Is it bad for the Jews to keep asking ‘Is it bad for the Jews’?

Jonas Salk, Mel Brooks, Natalie Portman, Paul Simon – good for the Jews. Bernie Madoff, Leopold and Loeb, Meyer Lansky, Jeffrey Epstein, Lord Mandelson – bad for the Jews.

Though the phrase is way less used today than when I was growing up, it’s still well-enough known that it became the title of a book. And its kissing cousin, Good for the Jews, is a podcast.

OK, that’s the buildup; here’s the question: Do other ethnic minorities have a similar phrase? At family dinners, do you ask, Is it bad for the Armenians, Indians, Chinese, Gays Blacks, Catholics, Vietnamese, Jamaicans, Bahai, Maori, Japanese, Filipinos, Croatians, Cubans, Irish?

(I’m guessing it’s not much of an issue for the English, Anglican, Kiwi, French, Australian, Canadian, Baptists.) Love to know in as much detail as you can make the time for.

L’chaim,

Jules

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That very day, their replies came rolling in.

A Jamaican-American (unless noted, they’re all American) said there was no Jamaican equivalent.

A Scandinavian wrote, “Since my family is from Norway, a non-shithole country, we tend not to ask is it bad for Norwegians, but rather apologise for our existence and the inconvenience it presents to the world. “So, in my family tradition, I apologise for being alive to respond to your email.”

Next, this from an India-born friend in (surprise!) Silicon Valley: “Indians are beginning to get that way with Indians funding nefarious things. Another Indian friend wrote, “In today’s world, it’s more likely to be ‘Is it bad for me?’”

Then, a reply from an allophone Quebecer. “Here, all news fits in one of two categories. It’s either good for the English, bad for the French, or good for the French, bad for the English.”

While we’re on Le Tour de Quebec, Kun Chang is the perfect person to ask. Of Chinese-German parentage, Kun was raised in Denmark, studied in London, now lives in Montreal. “I can’t think of one, but I do remember a number of years ago when the Danish cartoonist published the Mohammed cartoon that a lot of Danes went, ‘This is not good.’ But as an expression for the people, no. Can’t think of one for Germans or Québeçers either.” And, also from an ethnic in Canada, this: “I’ve never heard anything similar amongst my Armenian peeps.”

Then, a friend who had come to the US when she was just a child as one of the Vietnamese boat people, responded: “Growing up, our family rarely sat down together for dinner, and I don’t recall having these types of conversations with my parents. There weren’t a lot of known Vietnamese representations in the entertainment or business world that would cause us to take notice of their behaviours.

“My husband’s Japanese family got together more; the opinionated ones mostly spoke about politics and social issues. Again, I just think there isn’t a lot of representation in Japanese culture that made anyone glaringly stand out.

“There is intra-Asian racism where we hear stories about behaviour of Chinese tourists and we say ‘That’s bad for the Asians.’ Whenever any Asian ethnicity is misbehaving, such as dictatorships, mafia/gang-related activity, crimes, or even a famous Asian actor marries out of the ethnicity, it gets generalised as being bad for Asians.”

Whoa. Into my inbox came a response from my then-favorite newspaper columnist, Kevin Paulson-Fisher … who tragically died way too young in 2024. Kevin wrote: “First of all, I love the idea, and I’m including my friend Amanda in my reply, as she is half Jewish-half Italian, so she has her feet in both worlds.

“Second of all, the longer I think about it, it should be a column. It’s a game anyone can play!

“Third of all: Mother Theresa, Saint Francis, Joan of Arc – good for the Catholics. Inquisition, the Papacy, wearing a white dress after Labour Day – bad for the Catholics. Yeats, Queen Maeve, Leprechauns, soda bread – good for the Irish. The British, Irish cuisine, Bono – bad for the Irish.

And sure enough, his friend, Amanda answered next: “Sophia Loren, Federico Fellini, Michaelangelo – good for Italians. Mussolini, Berlusconi, Al Capone – bad for Italians.

So what can we conclude from this deeply unscientific research project? Since the mists of antiquity, American Jews have read the headlines and asked, “Is it bad for the Jews?” Do other ethnic minorities have a similar phrase?

Basically, no. Though with their successes, noble and ignoble, Indians may soon be wondering the same sort of thing. And the flood of Chinese tourists is beginning to make other Asians nervous. But, basically, it’s just a Jewish thing.

So, why us and pretty much only us? Why are we the only ethnicity that regularly wrings their hands about whether someone or something is or is not bad for them? Here’s what I think.

Unlike Indians and Irish, Jamaicans and Italians, Jews have always been a minority, and frequently a persecuted minority. We couldn’t run back home to Kingston or Mumbai, Dublin or Roma licking our wounds in the relative safety and comfort of majority status. As a result, we’ve had to worry about whether something or someone is good or bad for the Jews, not as a passing curiosity but as a matter of survival. And that’s gone on for so many eons, it’s become part of our DNA.

Finally, my meta-question, a.k.a. anxiety: So, is our multigenerational worrying good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? Until recently, I’d have said bad – it’s an appendix left over from pogroms, Nazis, Henry Ford, Oswald Mosley, Elders of Zion, maybe even the expulsion from England and the Spanish Inquisition. Time to let it go. After Charlottesville and Bondi Beach, synagogue burnings, massacres and hostage-takings, and … and I’m not so sure any more.

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Jules Older is a clinical psychologist and author