Strategy, Practices, Humor and Framing
In order to find memes for this study, I have joined a facebook group, @JewishMemes, and will be pulling memes directly from those posted by this page. Based on the Hebrew used in many of the memes, it seems that these memes are made by Jews for Jews. This is perfect for my study, as I am hoping that by studying the language, topics, and references used between members of the group, I can identify what is important to Jewish people and start to understand what makes up the basics of the Jewish identity.
In most of the memes I found (see below), especially those I've chosen so far, there is a common theme of practice, which was easy to find because of the use of Hebrew in each meme. For example, the four memes I have chosen so far deal with fasting, Negiah, Shabbos, and attending Shul. While I plan on going into the meaning of each of these words later, you can tell by the context of the memes that each of these words denotes a religious practice, even if you know nothing about Judaism. These practice-based memes are the most common from my source, and indicate that the practices of Judaism are extremely important to the identity of the religion.
From the memes I've picked so far, it is evident that the Jewish community is definitely an exclusive group with a distinct culture. Hebrew words are used as vernacular, and practices that may seem foreign to an outsider are referred to with no explanation. This is to be expected though. There is a defined community that is founded on a common set of beliefs/practices, which explains how Judaism so easily serves as both a religion and cultural group.
These memes are also humorous and irreverent to the point where the maker is obviously making fun of their group. It doesn't necessarily feel critical though, it has more of an "inside joke" feel.
As aforementioned, the practices mentioned in these memes are Negiah, Shabbos, Fasting, and Shul. Negiah is the practice forbidding the touching of a member of the opposite sex (besides spouse or family member), Shabbos is the observation of the Sabbath, attending Shul is going to the synagogue to worship, and fasting is the intentional refraining from food, drink, and sex for an extended period of time. For the purpose of this blog entry, these are very basic definitions that will be expanded upon later.
Out of these memes, the humor in memes A, B, and C could be classified as jokes. Each of these draws a humorous parallel between a Jewish practice and some element of pop-culture. Meme A seems to frame Judaism in a playful way, joking about the excitement of being able to touch one's new spouse for the first time. Meme B does the same. While Meme B does incorporate Donald Trump into the joke, it's obvious that his depiction is not meant to necessarily make fun of Judaism, but to make use of one of his catch phrases, "yuge". The joke is not a political one, but perhaps one meant to highlight the celebratory nature of Shabbos. Meme C also includes Donald Trump for the use of another catch phrase, "You are fake news". This meme again uses the political figure to joke about the apparent tendency to skip Shul and lie about going earlier.
The last meme, Meme D, is the only one that I think employs sarcasm. This use doesn't necessarily frame Judaism in a negative way, but focuses more on a specific type of Jew. The sarcasm makes fun of people who use facebook to complain/post about their fast. If anything, I think this is in relation to a religious trope.
So far, Judaism has been presented as a culture of its own, using distinct language and jokes (and sometimes sarcasm) in memes to communicate and relate with other Jews based on humorous shared religious experiences.
