For most of you, St. Patrick’s Day makes nary a blip on your holiday radar, being something about erin go braugh (kind of like Ireland’s Hatikvah), a Catholic saint and disturbing little green guys who hide gold at the end of rainbows. Only Christmas is less Jewish, really. (Unless you’re Laurel Snyder, author of the blog Jewishy Irishy and editor of Half/Life, a book of “Jewish tales from interfaith homes,” then maybe you’ve got a shamrock next to your mezzuzah and have a fabulous corned beef cabbage matzo ball soup recipe, which is totally cool.)
Here in Savannah, it is a faux pas of the highest order to dismiss St. Patrick’s Day. People are understanding, apologetic even, if you tell them you don’t do Easter, but if you refuse to honor the guy who reportedly banished snakes from Ireland and imbibe copious amounts of green beer with them, you will be blacklisted and have to seek work in South Carolina. This is a town with a strong and proud Irish history, where taxpayers’ money is used to dye the fountains green and host the second biggest St. Paddy’s Day parade in the U.S., and everyone celebrates their Irish roots this time of year, non-existent may they be. If say, you haven’t worn oodles of Mr. T-style ropes of green beads or a flashing four-leaf clover brooch all this week, or, if heaven forbid, someone asks you if you’re going downtown on Saturday and you answer “why would I want to mingle with a half million sweaty freaks with Guinness seeping out their pores?” you’re branded a big ol’ partypooper. And people will actually pinch you, as if this is third grade.
So I’ve got to get my blarney on, so to speak, and this t-shirt from Jewtee assauges my temporary cultural identity crisis.
Of course, the best Jewish St. Patty’s Day shirt will forever be from Jewish Fashion Conspiracy, which sadly, is no more.
Some of Jewish Fashion Conspiracy’s t-shirts are still available via “Chosen Couture”. Contact Sarah Lefton for details.
Thanks, Oyster!
The pin my mother always wore said “Roses are red/ Violets are bluish/ a leprechaun told me/ St Patrick was Jewish
Babka, dahlink, I NEED one of those! Ask your mother where she got it!
Best little rhyme ever!
You are so right! I have spent the Erev St. Patty’s in Savannah before and the whole town turned green and Irish in a matter of hours. Chicago is a treat this week, too. It gets fratty, Irish and drunk around here. Last year, I saw four different men, at different times of day, in different places int he city, spitting booze on another person and laughing like a maniac. WTF?
(Love that Laurel Snyder– what a doll she is.)
Ouch! Yenta, I just read this a few days back on your blog on Jefferson,
“Judaisms is passed down through the mamas on the X side of the double helix, baby, and its just too damn late to change the rules for our convenience.”
… but both Reform & Reconstruction say otherwise …which means that our Temple has quite a few members who you just dismissed from the tribe …so Ouch, I say!!
as to changing the rules, let me just point out that the Tanakh is patrilineal & has a bunch of non-Jewish moms for Hebrew babies; Ruth, Zipporah, Rivka, Rahel, & Leah (none of these women had Jewish moms!!! … so once upon an uncertain time some rabbis changed this … probably out of convenience …
Yenta, my dear, she’s had the pin for about 30 years. My guess is that we’ll have to make our own. Do you know any button makers?
PS… she used to wear a t-shirt each year that said “(her first name) O’Schwartzman.” Mommy got into St Patty’s day!
Dan ~ you’re absolutely right. Of course, many people without Jewish mothers are Jewish; I was only trying to poke at that far reach some Jews do to connect to the larger context of history (which, as a professor of History, you would know way more about than me.) I admit that I am guilty of oversimplifying something to suit my own point of view. I can be very lazy that way. My apologies.
Babka ~ Your mom rocks. I’m guessing she was a teacher?