The Trotskys, Freuds and Woody Allens: Portrait of a Culture

Roger I. Simon is a professor in the Department of Curriculum at the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

In this book, Ivan Kalmar discusses Jewish culture in terms of a social
neurosis he calls the “EJI,” an acronym for the “Embarrassed
Jewish Individual.” The essential organizing principle of the culture
of the EJI is to show that “Jews are not essentially different from
others.” The book’s rather awkward title pluralizes three famous
Jewish individuals, and suggests the three different types of EJI:
social and political figures; intellectuals; and creative artists,
writers, and performers. After establishing the basic premise of his
argument, Kalmar takes the reader on a romp through what are variously
insightful, funny, and at times eccentric interpretations of the EJI’s
personal and professional achievements, social mannerisms, truncated
spiritualism, public identifications, and political commitments. His
chapter on the EJI’s response to Woody Allen’s public sex life is as
brilliant as it is discomforting.

It is no surprise that the final section of the book is its weakest.
Entitled “The Morning After,” it is intended to suggest what might
emerge in a post-EJI culture. Beyond the call for more chutzpa, the
creative melding of traditional Judaism and egalitarianism, and the need
to come to grips with the transformations in anti-Semitism in the last
quarter-century, what is needed are concrete discussions of the
practices of an emergent postmodern Jewish culture.