A Jew’s take on playing a Jew in South Park: The Stick of Truth

SAN FRANCISCO — I’ll always remember my Grandma’s sense of humor. My younger brother once told her that the Jews killed Jesus. She looked at him, looked at my parents, and then shrugged. “Darling,” she said in her Russian-New York Jew accent. “That was your Grandpa’s side of the family.”

My Grandma’s sense of humor fit the laugh-at-the-pain attitude that runs throughout Jewish culture, and this ability to laugh at ourselves — even when something could be offensive — is one of the things I cherish about being a Jew. After playing about two hours of the upcoming role-playing game South Park: The Stick of Truth, I wondered how far the makers of the show and the game’s developers — who worked on it together — would treat the Jew class. And I realized something surprising: Being The Jew in South Park isn’t as offensive as I thought it might be.