Who are the most (and least) Jewish Peanuts characters?
Charles Schulz’s iconic comic strip was rarely explicit about its characters’ religious affiliations — but we have theories
Charles Schultz surrounded by rubber doll replicas of the characters in his Peanuts comic strip in 1966. Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images
By PJ Grisar November 26, 2024
American cartoonist Charles “Sparky” Schulz, born Nov. 26, 1922, captured American childhood one panel at a time. But none, so far as we know, ever depicted a bar or bat mitzvah.
Schulz’s characters became an essential part of Americana (and insurance company marketing), but if you ask an AI chatbot to identify Jewish characters, the search returns nothing. This is unacceptable.
To counter this erasure, we have composed our own list of Peanuts characters, ranking their relative Yiddishkeit with our pop culture beit din. Here are our definitive findings.
Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown is the cartoon counterpart of Schulz himself, and Schulz was a Christian who taught Sunday school. Ever the underdog, Brown nonetheless reflects something of the Jewish experience and is — courtesy of the “Cha Cha Slide” — on everyone’s mind at b’nai mitzvah parties. Adding to the evidence of identification is Jerry Stiller’s insistence, in an episode of King of Queens, that Charlie Brown was based on him. And what is “Good grief” but an anglicized “Oy vey”? But, there’s no getting around that sad little Christmas tree.
Verdict: Not Jewish, but Chabad routinely approaches him to wrap tefillin anyway.
Sally Brown
Charlie’s sister, Sally, is a nihilist with a regular refrain of “Who cares?” But this hard veneer is often shattered when she consults with her school building in a manner not dissimilar to Tevye’s conversations with God. While likely of the same faith as her brother, she was first voiced in A Charlie Brown Christmas by a young lady named Cathy Steinberg.
Verdict: Not Jewish, but she’ll probably marry in.
Lucy Van Pelt
Started a psychiatric practice in elementary school.
Verdict: “Aspirationally Jewish.”
Linus Van Pelt
New York Times critic James Poniewozik wrote that Linus, who each year awaits the Great Pumpkin as we all await the Messiah, “carries himself like your brainy, philosemitic Christian friend who knows the scriptures better than you do” and once wished a department store Santa “Happy Hanukkah.” His cerebral, introspective quality is not proof of Jewish affiliation, nor is his quoting of the Book of Job to the Jobian Charlie Brown, but we can be certain that Linus will go on to have a Leonard Cohen phase or audit a class on Jewish mysticism once he graduates grade school (early) and enters the Ivy League with his security blanket by his side.
Verdict: Not Jewish, but has Martin Buber on his bookshelf.
Marcie
Meta AI tells us that Marcie has been interpreted by some as “possibly Jewish due to her intellectual and introspective nature,” but I propose that her main affinity may lie with the LGBTQ+ community.
Verdict: Not Jewish, just smart.
Peppermint Patty
Meta AI told me that in early Peanuts strips, Patty’s surname was “Goldberg.” This is confusing, not just because I can’t find any evidence beyond a chatbot’s sayso, but because Goldenberg is a producer of peanut chews, and York the brand behind peppermint patties.
Verdict: Not Jewish, just wears Birkenstocks.
Schroeder
A piano prodigy with a deep affinity for Beethoven, Schroeder has always struck me as more German than anything. That said, Patty once likened him to a “miniature Leonard Bernstein.”
Verdict: Did a screen test for Maestro; was deemed too blond.
Pig-Pen
An elementary school teacher of Trump adviser Stephen Miller once likened him to Pig-Pen, prompting a vociferous defense of Pig-Pen in this publication. All that said, no Jewish mother would allow their child to leave the house (let alone the White House) while that filthy.
Verdict: Pentecostal.
Franklin
Charles Schulz said this: “Franklin is thoughtful and can quote the Old Testament as effectively as Linus,” which seems somewhat Jewish. However, he continues, “In contrast with the other characters, Franklin has the fewest anxieties and obsessions.” Not very Jewish, I’m afraid.
Verdict: Enters the ministry and prioritizes interfaith relationships.
Shermy Plepler
Shermy is a deep-cut character who, in the first Peanuts strip, professed his hatred for Charlie Brown. He didn’t like being a shepherd in the Christmas pageant, grousing “Every Christmas it’s the same: I always end up playing a shepherd.”
Verdict: I think he’s on the board of my synagogue.
The Little Red-Haired Girl
The phenotype for red hair is mainly a result of the melanocortin-1 receptor. Jews have it sometimes, but, despite a history of the chosen people being associated with scarlet locks, it’s not that much more prevalent among our population (though Jewish men may be more likely to have red beards).
Verdict: She’s probably Scottish or Irish or something but won’t be getting with Chuck anyway.
Trombone adults
The adults in Peanuts speak with a uniform voice that gives me flashbacks of the time I lived with a trombone major in college. Certainly sonorous, some may be Jews, some may be gentiles — none have the shriller qualities of a shofar.
Verdict: Mixed nuts.
Woodstock
Snoopy’s bird friend was only granted a name years after his first appearance. He is named for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, which took place on Jewish dairy farmer Max Yasgur’s land and was organized in part by Michael Lang. Schulz was paying homage not just to the festival, but its poster designer, Arnold Skolnik, who drew a catbird on the neck of a guitar.
Verdict: Original name was Woodshinsky.
Snoopy
A novelist and aviator like Romain Gary (but also a beagle), Snoopy was recently seen abandoned in Leonard Bernstein’s vestibule. Fiercely independent but nonetheless loyal, he is also a fulfiller of the commandment from Leviticus 23:43, “You shall live in booths seven days,” as he dwells in — or atop — a doghouse most days of the year. Is it a strictly kosher sukkah? Not in the least, but then Snoopy’s unorthodoxy has always been what made him so endearing.
Verdict: Jewish. Joe Cool? Goyische.
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