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American Judaism in Popular Culture. Edited by Leonard J. Greenspoon and Ronald A. Simkins. Studies in Jewish Civilization Vol. 17. Omaha: Creighton University Press, 2007. xvi + 286 pp.
In the recent movie Wedding Daze (dir. Michael Ian Black, 2006), an Orthodox Jewish character has invented a new Jewish soft toy. Called "the Jewnicorn," it is, as its name implies, a unicorn bedecked in Stars of David, which, when squeezed, recites a blessing in Hebrew. Although clearly inserted into the movie simply for laughs, the Jewnicorn is not as far-fetched as the filmmakers may think: Judith S. Neulander's essay in this volume, "Tchotchkes: A Study of Popular Culture in Tangible Form," points out that such trinkets have been existence in American Jewish popular culture since the late nineteenth century at least and have encompassed an array of comparably kitsch items.
Although not the lead essay, Neulander's contribution gives an idea of the range of this collection, collated from the proceedings of the...