′A Jew cannot be defined by religion, race, or national
identity: one is a Jew if a Gentile says one is a Jew.′
(Lawrence D. Lowenthal)

by: Lenka Eiermann

1. Introduction 1

2. Definitions of Jewishness  2

3. Jewishness in Arthur Miller’s Focus  3

4. Does Arthur Miller’s Focus affirm or challenge Lowenthal’s view of Jewishness?  5

5. Bibliography  6

1. Introduction

Arthur Miller’s novel Focus, first published in 1945, tells the story of the ordinary anti- Semite Lawrence Newman, a personnel executive for a company in New York. His job is to employ secretaries and he routinely sifts out any Jewish applicants at the order of the management. In Newman’s opinion Jews are stingy impostors, he thinks they have no tradition of nobility and that their houses smell (Focus, p.32). When his eyesight gets worse he has to get glasses, which have the inadvertent effect of making his face look Jewish and people start taking him for a Jew. Immediately he begins to feel the impact of anti-Semitism. Even those he had thought to be his friends start to treat him as a Jew; so he is confronted with all the prejudices he has had against Jews himself. In the course of the novel Newman has to go through a lot of changes and, in the end, he accepts the identity forced upon him and resists the prejudice that he encounters.

Arthur Miller, an American Jew himself, once mentioned in an interview that he only writes about things that he has experienced himself. He also relates that once, as a teenager, he nearly did not get a job just because of the fact that he is Jewish. ¹ This essay examines what it means to be Jewish, and will give further details about the different definitions of Jewishness found especially in America. It looks at the way Jewishness is presented in Arthur Miller’s novel Focus, and it examines whether Lowenthal’s definition of Jewishness is affirmed or challenged by novel.

2. Definitions of Jewishness

Jewish immigrants to America frequently tried to adapt their own culture to the American. The Jews were always concerned about their clothing and their behaviour and to make it fit into the American culture, they also tried not to be conspicuous by their different habits and holidays. In short, social integration was often one of the most highly valued goals. American Jews were always preoccupied with what the real Americans would think of them. In the post-war American society it became more and more important what one personally achieved rather than what one was; and that is why Jewish identity, as a consequence of birth, became less relevant for the majority of Jews. This was especially the case for the successive American- born generations, for whom the Jewish identity, religion and traditions were less attached. While there is not one single explanation of Jewishness, this essay will describe some of the most common definitions of Jewish identity.

In 1952 Rabbi Morris Kertzer was asked for his definition of the Jewish identity in America; his answer was that the American Jews were really not different from the white, middle-class Christians around them. Kertzer said that they were tolerant, democratic and unabashedly American and, further, were characterized by a love of learning, the worship of God, and good deeds. ² David Brauner has tried to define what a Jew is. In his book Post-War Jewish Fiction he mentions Harold Bloom, one of the most famous American Jewish critics, and his British counterpart George Steiner. Bloom complains about the tendency [on Jewish Studies courses] to plead that the Jewish condition is a special case amidst the rest of humanity […] when it fact it provides a paradigm against humanity. Steiner on the other hand pleads that Jewishness and the Jewish experience are unique.³

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1 Christopher Bigsby, ed., Arthur Miller and Company. Arthur Miller talks about his work in the company of actors, designers, directors and writers. (London: Methuen Drama 1990).

2 Samuel C. Heilman, Portrait of American Jews. The Last Half of the 20th Century (Washington: University of Washington Press 1995).

3 David Brauner, Post-War Jewish Fiction. Ambivalence, Self-Explanation and Transatlantic Connections. (London: Palgrave 2001)