Sunday, August 27, 2023
Elder of Ziyon
But there is one character in Bewitched that I omitted, and she was the most recognizable Jewish character on the show. I'm referring, of course, to neighbor Gladys Kravitz (nee Gruber), who lives with her long suffering husband Abner.
The character was played by two actresses, Alice Pearce and Sandra Gould. (Pearce had clearly "Jewish" facial features but was not Jewish; Gould was.) Kravitz was the butt of jokes on the show as the nosy neighbor who would get hysterical when she witnessed the magical goings-on at her neighbor Samantha Stevens' house, but she was never able to prove it to anyone else.
Her husband Abner had recently retired and was not interested in anything she saw, and belittled her in a way that was not unusual between couples for sitcoms of the era. However, they loved each other in their own way, although not with the public displays of affection that Samantha and Darrin would display.
But what made Gladys perhaps the most Jewish character in 1960s sitcoms was not her name or her stereotypical whiny voice.
It was that even though no one else could see it, and they all thought she was crazy, she was telling the truth. And she never stopped telling the truth even though she knew that she would be insulted, mocked and marginalized for it.
There is an old expression: "It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you." In many ways this is a Jewish motto, but it applies to Gladys Kravitz as well. She is a truth-teller in a world of both lies and those who don't want to believe the truth because it is too uncomfortable.
Gladys Kravitz is, in a way, a type of Biblical Jewish prophetess who warns others of what the reality is.
There have been other Jewish characters on TV who are the only seemingly sane people surrounded by kooks, with no one around to back them up and no friends who believe them - Joel Fleischman in the initial seasons of Northern Exposure, and Josh Segal in the hilarious Trial and Error. In those shows, the Jews are the straight men for the jokes while Gladys is the comic foil in Bewitched, but the concept is roughly the same - the Jew who has to navigate a strange world while trying to maintain their sanity.
Telling the truth in a world of lies is a lonely task. So I salute Gladys Kravitz, the sometimes shrill but usually accurate witness who tenaciously reports the truth to a world that is increasingly willing to believe lies.
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