"The Jewbird" is a short story by the

Jewish-American American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are Americans, American citizens who are Jews, Jewish, whether by Jewish culture, culture, ethnicity, or Judaism, religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of Am ...

writer

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...

. The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

is a crow named Schwartz, who identifies himself as a Jewbird. Fleeing persecution by

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

birds, Schwartz tries to find a home with a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Jewish family. Despite being generous and respectful to the family, the father first persecutes, and then attempts to kill Schwartz. The story has been interpreted as an

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

about Jewish self-hatred. The story was first published in '' The Reporter'' on April 11, 1963, and collected in '' Idiots First'' (1963). It also appeared in ''A Malamud Reader'' (1967), ''The Stories of Bernard Malamud'' (1983), and ''Two Fables'' (1978), where it appeared along with "Talking Horse." The story was adapted for the stage at the Israeli

Gesher Theater Gesher Theater is an Israeli theater company founded in 1991 in Tel Aviv by new Olim from the Soviet Union. Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy, by Natan Sharansky, 2008, pp 139ff. It performs both in Russian and ...

, along with other tales, under the title ''Schwartz and Other Animals''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewbird, The American short stories Short stories about talking animals Anthropomorphic crows Works originally published in The Reporter (magazine) Short stories by Bernard Malamud Jewish American literature Short stories set in New York City Animal tales 1963 short stories