http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AmbiguouslyJewish

Jeff Tweedy from from Wilco "I wish I was Jewish. I'm not Jewish, but my wife and my children are Jewish, so that would clear up a lot of identity issues."

A character who fits "Jewish" stereotypes, possibly played by an actor who is Jewish in real life, but who is never (or cryptically) actually stated to be a Jew on the show. In some cases, the show might present contradictory evidence on both sides. Often this is because it's difficult to establish a character as Jewish without depicting them as a walking stereotype, particularly when there's no omniscient narrator to simply say so or when they don't fit the stereotype.

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Note that having Yiddish as a Second Language is a clue but is not conclusive. As Lenny Bruce said, all New Yorkers are at least a little Jewish. Having a "Jewish" name ending in -berg, -stein or the like is also evidence but not proof. These names are actually just German names that many Ashkenazi Jews took when required to adopt some type of surname (that said, some of those surnames were German words not used as surnames before, and as such denote Jewish ancestry), and authentically Hebrew names will often begin with "Bar" or "Ben," so they're a good tip-off. Being named "Cohen" or "Cahn" makes it nearly certain. For Sephardic Jews, a common name is "Garcia", but again that is such a common Hispanic name that by itself it doesn't prove anything.

In addition, such a character would often demonstrate "stereotypically Jewish" appearance and personality traits: those include being a Brainy Brunette, a love for books and the written word in general, and a sarcastic wit often accompanied by self-irony. In the past, Ambiguously Jewish characters were often depicted as greedy and cunning, but due to the decidedly anti-Semitic nature of the stereotype, today's writers either ignore or at least downplay it.

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If the series is set in New York City or its equivalent, you can usually expect at least one of these. About 12% of New Yorkers are Ashkenazi Jewish and they've had a great deal of impact on the culture, which is part of the reason why You Have to Have Jews.

This is the exact opposite of Informed Judaism, which is when a Jewish character's faith is plainly stated, usually as an afterthought, but never really exhibited by their thoughts or actions and has no relevance in the plot.

If a character is non-human and displays stereotypical Jewish behavior, it's Space Jews.

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Examples:

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Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Films — Animation

Hercules: Multiple: Hades has a tendency to say "Oy Vey" when aggravated. On the other hand, he's a pagan god. Phil similarly uses Yiddish as a Second Language a few times, despite also being a pagan god and a satyr.

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head from the Toy Story series have to have gotten that Yiddish accent from somewhere. It also helps that both are voiced by Don Rickles and Estelle Harris (who are both Jewish) respectively. However, Mr. Potato Head crosses himself in the first film. Mr. Potato Head belongs to Hasbro, a company founded by a Jewish family.

Madagascar: Melman the giraffe gives off strong Woody Allen vibes. Also, his last name is "Mankiewitz". Kowalski's Jewish vibes aren't initially so strong, but they increase over the movies and series, with his knack for over-analysis and lyrical exaltation setting him close to his compatriots from Eastern Europe, and the shape of his head vaguely resembling the Kippah.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse shows Peter B. Parker stepping on a glass at his wedding (this is a Jewish tradition). Other than that, it's not brought up.

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Live Action TV

Podcasts

The Adventure Zone: Balance has Angus; when he appears during Candlenights in Tacoma! , his first line is "Happy Hannukah, sirs!" Complicating the idea is the fact that the line was given by Clint (a player character) rather than Griffin, and the fact that this is a fantasy world where Judaism wouldn't exist as such.

Puppet Shows

The Muppet Show: Fozzie Bear. Frank Oz, who is himself of Jewish ancestry, performed him as a callback to the Borscht Belt vaudevillians of old; as a result Fozzie has done gags like pulling a rabbi out of a hat. Another Muppet Show character, Wanda, has the high, shrieky, lower-class New Yorker accent that is often associated with Jewish women.

Sesame Street: Oscar the Grouch, since he's a cousin to Moisha the Oofnik, an Israeli-Jewish Grouch. Also Count Von Count... no one really knows why someone would make a vampire seem Jewish, but they did. When the Count performs the song "Hands" on a Sesame Street children's record, the music in the background sounds like something right out of Fiddler on the Roof. "The Song of the Count" also has a distinct klezmer style to it. It's because most Count's songs are based on csárdás, a traditional Hungarian dance that is usually associated with the Balkans, in the way of Transylvania, in the way of vampires. Count himself also has a rather thick Uberwaldian accent and a bit of comedic aristocratic manners. Still, another song he once sang was a parody of "The Monster Mash" called "The Cookie Monster Nosh."

Marjorie the Trash Heap on Fraggle Rock has an Eastern European accent and was once described by a critic as sounding like "somebody's idea of revenge on a Jewish mother-in-law."

Theater

Video Games

Web Animation

In Red vs. Blue, either Church or Tex is probably Jewish considering their funeral. Of course, since they're both AI, it probably isn't all that important to them .

Web Comics

In El Goonish Shive, Matt Cohen's last name and "jewfro" hairstyle suggest that he might be Jewish.

Web Original

Halo 2 ARG I Love Bees has a whole planet of ambiguous Jews. There are religious dietary restrictions and Jewish Mother stereotypes, but the characters have names like Zaman and could conceivably be Muslim.

As seen here on This Very Wiki. * Stephen Fry is openly gay and Jewish. * Dude, so is half of Hollywood. Well, maybe they're not openly Jewish. o To many, "Jewish" can be a culture as much as or more than a religion. * Jewish? He's an atheist.

Rick Finklestein of Bowser's Kingdom. He has the German last name, the accent and got in an argument with Paul Hammerbro in episode 10 over how to eat bagels: Paul: Hey look, all I'm saying is, a brought bagels for everyone to enjoy, and you're not sharing. Rick: Sharing, Sharing?! Please, you know how'd to share if there was something to share, what is this stuff?! You call this a bagel?! This is no bagel, a bagel is toasted and loaded with smeer. How can you say this is a bagel, you have no looks! Paul: Uh, damn Lakitus! Rick: Ya know, I don't even understand somebody's sterotypes against us. I mean, come on, Lakitus control all the media, this kind of things are unjust to just plain ignore if you ask me. Paul: Look, I know what I said what wrong, and I'm sorry if I offended anyone out there who's Lakituish. Just know that, it was a simple mistake and nothing to throw hammers about. Rick: He was lucky that I didn't have any hammers at the moment.

The German general in Humon's post-WWI "American in Berlin" series was eventually revealed to be named Benjamin. After people criticized her for giving him a Jewish name, she responded by asking when she said he wasn't.

In the American version of House of Cards, produced by Netflix, the prostitute that Francis Underhill uses to manipulate Congressman Russo into falling off the wagon, thereby sabotaging Russo's campaign for the governorship of Pennsylvania, had the very Jewish-sounding name of Rachel Posner. Starting in Season Two, she becomes very involved in a Christian church called The Fellowship by way of Lisa, a woman she meets on a bus who becomes her roommate and later her lover . When they first meet, Rachel claims that she's "not religious." In Chapter 19, she mentions that her new church taught her who Rachel (the religious figure) was, pointing towards her not having a religious upbringing or familiarity with important Abrahamic religious figures.

From Killerbunnies, we have this with Cerise Blumenthal who is more or less implied to be. This is mostly by her last name and where she might come from (some state Bexley, others state Livingston, and some believe to be between Roslyn and Jericho).

Dr. Rosenberg in the Cracked article/short story "Dumb Things White People Secretly Suspect About Other Races ." If so, he is literally a Bear Jew

." If so, Another Netflix original series, Orange Is the New Black, has Galina "Red" Reznikov, who has a Jewish last name , but otherwise, nothing has been revealed about her religious background. Notably, when Cindy/Tova needs to find Jewish inmates to help with her conversion, she does not go to Red, nor does it seem to occur to her or anyone else.

Western Animation