Moses in The Ten Commandments is the only real big one that gets played over and over that I can think of. There was a pretty badass Jewish kid from Brooklyn in the platoon in Saving Private Ryan as well, and there is plenty of theory that Superman is a cultural manifestation of the Jew in America.

But...

You are right. Off the top of my head I cannot think of a major Jewish hero who is readily identified as Jewish. This could be an assimilation thing. But then, Einstein once said something along the lines of "If my theory of relativity is proven correct, the French will say that I am a citizen of the world and the Germans will say I am a German. If it is not, the French will say that I am a German and the Germans will say that I am a Jew." Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song" spells out a whole lot of Jewish stars, some of whom played some badass characters, though they aren't popularly thought of as Jewish.

It's really popular since the Cold War for Hollywood heroes to be fighting terrorists. No one has ever tried to explain away Arnold's or Van Damme's accents by declaring them Israeli commandos though. There have been some pretty badass Israeli film heros, but that's really not PC to show these days.

A lot of anti-semitism is rooted in fear. I don't know how much a Jewish hero would play into those fears. At the same time, the Jewish stereotype in America is not very action heroish. We had films like School Ties and whatnot, but those are extremes moreso than the norm.

On the comedy front I think you're right. Good comedy is good comedy. On the hero side... there are problems.

Would you be ok with it if I link to this post on weirdjews?

Oh, and thanks for making me the poster boy for this one ;)

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Please, by all means pimp me out... I'd love to see some alternate takes from people I don't know here. Besides, aren't you the one who is always saying that I should be paid for this sort of thing? Maybe someone over there will want to donate to the cause.

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Disclaimer: not Jewish

The only "warrior" Jews I can think of are those from real life. David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan, Uzi Narkiss, Chaim Bar-Lev. And of course, Col. Ilan Ramon. On the other hand, I'd be willing to bet that very few of your readers will know any of those names (well, probably Ben-Gurion, but not the others).

As for Hollywood, I can't think of a single one.

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well, very few of the not-Jew readers would know those names. And how could you forget Joseph Trumpledor, the famous one-armed man?

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That's because you haven't seen The Hebrew Hammer

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actually, I am aware of the film. But no, I haven't seen it.

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Yeah, I just got done addressing the claim about the French liking Jerry Lewis because they're anti-semitic above. I don't buy it. Unlike say, Woody Allen, I don't really see the jewishness playing into Jerry's act at all. It was always much more that he's an idiot, race, religion and creed aside.

Yeah, I like Lewis Black a lot. His rants on the Daily Show remind me much of my ranting and raving here.

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I don't know if this falls under your rubric, but what about the wrestler Goldberg?

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Duh... I can't believe I didn't think of him. Yeah, he would in fact count. He's actually done a couple movies in addition to wrestling (and being a football player before that). But I don't think he's had a starring role. He's the first one that anyone has come up with though. I'm thinking its still kinda a lopsided distribution though.

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Dude, everyone knows that the Israeli Special Forces are comprised of the world biggest badasses. Seriously. Everyone knows not to fuck with them. I remember that at least as early as high school. Wolverine trained with them.

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yeah, I'm aware of that. But I can't think of any portrayal of them that way in a movie or anything like that. Wesley Snipes mentions that they're badass in Passenger 57, but you never see any of them, its just a throwaway comment.

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There's also a theory that the Marx brothers represented the different kinds of Jew, from different eras. Groucho being the modern era (well, for his time) Jew, and I think Chico being the banker Jew... I don't remember too well, it was in a novel I read, and I can't even remember the name of the novel now.

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Hmmm.... ok, that's pretty interesting. I'd like to read that book.

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Not film, but there's an interesting discussion of Jewish Warriors in Orson Scott Card's "Enders Game" where in his universe it is widely believed that Jewish students have some innate skill for leadership in combat.

Of course, the one overtly Jewish character in the book is also described as being in a position where he specifically does NOT have much conscious ability.

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yeah, I think the written word treats jews with a bit more respect and power than the video medium. However, I'm at a loss for a plausible rational for why.

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