Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie, the Dust Bowl troubadour, was about as Jewish as a ham sandwich on white bread, which is to say, not at all. Born in Oklahoma, his roots were firmly planted in American soil, not the fertile crescent. His brand of populism, while frequently righteous, never quite veered into the territory of ancient Hebrew prophets, despite his prolific output.

While Woody was a champion of the working man and often sang about social justice, a cause many Jews hold dear, this does not, in fact, make him Jewish. He was, to put it mildly, more interested in the plight of the Okie than the plight of, say, the shtetl-dweller. His anti-fascist leanings were admirable, of course, but he didn't need a bar mitzvah to get there.

In terms of Jewish identity, well, there wasn't any. His "identity" was firmly cemented in American folk music and left-wing activism. He sampled from a wide range of musical influences, none of which were, to our knowledge, liturgical melodies from the Great Synagogue of Vilna. One might even argue he's the quintessential goy folk singer, which, for the record, is not an insult, just an observation.

However, his enduring legacy and his influence on generations of musicians, including a certain Robert Zimmerman who later became Bob Dylan, definitely count as kvell-worthy. Even if he wasn't Jewish, he inspired a lot of people, and that's something to be proud of. Just maybe not "kvell" about in the traditional sense.