The Jewish Dad Starter Pack

Hey GOLDA gang! 

Father’s Day is next Sunday, June 15, and we’re kicking off the celebration of the Jewish dad as a person, a concept, and a style icon. Our guest today is the writer Jason Diamond. He’s celebrating his first Father’s Day this year, but he’s long turned to the canon of Jewish fathers for literary and sartorial inspiration. That’s probably why people tell him he’s “dad coded.”  

Jason is also a great writer and a very entertaining Instagram follow. His forthcoming book, Kaplan’s Plot, comes out in September. I just got my advance copy and can’t wait to dig in this weekend. In the meantime, I asked him to share his five Father’s Day picks. Here’s Jason:

I've been trying to explain a very specific sort of Jewish Dad trope for years, and a full year into my own tenure as a Jewish father, I'm still having a hard time trying to find the right words for it. Sure, there are always some bad apples, and nobody is perfect, but I've found that people who have had the experience of being raised by a good Jewish dad tend to love the guy with their entire being. 

I don't know why this is and I'll admit the science behind my theory is flawed, but I always think about the Ric Burns New York documentary when I try my best to sum up the Jewish Dad in a nutshell. It's in the fourth episode, the one that focuses on all the immigrants that came into Ellis Island in the late-19th and early-20th century, and it runs down the list of different people getting off the boat. All the other dads are sort of like "Hey! I'm so happy to see you, my family. Now let's get out of here." But the Jewish father stood out to the onlooker because he "kissed his wife and children as if he had all the kisses in the world and intended to use them up quick." I think that sort of sums it up, and I like to think I'm part of that lineage. 

Since I am, I've found these things handy over the last year of my life. 

New Balance Sneakers

I was a New Balance fan even before my daughter was born, but what I noticed after she arrived was that a lot of my dad friends were also big NB heads. I've got about five pairs, and the most versatile for going from the playground to getting a glass of wine while the baby is asleep are the Made in the USA 990v6s. They're a little more expensive than a regular pair of sneakers, but trust me, it's worth it. They look good and they last. 

A Soda Siphon

I know dad probably already either has some sort of seltzer-making equipment or an entire fridge stocked full of his favorite fizzy waters, but I like having a classy soda siphon as well. It's just so fun to pull it out and be like "Can I spritz you" when a guest is drinking lemonade or an alcoholic cocktail. 

A Fictional Baseball Jersey 

One of my favorite Jewish Dad stereotypes is most of us (again, not ALL of us) love baseball, basketball, or both. I'm more of a basketball fanatic, but my Ashkenazi genes being what they are means I've got a lot of fuzz on my arms and shoulders that doesn't quite go with a sleeveless Knicks jersey. Baseball jerseys, on the other hand, are great. A favorite of mine is the Ebbets Field New York Knights jersey from the 1984 film The Natural, based on the Bernard Malamud novel of the same name. 

A Blu Ray Player

A common complaint among me and the other dads these days is that having all these streaming subscriptions is getting pretty annoying. We're basically paying more now than we did when we just had cable, they take stuff we like off all the time, and the quality is often lower than we'd like. The fix is going back to what we grew up on, and embracing physical media once again. I've gotten way too into blu ray DVDs, and have spent too much on Criterion Collection sales, but it's worth it. My personal favorite is the Panasonic player I bought on sale, but I know some of my cinephile friends have different opinions. 

A Bucket Hat

Hair loss, carrying around a plastic Zabar's bag like it's a tote, and complaining about back pain are all things that many Jewish Dads have to face. So is getting into bucket hats. I don't know why this is, but we've really had a lock on these things for decades. I have more than a few, but you really can't go wrong with one from Ralph.

Thanks to Jason for these truly inspired picks. You can preorder his novel Kaplan’s Plot here, and subscribe to his Substack here.  

I have only one Father’s Day gift suggestion to add, and it’s something so perfectly dad-coded that when I saw it I knew I needed to share it. It’s the “Hollywood Collection” from Jewish Lives—a seven-book set featuring biographies of Mel Brooks, Groucho Marx, Stanley Kubrick, Barbra Streisand, and more.

Also, I love this PJ Library summer scavenger hunt across the Lower East Side, which would make for a very fun Father’s Day activity. You can find themed children’s books at a series of iconic locations like Katz’s Deli, Economy Candy, and the Tenement Museum. 

We have lots of great stuff coming your way all summer long, so tell a friend to subscribe! Here’s an easy link to share: goldaguide.com/subscribe.

Stay GOLDA,

Stephanie