Ain't No Guilt Like Jewish Mother Guilt...

So last night a friend took me to see a play. I'm a pretty big theatre buff, and I'm generally willing to try new things, so when she suggested a very small play I had never heard of, I was willing to take a shot.

This won't be a theatre review, so I'll refrain from naming the play or playwright (if you're desperate to know, email me). The show was mostly a series of flashbacks of the life of a middle-aged male, whose mother (Jewish) had done an unbelievable number on him. And by unbelievable number, I mean everything from trying to forbid him to leave for college after his bags were packed (she didn't think he was "mature enough" to be on his own) to asking him not to get married at his rehearsal dinner (she couldn't be all alone) to uncoverable physical interaction where it was just blurry enough whether she wanted her oldest son to replace the husband who beat her and left her.

Heavy stuff, and admittedly, this playwright worked to overload it just a bit to hammer his point home. Subtlety was an artform this play did not possess. But since I got out of the show, its had me thinking about my own Jewish mother, as well as others I've had the opportunity to see.

I readily admit that there is something about the Jewish maternal influence, that makes the use of guilt and manipulation a requirement in their lives. Particularly when it comes to their first born sons; the "Golden Child", the "Perfect Boy", the "Lamb of Her Loins" (tm last night's play). Somehow they always manage to make their compliments come across as a slight, their approval come through as hedged... The ability to turn from pride to disdain within the same conversation or even the same sentence is unmatched in the rest of society.

My own mother, despite my moderate successes - both personal and career, still holds the randomest things against me. While my professional life may have yet to reach "stellar" status, I have worked for major companies, won a variety of awards, etc... yet she always finds a way to point out that I could have moved to the Midwest after college and rocked the airwaves as a radio DJ. She KNOWS I didn't want to go there for that position, but still thinks I made a mistake and likes to remind me as such.

Historically, I've dated many more non-Jews than Jews. Its not that I have a specific type, but just circumstantially has seemed to work out that way. So no matter who I've dated the last few years, and how great they treat me, she still manages to bring up the one girl from sophomore year of college who I dated from two months, and was yes, Jewish... again despite the fact that she KNOWS this girl cheated on me by sleeping with her ex. And that would be preferable how???

I still don't know what her goal is by pointing these types of things out to me, but for whatever reason, she continues to do it. And I've seen it with my grandmothers to my parents, and to friends as well... Jewish mothers have it down cold. Some may say all mothers do, but I think there's a built-in chromosome that allows Jewish moms to take it to a higher place.

Any Jews or Goyim out there want to share their thoughts?