Jew with a coin: Difference between revisions

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add more precise data, tone down argumentative language, Dobrosielki notes that it might not as evident that the image is so widespread as claimed by some scholars-will add on this
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[[File:02018 0505 Solina-Stausee cropped.jpg|thumb|"Jews with coins" on sale in Poland, bearing the name of the spa village of [[Polańczyk]]. The middle figurine reads: "Polańczyk $ Jew In the hall, coin in your pocket".]]
 
"'''Jew with a coin'''" ({{lang|pl|Żyd z pieniążkiem}}),<ref name="Tartakowsky" /><ref name="Tokarska-Bakir2012">{{Cite news|url=http://wyborcza.pl/1,75410,11172689,Zyd_z_pieniazkiem_podbija_Polske.html|title=Żyd z pieniążkiem podbija Polskę|last=Tokarska-Bakir|first=Joanna|date=18 February 2012|work=Gazeta Wyborcza|access-date=25 August 2019|language=pl|trans-title=A Jew with a coin conquers Poland|author-link=Joanna Tokarska-Bakir|mode=cs2}}</ref><ref name="Tokarska-Bakir2019">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.aapjstudies.org/manager/external/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Jew_with_a_coin_FINAL.2.pdf|title=The Jew with a Coin: Analysis of a contemporary folkloric emblem|last=Tokarska-Bakir|first=Joanna|date=2019|journal=The American Assocation for Polish-Jewish Studies|access-date=25 August 2019|mode=cs2}}</ref> "'''little Jews'''" ({{lang|pl|Żydki}}),<ref name="haaretz20141120" /> or "'''lucky Jew'''" ({{lang|pl|"Żyd na szczęście"}})<ref name="Tartakowsky" /> are controversial images or [[figurine]]s of a Jew holding a coin, usually accompanied by a [[proverb]].<ref name="Tartakowsky" /> The motif was first described in articles from 2000, and probably dates back to after the [[Revolutions of 1989#Poland|1989 transition of Polish government]].<ref name="Tartakowsky" /> As of the early 21st century, they are found in shops and homes in Poland.<ref name="Tokarska-Bakir2012" /><ref name="Vice20131010">{{Cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/qbnewm/hey-poland-whats-up-with-those-lucky-jew-statues|title=Hey Poland, What's Up with Those Lucky Jew Statues?|last=Belfer|first=Ilana|date=9 October 2013|work=VICE|access-date=25 August 2019|mode=cs2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gruber|first=Ruth Ellen|date=Fall 2009|title=Beyond Virtually Jewish: New Authenticities and Real Imaginary Spaces in Europe|url=http://scholionjnc.wiki.huji.ac.il/images/New_Authenticities.pdf|journal=The Jewish Quarterly Review|volume=99|issue=4|pages=487–504|quote=My experience at Anatewka was my first with that particular line of money-clutching Jewish figurine, but identical figures are now for sale by the score in certain venues in Krakow and Warsaw. Jews and their supposed special association with money are a long-standing, often negative, stereotype and the frequent subject of paintings and other imagery. Poles have explained that there is a 'tradition of Polish people placing pictures of Jews with money in their hands near the entrance doors of their homes as a good luck omen.'&nbsp;|via=[[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]]|mode=cs2}}</ref> According to a 2015 survey conducted in Poland, 65% of respondents recognized the motif, 55% saw the motif at the home of family or friends, and 18% had such an object.<ref name="Tartakowsky"/>While highly recognizable, most of Poles don't own the figurines or images, and a 2015 survey found that only 19% of surveyed Poles owned such an item, with further only 16% using it as good luck charm, the tradition of using one being weakly based in cultural context, especially compared to use of other good luck charms.<ref name="dobr" />
According to a survey 50% Poles see the motif as a [[talisman]] for financial luck(with 18% disagreeing and 31% stating I don't know)), 43% as good luck charm(with 20% disagreeing and 37% stating I don't know), 23% as a regional souvenir, and 15% as protection for family and house<ref name="dobr" />
 
Scholars offer various interpretations of the motif's nature and origin, though they generally agree that it is used as a [[talisman]] for good luck,<ref name="JC20141204" /><ref name="Wichtel"/> in particular financial good luck.<ref name="Tartakowsky" /><ref name="Zawadzka" /><ref name="LehrerLondon77"/> The images draw on a traditional [[Antisemitic canard#Usury and profiteering|antisemitic canard of the Jewish moneylender]].<ref name="Cala" /><ref name="LehrerLondon79">[https://www.academia.edu/39121018/Lucky_Jews Luck Jews?] Pictures + Essay by Erica Lehrer in [[Jewish Museum London]]'s 2019 ''Jews, Money, Myth'' exhibition catalog, page 79</ref> Opinions about the motif vary; some cultural studies scholars<!-- The names of the scholars is given in the body of this article --> believe it promotes Polish–Jewish dialogue or view it as harmless [[folklore]] or [[nostalgia]], while others believe it is an [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] and offensive [[stereotype]].<ref name="haaretz20141120" /><ref name="Vice20131010" /><ref name="JTA20180818">{{Cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-lucky-jew-imagery-is-so-popular-in-poland/|title=Why ‘Lucky Jew’ imagery is so popular in Poland|last=Liphshiz|first=Cnaan|date=18 August 2018|work=The Times of Israel|access-date=25 August 2019|agency=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]|mode=cs2}}</ref><ref name="LehrerUSHMM" /><ref name="Zawadzka">Zawadzka, Anna. "Drinking vodka with anti-Semites. A case study of ‘Polish-Jewish relations’ today." Adeptus 11 (2018): 1-23. quote: "“A Jew with a coin” is an anti-Semitic picture people hang at home as a lucky charm bringing financial success, which can be bought across Poland in souvenir shops, newspaper stands, florists, art galleries and bazaars. The figure depicted in such pictures wears a hat or kippah. Putting a kippah on may therefore be interpreted as a gesture of self-exotization. It is putting a mask on, and taking part in a masquerade in the role of a Jew, designed to meet the needs of the Christian audience.</ref>