PSA: Writing Token Jewish Fantasy Characters
Representation is super important! But not all representation is created equal, so for all my rants about wanting more Jewish representation, here is one (apropos of someone reminding me that Mortal Instruments exists) asking you to please not do certain things when you write your token Jewish character.
(Is tokenism great? No, but sometimes it’s necessary! I’m not asking all the non-Jewish writers out there to write all-Jewish stories, and everyone wants diverse and evenly-distributed casts, which means you’re going to often have your token Jewish / insert-minority-here character, or even twofer token minorities, and that’s okay, so long as it’s done right!)
So let’s say you’re writing fantasy, and your token Jewish character is also going to be a token insert-fantasy-creature-here character. Some Dos and Don’ts:
Don’t:
make your token Jewish character the token vampire (this leans into really gross and racist anti-Semitic blood libel) (looking at you, the mortal instruments)
make your token Jewish character the token goblin/leprechaun/other gold-loving magical creature (this leans into gross racist anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money)
make your token Jewish character the token Fae in a changeling story (this also leans into the gross racist blood libel, by way of “stealing away a baby”)
make your token Jewish character the token tiefling/faun/other horned magical creature (this leans into weird racist anti-Semitic beliefs about Jews and horns)
make your token Jewish character the token Roman or Greek demigod (because ancient Rome and ancient Greece oppressed us, and their beliefs are diametrically opposed to Jewish beliefs, and Rome in particular destroyed our Temple, razed our land, and exiled and subjugated our people) (hahahahaha *cries in Still Furious At Riordan*)
This isn’t fantasy-specific, but also don’t make your token Jew the only/main villain. (Can a Jewish character be a villain? Fair enough, anyone can! But if it’s the only Jewish character in the work, then you need to reflect on your latent or not-so-latent anti-Semitism. Same for if the villain is heavily Jewish-coded.)
Do:
make your token Jewish character the token werewolf (both are hyperaware of the phases of the moon, plus we have some fun Midrashim [exegetical stories] about Benjamin being a werewolf)
make your token Jewish character the token golem (the golem is a proudly Jewish magical creature/construct, originating in the story of the Golem of Prague, which was created by a rabbi to protect the city’s Jewish community - in fact, if you have a golem, it should have its Jewish roots explicitly acknowledged)
make your token Jewish character the token mermaid (Rashi, one of the most famous/popular Jewish Biblical commentators, believed that mermaids were real! they’re a Jewish thing now, I’m making it a thing!)
make your token Jewish character any other magical creature I guess, just please examine the representation to make sure you are not portraying stereotypes or feeding into negative libels or false beliefs about Jewish people
Acknowledge the character’s Jewish identity as an important part of them, not just their magical identity
(These are just examples, you don’t literally have to make your Jewish character a werewolf/golem/mermaid, but if you do, I want to read it)
I’m not saying a Jewish character can never be portrayed as any of the creatures on the Don’t list - but if it’s not being written by a Jewish writer, then you’d better make damn sure that (a) you’re examining your own biases and not leaning into stereotypes and blood libels, (b) the Jewish vampire or whatever isn’t the only Jewish character in the work, but rather there are other Jewish characters who are not obligated to drink blood, and (c) the tension in this identity should be acknowledged in the text “Oh I’m a vampire but blood is normally forbidden for Jewish consumption, what do” etc.
