An Icon of American Jewishness (Kirk Douglas at the Wall)

Posted on February 6, 2020 by zjb

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With those man-hands and that craggy face, Kirk Douglas in 1977 is an icon of American Jewishness, ancient and modern at the Western Wall in Jerusalem; secular and religious; performative and phallogocentric.

(h/t Matthew Menachem Feuer)

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu
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2 Responses to An Icon of American Jewishness (Kirk Douglas at the Wall)

  1. David Kaufman says:
    February 6, 2020 at 5:07 pm

    Zak–am liking your phrase ‘icon of Jewishness’, are you writing something on it? if so, have you seen my last book on the subject? (I recall it took you 15 years or so to get to my first book 😉

    Reply
    • zjb says:
      February 6, 2020 at 7:58 pm

      so i’ve been doing the iconic-visual turn for awhile now, but haven’t written anything focused on icons of Jewishness and things of the like. About your first book, i got to it at the very moment when i needed it the most. Will look for the second one now 🙂

      Reply

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