Heeb Publisher Comes Clean On Barr Brouhaha
Many have been up and arms over our recent photo of Roseanne Barr as a "Nazi domestic goddess" in our Germany Issue, questioning how, as Jews, we could ever find any humor in such a subject. When I hear such sorrowful pleas, I want to cry from remorse, but I’m afraid the ensuing suds would cake the lenses of my glasses.
Yes, the story of this infamous satirist/Jewish grandmother pulling a tray of burnt "Jew cookies" out of an oven has been making its way around the Internet—stirring up all sorts of bizarre accusations towards her and completely ignoring the very particular context in which the image was created. So, for all of you coming to this website who haven’t yet seen the issue—or are unfamiliar with what we do in our magazine—allow me to explain.
Heeb is a satirical Jewish culture magazine that interrogates stereotypes and ideas (hopefully in creative ways) that many hold sacred in order to represent the complex and nuanced perspectives that many Jews have about their identities. When we depicted Sarah Silverman behind a hole in a sheet or Jonah Hill dressed as Moses holding two kegs as if they were tablets, we weren’t trying to be shocking—we were trying to communicate something truthful about contemporary Jewishness. Yes, that may sound impossibly high-fallutin, but it’s the truth and while we kind of don’t give a shit whether the magazine wreaks havoc on smug and sanctimonious visions of Jewish life, we do care when our intentions (or those of our collaborators) are distorted.
Virtually every pitch we received leading up to the publishing of our Germany Issue circled back to the Nazis and the Holocaust and almost all of them were humorous in nature. Naturally, our editors couldn’t help but wonder whether something new was happening in the culture— whether the taboo against joking about the Holocaust and the Nazis exerted as much power as it used to. Certainly Jews have been joking about the Holocaust since the Holocaust (I believe it was the Warsaw Ghetto where the Jewish inhabitants referred to Hitler regularly as “Horowitz”), but these jokes have largely been uttered in private or underground. In recent years, they have been finding themselves in the most public of conversations.
Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” is as much a part of American culture (and Jewish culture, specifically) as Fiddler on the Roof, and Curb Your Enthusiasm’s “Survivor” episode is about as controversial as a Christmas Day screening of Annie Hall. And the trend seems to only gather momentum.
Just this month, Brüno (at one point, America’s number one box office draw) introduced the concept of "bleaching one’s Auschwitz” and the climax of theThe Hangover (which has now grossed over $247 million) revolved around a stripper (played by Heather Graham) returning the ring of the grandmother of one of the leads (played by Ed Helms). "I didn’t know that they gave out rings in the Holocaust," jokes the character played by Zach Galifianakis.
And what better way to capture this moment in popular culture than by having the original “domestic goddess” don the Fuhrer’s famous mustache? For better or worse, hasn’t the Holocaust itself been domesticated?
comments
submit a comment07.30.09 at 8:07 pm
I am Jewish and have worked for a JCC and as a synagogue administrator. The first time I saw your magazine I wanted to cry. Is there a magazine for African Americans named “n*****”? Or one for gay men called “F*****”?
Your choice of promoting RoseAnn Barr alone points to your lack of taste and class. This photo needs no “context.”
07.30.09 at 9:07 pm
When I first saw these pictures, I was shocked beyond words. After looking at the magazine website and seeing that this was all made by Jewish people and a Jewish magazine, I was even more disgusted. The “domestication of the Holocaust” is something that we Jews should be trying to stop and fighting against it; NOT MAKING IS WORSE. Not only am I outraged that Jews are poking and acting so insensitively toward such a serious subject, but that other non-Jews will see these pictures and take them “out of context,” as you kindly explained. Even if these pictures were on an appropriate subject for Jews to joke about, they will only encourage antisemitism among others. I truly cannot believe the level of distaste of Heeb Magazine and I will encourage everyone to stay away from this company, until these pictures are retracted.
07.30.09 at 9:07 pm
Sorry, I meant to only post it once.
07.30.09 at 9:07 pm
.
07.30.09 at 9:07 pm
.
07.31.09 at 1:07 am
I don’t know what’s worse, this disgusting pictorial or the fact that it was conceived and done by fellow jews. We may make fun of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, and if anyone deserves that treatment it’s them. But portraying our people as “Jew Cookies” being pulled from an oven is another matter entirely and reflects Jewish self-hatred more than the domestication of the holocaust. Shame on you, too, Roseanne Barr, for agreeing to be a part of this. If you really wanted to be a shonda to your people again, you could have gone back to singing our national anthem at baseball games!
07.31.09 at 1:07 am
I don’t know what’s worse, this disgusting pictorial or the fact that it was conceived and done by fellow jews. We may make fun of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, and if anyone deserves that treatment it’s them. But portraying our people as “Jew Cookies” being pulled from an oven is another matter entirely and reflects Jewish self-hatred more than the domestication of the holocaust. Shame on you, too, Roseanne Barr, for agreeing to be a part of this. If you really wanted to be a shonda to your people again, you could have gone back to singing our national anthem at baseball games!
07.31.09 at 4:07 am
I am a 35 year-old Israeli, third generation to holocaust survivors. I am totally disguisted from this artile. There are levels of “black humor”. The soup nazi episode did make fun of the whole nazi thing. But if you compare the episode with what this magazine has done it is if they would have shown an actual soup with jews inside, and hitler mixing it.
Dont try to compare this to anything else. You crossed the line between self-humor and antisemitism. At first I was convinced this was a neo-nazi magazine, but now that i know you are all jews, i am ashamed and you should be too. Go learn some things about the hoocaust, about the suffer, hunger and death while you sit and eat your big macs and donuts. Did the nazzis kill your grandmothers? Grandfathers? Siblings? Are you holocaust orphins?
Publications such as these only strengthen neo-nazzi groups, instead of condemning them. Publications such as these that beliitle the holocaust make it possible for a second holocaust to occur.
07.31.09 at 4:07 am
i think this is the funniest pictorial / article i’ve read by HEEB ever. great story, insane pictures, and i am still chuckling. i do jewish genealogical research and a lot of it makes me cry (yad vashem, stories about shtetls my family and extended members of my family came from). it’s incredible to be able to laugh about this after crying so much. thank you….
07.31.09 at 12:07 pm
ladyofargonne wrote, Or one for gay men called “F*****”?
Kinda.
http://www.queermagazine.se/
username1 wrote,
The “domestication of the Holocaust” is something that we Jews should be trying to stop and fighting against it
No. The Holocaust as the center of Jewish identity is what we need to fight against.
guyww wrote,
I am a 35 year-old …third generation to holocaust survivors.
Anytime a comment starts like this, you know it is going to be filled with self-righteous authority based on what happened to someone else.
You crossed the line
You don’t make “the line.” Your line is an imaginary line.
Publications such as these only strengthen neo-nazzi groups,
You are making no sense at all. What are you talking about?
jewish39 wrote,
We may make fun of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
Are you sure, jewish39? Who else may Heeb (and everyone else) make fun of? What about Stalin? And what about Jimmy Carter? Would you please supply a comprehensive lit of who may be made fun so these lines are not crossed in the future?
07.31.09 at 12:07 pm
ladyofargonne wrote, Or one for gay men called “F*****”?
Kinda.
http://www.queermagazine.se/
username1 wrote,
The “domestication of the Holocaust” is something that we Jews should be trying to stop and fighting against it
No. The Holocaust as the center of Jewish identity is what we need to fight against.
guyww wrote,
I am a 35 year-old …third generation to holocaust survivors.
Anytime a comment starts like this, you know it is going to be filled with self-righteous authority based on what happened to someone else.
You crossed the line
You don’t make “the line.” Your line is an imaginary line.
Publications such as these only strengthen neo-nazzi groups,
You are making no sense at all. What are you talking about?
jewish39 wrote,
We may make fun of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
Are you sure, jewish39? Who else may Heeb (and everyone else) make fun of? What about Stalin? And what about Jimmy Carter? Would you please supply a comprehensive lit of who may be made fun so these lines are not crossed in the future?
07.31.09 at 12:07 pm
ladyofargonne wrote, Or one for gay men called “F*****”?
Kinda.
http://www.queermagazine.se/
username1 wrote,
The “domestication of the Holocaust” is something that we Jews should be trying to stop and fighting against it
No. The Holocaust as the center of Jewish identity is what we need to fight against.
guyww wrote,
I am a 35 year-old …third generation to holocaust survivors.
Anytime a comment starts like this, you know it is going to be filled with self-righteous authority based on what happened to someone else.
You crossed the line
You don’t make “the line.” Your line is an imaginary line.
Publications such as these only strengthen neo-nazzi groups,
You are making no sense at all. What are you talking about?
jewish39 wrote,
We may make fun of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
Are you sure, jewish39? Who else may Heeb (and everyone else) make fun of? What about Stalin? And what about Jimmy Carter? Would you please supply a comprehensive lit of who may be made fun so these lines are not crossed in the future?
07.31.09 at 5:07 pm
You are an absolute jacka**. How can you compare a generalization about the character of the Soup Nazi to the incineration of people? You can’t!
The Soup Nazi’s character is a depiction of the harshness of the Nazi’s. Showing a Hitler character pulling burnt cookies shaped like people is a direct comparison to the ovens the Nazi’s used to murder our family members.
I love to laugh. I’m an equal opportunity offender and have a very open & diverse sense of humor. But, nobody with any taste, class or dignity finds humor in this photoshoot. There is nothing funny about this photoshoot or your idiotic defense.
Grow some balls and admit you made a mistake.
07.31.09 at 5:07 pm
The Soup Nazi’s character is a depiction of the harshness of the Nazi’s
jtiller, that is a completely absurd understanding of the Soup Nazi. Why are all the OFFENDED commenters here such tards?
07.31.09 at 6:07 pm
Making jokes about serious matters might help some with the pain caused. Jokes turn into laughter. Laughter for some turn into denial. For those that laugh at nazi jokes or feel its time not to be so sensitive…search holocaust / nazi extermination of the jews. If you still are laughing afterwards, call me.
07.31.09 at 7:07 pm
I’m surprised at seeing how many of the comments are negative. If I understand Heeb’s editor’s intentions, they set out to pictorialize the “mainstreaming” of holocaust humour. They didn’t condone it or make any value judgement, as far as I can tell. All they did, visually, was say “hey, this taboo subject is no longer as taboo.” Which is exactly the sort of cultural observation a Jewish cultural magazine should make.
As a Jew, my first reaction to the picture was intrigue more than anything else. It’s visually interesting and knowing that Roseanne Barr is Jewish made it instantly non-objectionable, even before I read that it was made by Jews in a Jewish magazine. Jews can say whatever they want about other Jews.
07.31.09 at 11:07 pm
I’m not Jewish and I’m not amused. I don’t see anything funny about the picture…nor do I think contemporary Jews help their cause, are more elightened, or even show a better sense of humor than their counterparts by choosing to laugh or create satire regarding the holocaust. BTW there is a BIG difference between a one liner in a movie (I didn’t know they gave out rings in the holocaust) and a picture of a hilter character taking out a tray of Jew cookies form the oven. While it will certainly spur debate/discussion it is no less tasteless than any cheap off color Jewish joke out there. Please don’t do this.
08.01.09 at 10:08 am
Perhaps you can explain coherently how jokes in reference to jewish practice and tradition are comparable to ones about genocide. I will not give any more time to excuses or arguments justifying an image that bears no intelligent or artistic valor. The picture is stupid.
Also, being jewish does not automatically entitle anyone to ownership of the Holocaust. Roseanne, for example, is a convert whose family was not subject to the nazis. This is not a question of bad taste. I do not care if you think it is funny or clever. You and roseanne are idiots.
08.01.09 at 12:08 pm
Joshua Neuman said “Certainly Jews have been joking about the Holocaust since the Holocaust”.
HUH? I’m your typical American Jew. I can’t remember hearing a single joke about the Holocaust from gentile or jew. Sorry, 6 million deaths? Taboo my brutha, and poor judgement on your part.
08.01.09 at 12:08 pm
This finally smashes forever the glass box of sadness and anger that the Jewish people have been trapped in since 1945,
Free, at last.
08.01.09 at 1:08 pm
I am not a Rosanne fan, however for her to be a part of this satire was offensive to not only all Holocaust survivors but to Jews everywhere. Now for you Heeb to hide behind the 1st Amendment and say“but it was satire” is cowardly. Also to say that you were not doing it to be “shocking”—again do not hide behind literary freedom. You are trying to market your product pure and simple. Oh wait, that was too cynical; I am sure that you really to care about the Jewish people and you wanted people to see the satire in taking burnt gingerbread cookies out of the over—give me a break. I do recommend that you go to one of the concentration camps in Germany or Poland and look at the ovens where millions of people were wiped off the face of the earth. Take the time to reflect on the cruelty of human kind—then and only then do I want to read your next piece of shit, I am sorry satire.
08.01.09 at 4:08 pm
i have been involved in comedy for decades, and i have a very open mind. this attempt at whatever it is you are trying to achieve is simply beyond belief. roseanne barr is an offensive human being, and no advertiser should ever support your endeavors. anyone advertising on your site should think again about the consequences. you have caused unneeded pain to those that have already suffered enough, and the demise of heeb cannot come soon enough.
what a bunch of talentless morons.
08.01.09 at 7:08 pm
I don’t find making the trivalization of geniocide not a good thing. I have never heard a single joke, or any joke about the holocaust. I would be really interested for the Editor to give me the top 10. Using Rosanne makes it even sadder and sick. There are few humans living that are more narisistic and preditary if not downright coldly (and hotly) mean than her. The fact that she believes herself to be reincarnation of Hitler, means that inside, she thinks she IS Hitler. I’d really be interested about what she thinks of this ultimate war criminal, since this would basically be an opinion about what Rosanne sees her “true self”. Last time I checked, she doesnt see anything wrong in how she treats others and not into forgiveness either.
Way far extreme shock satire yes, a good thing? No.
08.01.09 at 7:08 pm
Um delete the not in the first sentence of my previous post.
08.02.09 at 1:08 am
GIANT NIPPLES!
(I didn’t write that to get you to read my post, I just did it to satire sexual perverts)
I opened this publisher comment expecting to read the cunning of a suave editor, wording a compelling argument to justify these atrocious pictures.
However, I found nothing compelling, nor even eloquently worded. The argument made is based on comparing the Hitler photo shoot to the Soup Nazi.
How do you explain to somebody that there is a difference between simply referencing the holocaust and shooting a notable self-loathing jew dressed as Hitler pulling burnt jew cookies out of the oven?
To believe for one second that this was done to satire anti-simitism and not just to make the Mario Lopez show must take all the imagination in the world. This was done to get traffic.
This is a sham of a publication. It’s not even funny. My friends and I could write funnier stuff in 10 minutes and get a better circulation EVEN without mocking our grandparents burning in ovens.
I hope your magazine fails. I hope you have such a backlash in the Jewish community that you have to move to Saudi Arabia to ever find work again.
08.02.09 at 2:08 pm
Never again. This is the promise we made. This is a promise we will keep.
Your attempt to be provocative has, once again, provoked attention and while your twisted minds may believe that all attention, good or bad, is actually good, be clear – that is not the way things work.
I know you know who I am.
For those of you who don’t, read my campaign against Heeb this past March, http://jewishandproud.wordpress.com/.
I’m happy to see that none of the organizations I wrote about have any advertising on your site any more. Very proud of them. If any have fallen through the cracks, rest assured I will make absolute sure to have them take notice.
Never again. This goes for all of you too.
You should be ashamed.
08.02.09 at 4:08 pm
Open Letter to Heeb Magazine:
The Roseanne Barr photos JUST DON’T WORK; they aren’t funny and they aren’t provocative—they’re just insensitive and dumb. What’s worse, they give comfort to anti-Semites by treating anti-Semitism as just another joke: “see, guys, we can laugh about it too, what’s the big deal…?”
I say this as someone who shares your editorial affinity with Larry David, Sarah Silverman, and THE PRODUCERS. One can joke about the Holocaust and Jews have done so since Hitler took power. But note well that when Larry David created “The Survivor” episode on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, he wasn’t making fun of the suffering of Jews in the Holocaust (by, for example, taking burnt “jew cookies” out of the oven…), he was making fun of the glib equations in the mass media of personal inconvenience with catastrophic tragedy. This is to say, the humor comments on a larger issue in the contemporary culture, and shocks to make a specific, ultimately moral, point. Can you explain the moral point Roseanne Barr’s images make in your magazine? Can you explain “the punchline” to me/us/your readers? I didn’t think so….
My advice, entirely unsolicited, would be to admit that the photos don’t work, issue an apology, however insincere, and move one. Roseanne Barr is the wrong pony to bet on in this race, and you can do better. I’m certain of it….
08.02.09 at 4:08 pm
The photos don’t work, as satire, humor, or even provocation. Admit you made a mistake, issue an apology, even an insincere one, and move one. There’s no betting on this pony….
08.02.09 at 4:08 pm
“Naturally, our editors couldn’t help but wonder whether something new was happening in the culture— whether the taboo against joking about the Holocaust and the Nazis exerted as much power as it used to.”
Well now you know the taboo still exists given the responses you’ve received on this. The only point you have proven here is that for YOU it doesn’t exist, not for millions of other people.
Do you write this magazine for your own pleasure or that of your readers? A lot of your readers are offended, even if the editorial staff isn’t, and you should issue an actual apology instead of this ridiculous rationale that implies people couldn’t figure out your oh-so-witty point.
08.02.09 at 9:08 pm
I am Jewish. And I am only 17 in my senior year of high school. But you know what? I think I have a whole lot more sense than all of Heeb’s editors combined. I have a question for your Jewish editors, such as Joshua Neuman. Have you ever lit a vigil in honor of the Holocaust? Have you ever been to the Washington D.C. or Israel Holocaust museums? Have you ever heard a survivor speak of their experiences? If the answers to these questions are yes, than I’m shocked by your lack of moral values. Although it must be no, right? How do you even call yourselves members of the Jewish people when you wear swastikas? When you portray Jewish people in an oven?
It’s not funny. It’s tasteless.
08.02.09 at 9:08 pm
Carmitipapiti…your comments regarding Roseanne’s “conversion” are far more offensive and tasteless than anything I’ve seen come out of her mouth.
Your apparent belief of genetic superiority of “real” Jews as opposed to “converts” have far more in common with Hitler’s beliefs than they do with anything I consider part of the Jewish tradition.
08.02.09 at 9:08 pm
And also, the joke in the Hangover was funny because it obviously didn’t happen. The joke in Bruno didn’t make sense. This ‘joke’ is a clear portrayal of something that actually happened.
08.02.09 at 9:08 pm
So humour is defined by whether or not something makes sense…erm…or whether it happened (not sure how that applies to the Hangover scene…the Holocaust did happen, if you’re saying they didn’t give out rings, well, they didn’t make people out of Gingerbread either…coherent argument fail)...your arguments seem confused and dependant on how much you like the ‘comedian’ involved.
And Ladyofargonne (sheesh) I think your attempt to equate the term Heeb with nigger and faggot says more about your own bigotry than about Heeb’s.
08.02.09 at 10:08 pm
Is it just me or are the people with the most antipathy towards the shoot also the people with the poorest grasp of syntax and grammar?
08.02.09 at 10:08 pm
You guys do realize those were cookies and not real people, right?
08.02.09 at 10:08 pm
No..not exactly. The portrayal of Roseanne wearing a swastika and holding dead Jews isn’t funny because it’s not far from the truth, it’s like laughing at a reenactment of the Holocaust. So what if she’s not Hitler, she’s dressed like him.
I do understand why someone would laugh at the joke that rings were handed out in the holocaust, because that’s an obviously untrue statement.
Also, it makes complete sense to compare Heeb to ni**** and fag because it comes from the word hebe, an antisemetic slur.
08.02.09 at 10:08 pm
Ok, well then I encourage you to go call a black person a nigger, a homosexual a faggot and a Jew a Heeb…and see which one of them kicks your ass first.
Shayna, you’re a numbnut…the rings were a joke about the Holocaust…it happened…true there were no rings…just like there were no Jewish people made of Gingerbread being put into an oven by Jewish Grandmother.
08.02.09 at 10:08 pm
Well I wonder why, Heeb isn’t a very common insult, it’s only known as a magazine title, and why would a magazine have slur as it’s title?
Obviously there were no Gingerbread Jews during the holocaust, but that is not the point of the photos. It doesn’t matter whether Roseanne is a Jewish grandmother or not; she is wearing a swastika, dressed up as Hitler, and putting little people in an oven. I don’t know…that kind of reminds of something that is not funny.
08.02.09 at 10:08 pm
Well, gee Bambi, they didn’t hand out rings at the Holocaust…but apparently that’s funny…despite it (presumably) also reminding you of something that is not funny.
You keep contradicting yourself so much…I hardly need to be here.
08.02.09 at 10:08 pm
I just don’t understand why people don’t think it’s funny to ridicule the Nazis? Or do you think Hitler would be honored to be likened to a chubby housewife? I get that it’s a dark joke, but it’s a joke nonetheless.
08.03.09 at 2:08 pm
What’s wrong with appreciating bad taste? This is no different than Springtime for Hitler in “The Producers,” which was also deemed immoral in the press when it was released in 1968.
08.03.09 at 2:08 pm
Quoting Heep publisher Joshua Neuman discussing the complaints about Rosanne Bar: “When I hear such sorrowful pleas, I want to cry “. The only sorrowful aspect of this is you, Joshua Neuman for not having the common sense to know what Not make fun of.
Your immaturity and irresponsibility is quite obvious, but doesn’t excuse you from your actions, nor does your attempt to justify them as you tried to explain yourself in your article.
If you think making fun of human tragedies is funny, try this sick humor on the victims of 911. See how far you get!
There is much valid Jewish humor to go around. You are not part of it. You should know when to draw the line. If I was ever going to read your magazine, I will never now.
As for Barr, I wouldn’t waste my time.
08.03.09 at 2:08 pm
I think you make a very good point about a cultural shift. Has enough time passed for it to be okay to start making Holocaust jokes? And are some Holocaust jokes okay, and some not okay? If Heeb and Roseanne crossed a line, what is that line?
I tried to answer some of these questions in a post at Jewesses With Attitude. Please check it out! http://jwablog.jwa.org/holocausthumor
08.03.09 at 6:08 pm
casper01 wrote,
If I was ever going to read your magazine, I will never now.
Shouldn’t you pretend that you were a regular reader like everyone else who is shocked and offended?
Shit…looking at all the bruhaha online and the denunciations of the infuriated who were all loyal readers UNTIL NOW, you would think that Heeb lost a readership of…6,000,000!
08.03.09 at 9:08 pm
Can anything original be added this far down the thread? I’m too lazy to read all the comments to find out, but has anyone pointed out “Many have been up (and) arms over our recent photo”? Please tell me that was a typo.
08.03.09 at 11:08 pm
You’re a Nazi Jew! You should hang your head in shame. Yom Kippur will be here soon and the Lord our God is watching and listening. You don’t deserve to be a member of our tribe. Sinful!!
08.04.09 at 12:08 am
Aah Sammy, I wonder what the Lord our G-d would think of you determining who deserves to be a member of our ‘tribe’ or not.
Sinful indeed.
One wondered how long it would take for some loser to drag out the “You’re a Nazi!” defence…given the subject matter, I would’ve expected it sooner…disappointing.
08.04.09 at 3:08 am
Joshua, if you actually believe that pyrotechnic sophistry that you wrote as a justification for this revolting, unfunny rubbish, then you are an Idiot. (Burnt Jew cookies?!!!!) Where is the humor?
08.04.09 at 2:08 pm
if it’s offensive if said or done by someone who is not Jewish, how is it ok from someone who is Jewish. To be Jewish and anti-semetic is far worse, to spread this filth and condone it for all Jews is not something I expected to see in this day and age. It’s a sad sad day for humanity