# All of the characters on Seinfeld are Jewish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422 "2003-02-07T08:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/61 "2003-02-08T19:44:26Z")
> [@](#): > > So isn’t the guy, like, your brother? How can he be your sister-in-laws husband and not be your brother? Your spouse’s brother is your brother-in-law, too. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/62 "2003-02-08T20:22:06Z")
I remember in the episode where Jerry and George go to Los Angeles, and try to find Kramer (who is missing and then becomes a murder suspect). In the original episode I beleive, Jerry states over the phone that Kramer “looks Jewish”. However reruns of the episode seem to have edited that line out. Later in the “Jewish singles night” episode, Kramer makes it clear that he is not Jewish himself. All sitcoms long running have issues of continuity. For instance George referred to an unseen brother, yet in many episodes he seemed to be the only child. Elaine’s father appeared only once, never to be mentioned again (strange considering how domineering he seemed). Maybe Kramer (called “Kessler” in the first episode) was originally planned as a Jewish character, and this angle was changed or forgotten, after all, these aren’t _real_ people. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/63 "2003-02-08T21:15:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Xavier \* > \*\*One question: > > So isn’t the guy, like, _your brother_? How can he be your sister-in-laws husband and not be your brother?\*\* As Knead to Know said, your spouse’s brother is your brother-in-law; also, your spouse’s sister’s husband is your brother-in-law. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/64 "2003-02-08T21:32:58Z")
Honestly I thought the Jewishness of the series was downplayed. Observant or not, religion comes up all the time in life. I figured they wanted to emphasize the show’s “everyman” quality by not really touching on things that would make the characters different. All the examples the posts in this thread bring up are from a small handful of episodes where the characters’ religion was key to the plot. The Jewish Dentist, Festivus, etc. We could count them on one hand. I was honestly surprised in the dentist episode that Jerry was identified as Jewish. To me it seemed the show went out of its way to _prevent_ any such mention. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/65 "2003-02-08T22:31:58Z")
There is a great line in the episode “The Strike” where George’s seeming duality is seen. When Tim Whatley gives him a donation to charity as a gift (while George gave him Yankees tix) he says, “Don’t you see how wrong that is?! Where’s your Christmas spirit? And eye for an eye!” I’m probably reading into this since I was looking for it, but in this quote he both professes a dedication to the Christmas spirit and then uses a major tenet of Hebrew law. It’s like he mixes them up. That leads me to think that maybe Estelle is Jewish and Frank is Italian. (Another reason I always thought George was Jewish was because in the Shiksappeal Episode, “The Serenity Now”, George is the one who educates Elaine on the Shiksa theory. Not conclusive, but it reinforced a viewpoint I already had.) ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/66 "2003-02-08T22:38:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sugaree \* > \*\*As Knead to Know said, your spouse’s brother is your brother-in-law; also, your spouse’s sister’s husband is your brother-in-law. \*\* Ow…aneurysm… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/67 "2003-02-08T22:43:02Z")
FWIW, I disagree with **sugaree** ’s extension of the term “brother-in-law” to a spouse’s sister’s husband, purely on the grounds that such use would mean that my brother-in-law would be married to my sister-in-law, and I would never marry in to such a family. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/68 "2003-02-09T03:56:02Z")
To clear things up, my wife has a sister–my sister-in-law–and the man in the OP is her husband. In-laws are either the immediate family of your spouse or the spouses of your immediate family, except for stepparents/stepchildren. There is no word that I know of that describes the spouse of the immediate family of your spouse. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/69 "2003-02-09T04:00:55Z")
Oh, and on the Jews playing Italians topic, Mrs. Six and I just watched Lethal Weapon 4, which has Italians playing Jews–Joe Pesci and Richard Libertini as Leo Getz and Rabbi Gelb. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/70 "2003-02-09T14:06:47Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Daniel_ > Honestly I thought the Jewishness of the series was downplayed. Observant or not, religion comes up all the time in life. I figured they wanted to emphasize the show’s “everyman” quality by not really touching on things that would make the characters different. America must be very different to Australia then. Religion almost never comes up here, and until this thread started, I always figured the supporting cast of Seinfeld to be non-religious (I always knew Jerry was Jewish). Then again, until I see evidence I assume that every character on TV is non-religious. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/71 "2003-02-09T17:40:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > \*\*There is no word that I know of that describes the spouse of the immediate family of your spouse. \*\* I know of two: **West Virginia**. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/72 "2003-02-09T19:09:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > \*\*In-laws are either the immediate family of your spouse or the spouses of your immediate family, except for stepparents/stepchildren. There is no word that I know of that describes the spouse of the immediate family of your spouse. \*\* Definition #3 does! broth·er-in-law (brthr-n-lô) n. pl. broth·ers-in-law (brthrz-) 1. The brother of one’s spouse. 2. The husband of one’s sister. 3. The husband of the sister of one’s spouse. * * * Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/73 "2003-02-09T19:10:28Z")
I just thought of something: I always call the wife of my husband’s brother my sister-in-law. But I _like_ her. That could make all the difference. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/74 "2003-02-10T05:25:25Z")
What about the episode where Estelle says she’d never buy a Mercedes because she just COULDN’T buy a German car. It wasn’t a “Buy American” moment. I have heard wealthy jews say they wouldn not buy a German vehicle under any circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/75 "2003-02-10T05:50:30Z")
**watsonwil** , what’s the thinking behind that? Virtually everyone involved in the manufacture of German automobiles today was too young to have served in World War II, and most were not even born then. ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/76 "2003-02-10T06:34:12Z")
My WAG is that Frank Csotanza is Italian Catholic & Estelle is of euro-jewish extraction, with possible family members of her parents’ generation holocaust victims. Or something. And I still call my ex-wife’s sister’s ex-husband my brother-in-law. He’s my favorite member of that extended family. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/77 "2003-02-10T14:28:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\ ***watsonwil** , what’s the thinking behind that? Virtually everyone involved in the manufacture of German automobiles today was too young to have served in World War II, and most were not even born then. \*\* I am not sure. It is certainly a Nazi thing, though. I suspect it may be because Mercedes made trucks and tanks for the Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/78 "2003-02-10T18:51:19Z")
My best friend’s family narrowly averted becoming Holocaust victims themselves, escaping from Austria after Anschluss. Their explanation is that German society in general, and German industry in particular, was too enthusiastic in rehabilitating Nazis and their collaborators. They argue that much of Germany’s current prosperity resulted from its failure to exorcise its evils, so even though the individuals in those companies today aren’t themselves guilty they’re benefiting from the prior generation’s bad acts. There’s precedent for this, I understand. According to my friend, only in the early 90s did prominent rabbis drop a ban on travel to or commercial dealings with Spain, which had been in place since the Inquisition. This, of course, is great fodder for GD, but I’m just reporting, not endorsing or critiqueing. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422/79 "2003-02-10T20:34:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by markdiscordia \* > \*\*I agree with the theory that George’s mother is Jewish, his father is Catholic, and he was raised Catholic before the invention of Festivus. Estelle once said that she “wouldn’t ride in a German car” and is seen wearing a chai. \*\* I agree. George’s father has to be catholic because is a member of the Knights of Columbus in the episode where he rents the meeting hall out to Kramer who was leading a jewish singles group despite the fact he isnt jewish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-of-the-characters-on-seinfeld-are-jewish/153422.md?page=3)