The Rabbi Oscars

Elite Groupings. (0.00 / 0)

Elite groupings are natural and therefore unavoidable. Even where 'equality' was imposed at gun point, such as in communist Russia, there was a a social hierarchy.  In any given environment, the best at it rise to the top, their descendents sometimes reaping the benefits of the acceivments  of the forfathers. Whether or not we recognize them or not, there certainly are 50 best Rabbis, 50 best teachers, 50 best doctors, 50 best soldiers, and so on. The only variable is the criteria.

The Elite are who people look up to and emmulate, and if the Elite is good that is a good thing.  

---

by: naftali @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 12:42:25 PM CDT

the elite (0.00 / 0)

Fine--we all like top 50 lists.  But where are the Lutherans?  Why so many lists for one little community?

---

by: Rabbi Jill Jacobs @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 15:20:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't think so. (2.50 / 2)

In any given environment, the best at it rise to the top, their descendents sometimes reaping the benefits of the acceivments  of the forfathers. Whether or not we recognize them or not, there certainly are 50 best ...The Elite are who people look up to and emmulate, and if the Elite is good that is a good thing.

 

Except that by and large, these lists and awards have very little to do with whether the people who recieve them are the best at anything. I've certainly recieved my share, too, but I know lots of great qualified people who never get any of them... why? Not because they aren't deserving - more often because they're so busy working that they don't have time to go out and apply for fellowships, or because they have a job where they make so little money that every other spare moment is taken up with trying to figure out how to make rent after they've spent all their time giving up their best for others, or just because they happen to be in a field where recognition is pretty much based on who you know. If you know someone who is hooked in, you'll get an award yourself sooner or later, and if not, hey, that's the breaks.

*That's* the reality. It may, as you say, be inevitable to make these lists, but the fact that women appear so rarely on them, for example, doesn't make me think that women aren't any good at these things, it just means that the people making the lists are reflecting the way they think about what deserves being listed.

---

by: Kol Ra'ash Gadol @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 21:18:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not Newsweek's "choice" (2.50 / 2)

You might say this is a minor semantic distinction, but just a reminder that this list is NOT Newsweek's list. It was created by three media moguls/executives who happen to have an enormous amout of influence, so Newsweek felt it worthy of carrying and reporting. Granted, Newsweek staff likely did some massaging of the list and probably did fact-checking (although clearly not very well - Michael Lerner listed as Reform?), but Newsweek is not responsible for compiling it, only reporting it.

But of course, if you're on the list, it sounds better to say that you're one of the "Newsweek Top 50" than to say that three middle-aged Jewish guys most people have never heard of think you're cool.  Which brings us back to (and reenforces) Jill's original point about Jews not only having a worrisome interest in "best of" lists, but also the emphasis on the prestige factor.

---

by: Gregg Drinkwater @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 18:09:55 PM CDT

Critiquing the critique (0.00 / 0)

I just noticed that the Jewcy coverage of the Newsweek (or not Newsweek, as Gregg correctly points out) list cites me as complaining about the representation of women on the list.  Well, sort of.  I did mention that that was something I could complain about, but really, I was more interested in the question of why such a small community is so obsessed with who's in, who's out, and who's fallen from 15 to 35 (can anyone say US News & World Report college list?).  Interesting that what gets picked up is the critique of who's on and who's off, and not anything else--because, of course, part of the fun of making a top ten list is arguing about who should be on that list--it's no fun to put down the whole enterprise.

---

by: Rabbi Jill Jacobs @ Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 20:08:53 PM CDT

not to self promote, but... (0.00 / 0)

Six years ago I was asked to write an piece for Sh'ma about the National Yiddish Book Center's decision to publish a cannon of Jewish literature.  In an article titled, "The Chosen One Hundred: A Study in Jewish Elitism" I noted:

The Academy has long favored lists, where they are referred to as canons. Unlike the lists found in popular culture, which are created for fun and are typically harmless, canons can be dangerous. During the past thirty years, the civil rights, feminist, and LGBT movements have developed a critique of canons that I find persuasive. To summarize, canons are created to provide the measure of what counts as "good" and important in a field. They have moral and ethical force. Canons are exclusive, entrenched, enduring, and self-perpetuating. And they enshrine traditional ideas about what makes for "greatness." Almost unfailingly, "greatness" largely excludes society's marginalized groups.

Jewish writers continue to be excluded from the traditional canon of "great" literature. Many Jews have reacted to this exclusion by developing or embracing the critique of canons. The National Yiddish Book Center has responded to Jewish exclusion by practicing Jewish exclusion. The Chosen 100 is the functional equivalent of exclusive Jewish social clubs, created to mirror their exclusive Christian counterparts. Just as these Jewish clubs are not open to all Jews, this canon is not open to all Jewish writers.

I agrue that this is not a particularly Jewish obsession, but rather something Jews do to (aspire to) fit into the dominant (Christian) American culture, which enjoys creating lists (and canons) and therefore hierarchies. So although we don't see lists of the top Lutheran ministers in Newsweek, Forbes and Crains and U.S. News & World Report are well known for their lists, highlighting the best or biggest or richest.

 

"When something important is going on, silence is a lie." -- A.M. Rosenthal

---

by: Mik Moore @ Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 08:27:58 AM CDT

[ Parent ]