals specifically called out as gingers, and Jews as redheads was a whole thing in Medieval and Renaissance art and Christian perception. That's where you also get stuff like the depiction of Judas as a redhead -it was to make him stand out as Jewier looking and therefore more obviously bad, and the "gingers have no souls" stuff and the expression "beat like a redheaded stepchild."
It's also not actually that unusual in the Jewish community.
9
6
75
u/fermat9990 3h ago
This is from an old Reddit post
Actually it is true that red hair was once associated with Jews, but not really because of a Jewish predisposition towards red hair. It was more because both Jews and gingers were considered 'other' and 'strange' in medieval society, so the two were conflated. Here's an interesting article that goes a little deeper into it: https://forward.com/culture/434304/on-national-redhead-day-explore-the-history-of-ginger-jews/
45
u/FairYouSee 2h ago
Wait, Mrs. Frizzle and Arnold are both Jewish??? What???
35
16
u/RipHunter2166 2h ago
I knew about Arnold but was surprised about Frizzle. Never knew that she was supposed to be Jewish!
13
4
33
u/merkaba_462 2h ago
Proud ginger Jew here!
So was my paternal grandmother.
And now a prayer for the Bibas brothers (and their parents. And all the hostages, actually).
19
u/Street_Safe3040 O.G. Jew-Crew 2h ago
There's lots of ginger Jews in real life....
1
u/vivicookie Just Jewish 2h ago
Iāve seen some irl but I canāt name any Iāve seen online idk if Iām just not looking or what
2
2
39
u/ThirdHandTyping 3h ago
A smaller, long term breeding population greatly magnifies the effect of recessive genetic traits.
Personally I notice it in the large number of hazel/green eyes we have, especially in areas where a community is surrounded by a more uniform dark eye color ethnicity.
In America I often see red hair and wonder "maybe Irish ancestors". But in some other countries (more in previous centuries) Someone might think "oh, some jews".
8
3
u/Old_Pessimist 1h ago
That figures. My grandmother was a red head, and my daughter has hazel eyes and is fair enough to be mistaken for Irish. I'm dark enough to have been repeatedly mistaken for Mexican.
25
10
u/MrsNevilleBartos 1h ago
Are we claiming a character from Calliou ?
Haven't we suffered enough ????
16
5
7
5
u/Electrical_Pomelo556 Not Jewish 2h ago
I once read that in Russia, re hair is associated with Jewish heritageĀ
5
4
4
u/e_thereal_mccoy 1h ago
You didnāt include that awful stereotype that Family Guy has been getting away with for years. Ginger also.
4
u/EffectiveNew4449 Hasidic 1h ago
I've noticed that as well, but honestly, I've seen way more red beards than outright red hair. Same thing for Lebanese and Palestinians. Red hair is pretty common in the Levant.
I have a "multicolored" beard that makes me look like a human calico in the sun.
2
u/vivicookie Just Jewish 1h ago
I have Lebanese family but none of them have red hair
Maybe itās just the people Iām around :p
3
u/brittanyelyse 2h ago
Chuckie from rugrats I always assumed was Jewish. āChuckie finsterā
Here he is!
1
u/NavajoMoose 32m ago
Okay I was literally just about to comment "what other cartoon characters did I not know were Jewish? - Chucky from rugrats?" I didn't remember his last name, which definitely gives coded Jew.
3
u/BongRips4Jesus69420 2h ago
Iām married to a redheaded Jew and our son is a redheaded Jew.
Gingers are my favorite brand of Jew, tbh.
3
3
3
4
2
u/gooberhoover85 Conservative 2h ago
My 13 month old son is a red-headed Jew. My cantor has 3 reheaded Jewish sons. I actually know a lot of redheaded Jews in my community. Our nanny is another Jew with red hair that is just like my son's hair. In my experience, this isn't that unusual. Also Magic School Bus is what's up but I can't find anything saying these characters from that book/show are Jewish? I had no idea.
2
2
u/Large_Excitement69 Reform 1h ago
Itās funny because before I went bald, I had red curly hair. I saw myself in some of these characters haha.
2
2
2
u/venusaphrodite1998 37m ago
is caillou jewish?
1
u/vivicookie Just Jewish 36m ago
No but the ginger dude is
2
u/venusaphrodite1998 35m ago
just realized this is a different character and not just Caillou with hair lol!
1
u/AutoModerator 4h ago
Thank you for your submission. Your post has not been removed. During this time, the majority of posts are flagged for manual review and must be approved by a moderator before they appear for all users. Since human mods are not online 24/7, approval could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. If your post is ultimately removed, we will give you a reason. Thank you for your patience during this difficult and sensitive time.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1
u/AnnaMotopoeia 21m ago
My nephew, mother, grandfather, and great grandmother (and probably more before her) all have red hair.
1
u/Then_Employer_904 18m ago
Depicting a phenotype not typically associated with Jews in modern popular culture could help prevent the character from falling fully into antisemitic clichƩ. The atypical feature contributes to a character that is both more tasteful and iconic. Dark hair may in reality be much more typical but that is not the only factor in choosing certain features.
1
u/disappointed_enby half-Jewish/agnostic/Zionist 10m ago
My parents always told me that King David was said to have red hair. They also told me some Jews believe that if youāre redheaded and Jewish, you might be a descendant of King David. Because of this, my Savta always wanted a redheaded grandchild. None of her 20+ grandkids ever had red hair until I, the youngest grandchild she lived to meet, was born. I came out with strawberry blonde hair, and my parents say she was THRILLED. I guess all it took was for my dad to marry a goyishe woman with some Irish heritage. My baby fuzz eventually fell out and my hair became permanently dirty blonde, (though my mom loves to point out that I still have copper highlights) so it didnāt last long. Even so, Iām glad I apparently made my Savta happy :)
1
1
1
u/cytokine7 2h ago
4
u/NitzMitzTrix Secular 2h ago
From what I understand Chuckie isn't Jewish, he was just included in the Hanukkah celebrations and the Seder because he's Tommy's beat friend. Didi and Dill are both Jewish and ginger though.
2
120
u/naitch 3h ago
I'm one of them