For many millennials and Gen Zers, A Series of Unfortunate Events is a cornerstone of their childhood literary experience.
Written by Daniel Handler under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, the book series is beloved worldwide for its macabre tone, quirky and eclectic cast of characters, and a dizzying host of mysteries surrounding the Baudelaire orphans and the strange and cruel world around them.
But between all the debates over who actually killed the Baudelaire parents, what is in Count Olaf's sugar bowl, and what is the Great Unknown, the giant question mark monstrosity that lurks beneath the waves, there is one thing that many may have overlooked: How distinctively Jewish the series is.
Handler himself had a Reform Jewish upbringing and has said most of the characters in the series are Jewish. But aside from the characters' religious affiliation, A Series of Unfortunate Events is filled with Jewish themes and motifs.
Here's a look at some of them.
Jewish terms and references
The most obvious instance of Jewishness pervading the book series and its popular Netflix adaptation is the numerous references to Judaism, such as characters talking about mitzvahs or using Yiddish terminology.
At one point in the Netflix series, the classic Jewish tune "Hava Nagila" can even be heard.
In the books, Sunny Baudelaire can also be heard saying Hebrew words, such as Yom Huledet, the Hebrew term for birthday, and Yom Hashoah, the Hebrew term for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Characters also reference Yom Kippur and Tu Bishvat.
Another major Jewish reference can be found in the companion series All The Wrong Questions, where the title of the last book, Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights, refers to the Ma Nishtana (Four Questions) recited at the Passover Seder.
Unending misery and the Jewish Diaspora
With a title referring to a series of unfortunate events, it's no surprise that the series is filled with doom and gloom.
This is something very reflective of Jewish culture. Redditor u/misingnoglic summed up these themes very well with the following quote: "In a broad sense, [A Series of Unfortunate Events] is a very Jewish story, even without all the direct references to Judaism. Most Jewish stories are of the form 'they tried to kill us, they did not succeed, we won,' but with the understanding that the next unfortunate story was about to come." This truly does sum up the series to a T.
Throughout the books and Netflix series, the Baudelaires have to go from one strange adopted guardian to the next, each seeming more bizarre than the last and each setting seeming even more perilous. All the while, their enemy, Count Olaf, continues to hound them wherever they go, always evading justice, always coming with a new mask.
Thus, though the children never give up hope and never stop fighting and running, it seems at every turn, these poor orphans are constantly running from safe harbor to safe harbor. Sometimes, their guardians take good care of them and show them love, affection, and respect, such as Uncle Monty from the second book, The Reptile Room. Other times, they find themselves living with more outright hostile guardians, such as Esmé Squalor in the sixth book, The Ersatz Elevator. Other times, their homes will be largely unwelcoming and harsh, letting the children stay only under strict and punishing circumstances, such as the Village of Fowl Devotees from the seventh book, The Vile Village.
Each time, these homes are only temporary, as circumstances inevitably turn against the Baudelaires, and they are forced to flee elsewhere. In this regard, there is no truly "safe" place for them, and their future is always uncertain.
But despite everything, the orphans always remain hopeful and try to make the best of every home they find themselves in.
This, too, is something pervasive in Jewish culture. Persecution has hounded the Jewish people throughout their history. While they often tried to make the best of it in whatever home they found themselves in, regardless of how many restrictions were placed on them, expulsions often followed. The Jews would always struggle to find a safe haven throughout the world, and while they would always survive, trouble would always keep coming for them.
Handler has further articulated this in interviews. In 2017, speaking with Moment Magazine, Handler spoke about what it is like to be Jewish today.
"As an American Jew today, I view it with the nervousness of so many of my ancestors, who wondered when it was time to leave," he said.
Elaborating further in an interview with The Forward, he noted: "I grew up hearing stories of my family, some of whom made it out of Germany, and some of whom didn’t. I think the idea of terrible things happening over and over for no good reason was something that I had a grasp of from a very young age. I also think in general terrible things happening for no good reason is a cornerstone of Jewish thought."
Further to this point is the fact that throughout their journey, the Baudelaires only ever have three things: Each other, their books, and the memories of their parents. This is something also reflective of Jewish history, with the people constantly in exile being united by a common Jewish identity, texts, traditions, and history.
Balancing the literal and metaphorical
The series has very peculiar worldbuilding. It is unclear where or when the series takes place. Some locations have names, but the main city featured in the story is never named, nor is the country in which it takes place.
The vagueness of everything provides a great sense of unease, as the writing and huge litany of conspiracies and characters and more, despite the lack of detail, only serves to highlight that there is so much in this world that we don't know about. It implies a whole teaming and intricate world filled with detail, history, and depth, but all of it is shrouded in mystery.
In other words, what we do know highlights just how much we don't know, adding to the overall sense of unease. But it also makes the books so much more immersive, with you never being able to be sure that this doesn't take place in the real world, that these places might be real.
This floating between real and not real is something Handler has gone on record as saying is a magical part of childhood and is something that is inherently Jewish.
Speaking in an interview with The Forward in 2017, Handler said the following:
"I think actually that you can float in this sense between it being real and not real when you’re young. It’s really magical. For me, that’s part of Judaism too. The way we understand the stories is the Torah are somewhere between literal and metaphorical. Unlike a lot of other religions, where they’re really stressing the literal all the time.
"I think in Judaism there’s always an understanding that we’re telling this story because it means something to us, because it’s old and because people have been telling it for a long time. Not because we think everything that happened is literally true. I’ve often thought that that reminds me of the way a book can remain in your head as a child."
Tikkun olam
Another core Jewish concept expressed in the series is the idea of fixing the world, also known as tikkun olam.
At one point, the character Kit Snicket tells Lemony Snicket (who is also a character in addition to the credited writer), "The world's troubles aren't the fault of any one person, but it is your fault if you do nothing."
As noted by Redditor u/breehyhinnyhoohyha, this is similar to a line from Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot) that is often attributed to the ideal of tikkun olam: "It is not up to you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid it."
This further ties into the themes of pervasive misery and uncertainty constantly following the Beudelaires around. They can never earn a truly happy ending because all the darkness and despair will never go away, and the many mysteries and secrets surrounding their lives (which can be inferred to be the reasons for their misery) will never be fully explained.
All they can do is make the best of the imperfect world we are stuck in and in being good enough despite it all.
A lack of definitive message and moral
As previously stated, there doesn't always seem to be any good reason for all the misfortune that occurs throughout the series. Likewise, there doesn't seem to be any key moral or message to take away from it.
Speaking to Moment Magazine, Handler said the closest thing to a main moral is that if things are looking bad, you should still behave well, not because it will help but because it has its own rewards.
However, he continued, "It's not as if I sat down and thought, 'What important message can I bestow on the youth of the world?' I think that’s sort of Jewish too. I prefer the model of Talmudic thought in which people can spend a lifetime arguing over a single paragraph of Talmudic text, compared to the Catholic model in which a text is explained for you by someone on high."