Happy Birthday To Virginia Woolf, Who Hated The Sound Of Jewish Laughter

Virginia Woolf is not amused Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer January 25, 2018

Today marks the birth date of brilliant novelist and thinker Virginia Woolf, whose writings are a staple of modernist literature and whose feminist philosophy laid out some of the blueprints for the feminist movement we enjoy today.

Sadly, Virginia Woolf hated Jews a lot. Jewish characters in her novels were written as ugly stereotypes, and she spoke about her regret for marrying Leonard Woolf, a Jew. (Her reasoning for disliking her husband and Jews in general was, “They have immense vanity.”)

And once, in her diary, she wrote,

I do not like the Jewish voice; I do not like the Jewish laugh.

Now, anyone who has spent 11 continuous hours on El Al knows what she’s talking about. However, since Woolf was not Jewish herself, her comments are — how can we put this? Unadulterated anti-Semitism. To celebrate Woolf’s brilliant contributions to the world, and to celebrate just as fondly the vital joy and freedom of laughing while Jewish, here are 10 Jews laughing in honor of Virginia Woolf’s birthday. Happy 136th birthday, Virginia! (100 and double-chai, that is.)

Harrison Ford, laughing while Jewish and remarkably sexy:

Mila Kunis, laughing while Jewish and pretending to be high:

Jill Soloway, “Transparent” creator, laughing while Jewish and extremely charming:

Jeff Goldblum, laughing while young and Jewish:

Max Greenfield (Jewish) laughing with Zooey Deschanel (not Jewish — Woolf would adore her laugh!)

Tiffany Haddish, laughing while a little bit Jewish:

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, laughing while Jewish with James Gandolfini, who is laughing while not Jewish at all:

Elizabeth Banks laughing while Jewish and blonde:

Jason Segel, laughing while very clearly Jewish:

And finally…

Gal Gadot laughing reluctantly, while Jewish:

Gal Gadot laughing while looking like a Jewish Neutrogena model:

Gal Gadot laughing Jewishly while throwing shorts (?) at someone:

Looks like Jews had the last laugh, Virginia, but happy birthday anyways! We still love you all the way to the lighthouse and back.

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO