TALK AND FREE DELI DINNER
“Where Harry Met Sally: The Jewish Deli in Pop Culture” with Dr. Ted Merwin
In New York and other cities, the Jewish deli was a gathering place on par with the synagogue, a place where the overstuffed sandwiches symbolized nothing less than the achievement of the American Dream. Over time, it also became an iconic part of American popular entertainment.
From Aaron Lebedeff’s signature song, “Rumania, Rumania” to John Belushi’s classic “Samurai Deli” sketch on Saturday Night Live to Rob Reiner’s take-off of Woody Allen films, “When Harry Met Sally,” the Jewish deli and its fare became emblematic of Jewish culture for Jews and non-Jews alike.
This multimedia, interactive lecture explores the changing representations of the deli in music, film and television to show how the deli both nurtured Jewish community and redefined the boundaries between Jews and non-Jews in American society.
Ted Merwin teaches Religion and Judaic Studies at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., where he also directs the Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life. A native New Yorker, he has moonlighted for the last 10 years as theater columnist for the New York Jewish Week, the largest-circulation Jewish newspaper in the nation. His articles on Jewish culture have also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Moment, Hadassah, and many other newspapers and magazines.
His first book, “In Their Own Image: New York Jews in Jazz Age Popular Culture” dealt with the reflection of second generation Jewish life in vaudeville, theater and film. He is currently finishing an illustrated history of the New York Jewish delicatessen.
RSVP TO nluberoff@elon.edu