Lena Dunham Isn’t Anti-Semitic. She’s Just One of Us

Instragram
You know the old idea: “You can’t make fun of my little brother…only I can make fun of him?”
I mean, I don’t personally because I’m an only child. But that’s not the point. The point is that Lena Dunham can totally make fun of us because she is one of us.
She’s Jewish enough, anyway. With a Protestant father and Jewish mother, the more strictly religious of us will use her bloodline as proof, while the more secular of us are happy to cite this oft-quoted story from the Jewish Journal in 2012 in which she calls herself Jewish.
“I went to Hebrew school for, like, two weeks, and then didn’t get the part I wanted in the play and quit,” Dunham said. “But I’ve always had a great love of all the holidays that we celebrate together as a family: Passover, Chanukah. I’ve spent a good amount of time in temple, and I definitely feel very culturally Jewish, although that’s the biggest cliché for a Jewish woman to say.”
Later, she even went on to say, ““I took an amazing trip to Israel two years ago,” she added. “It was the most connected I’ve felt to that part of myself. I learned a lot both spiritually and personally.”
Like most of her work, Dunham’s recent column in The New Yorker entitled “Dog Or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz” has elicited vehement responses swinging in multiple directions. Lots of people — including young, educated, female, and devoutly cultural Jews like me — loved the piece. We can see ourselves in those situations — with our pets and our relationships — and we can laugh at the self-deprecatory similar parallels.
By now, we all know that exploiting stereotypes — including personal, generational, religious, and cultural — in the name of humor is Dunham’s M.O. Just like “Girls” portrays professional millennial females in a farcically realistic way, the actress and writer’s recent column is just another extension of her patented method and style. “Girls” is a (dark) comedy on HBO. Shouts & Murmurs is in the humor section of The New Yorker. They’re both based on her experiences and identity. They’re both supposed to contain and propagate jokes.
But of course, many found Dunham’s recent publication offensive and anti-Semitic. And unfortunately, it seems like the majority of that outrage came from within our own Jewish circle. Most directly, this outrage represents an overreaction to an intentionally goading humor piece written by one of our own. But on a broader scale, the backlash also elicits a darker truth. It brings unnecessary negative attention to the fractures in our already minute minority Jewish community, dividing our people and pitting us against ourselves. We as Jews face enough hatred from those in this world who actually believe in the vitriol the spew and violence they spread. We don’t need to perpetuate it from within over a humorous essay.
So please. Let’s just laugh this off like the joke that it is supposed to be. Because really, there are few things more Jewish than laughing at, and in the face of, our own adversity.
And yeah, I can say that because I’m Jewish.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.