Jax Teller

We finally finished watching "Sons of Anarchy", which is up there for the most gruesome show of all time. For those not versed in violent vehicular drama, it's "Hamlet" on Harleys.

Seriously, it's the most obvious alteration of "Hamlet" since "The Lion King": the young prince (Jax) broods while hearing voices (lost diary) from his dead father, while his mother (Gertrude Gemma) is married to his father's brother best friend (Claudius Clay), the new king gang leader. Ophelia and Polonius have stand-ins as well; there are so many connections that we honestly lost track. Besides, we're not Shakespearean scholars.

We are scholars of Jewish fictional characters, and due a throwaway(?) comment in an early episode, this Hamlet Jackson is somehow Halachically Jewish, as his mother mentions that she has Jewish Russian roots (ostensibly, to match those of actress Katey Sagal?). We know her father is a pastor, so that rules him out, making the lineage matrilineal, and Jax into a canonical Jew. Well, sort of. You don't have to read between the lines to understand that he doesn't believe in any G-d. And Gemma dabbles with Christianity on and off, so the Jewishness is obviously nominal. And yet!

Of course, there is one overt Jew on the show: gang member Bobby Munson, AKA Bobby Elvis. Sadly, we're stumped to find a clear Hamlet parallel with him. Perhaps we need to rethink our verdict that both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are goyishe?

Verdict: **Barely a Jew**.

_December 31, 2025_