My mom recently showed me an old photo of my grandmother, where the octogenarian appears no older than 25. She sits poolside with one manicured hand on her knee, and the other atop her hip. Her elaborate one-piece bathing suit is ribboned at the chest and narrow at the waist. Under the shade of her wide-brimmed sun hat, her red-lipped grin transcends the black-and-white image. 

Upon first glance of the picture, I thought my grandma resembled a character out of the Amazon Prime original series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” That made me wonder: how many Jewish grandmothers have lived lives like Miriam Maisel’s? And what is it about this series that makes a teenager like myself think of it just from a photograph of my grandmother?

Perhaps, it’s because I think of the Emmy Award-winning program as being first and foremost Jewish, just like I think of my grandmother. Many episodes have some sort of comment or line that seems Jew-specific. In this sense, the show is unique because it includes some basic Yiddish phrases and major Jewish holidays, but does not spend time explaining them. Nearly all of the principal characters are Jewish. And if an important role is, in fact, a gentile, it is clearly stated (looking at you, Penny Pan).

“I’ve never watched a show that captures what Jews are so well,” said Lisa Miller, a junior at Ladue Horton Watkins High School and member of Shaare Emeth Congregation. “I can’t speak highly enough of it. I love it.”

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” gets Jewish humor—including its tone and pace—right. From the main character, Miriam (“Midge”) Maisel, standing on stage and kvetching about her life to calling pot roast the “Methodist version of brisket,” Mrs. Maisel’s humor seems to be for Jews, by Jews. 

“The humor is Jewish because it [is] about the family, and everybody seemed to always have a colorful family, no matter where you are,” said United Hebrew Congregation member and middle-aged fan of the show, Golda Cohen. “Family’s extremely important in Judaism, so that’s what [Midge] draws on for her comedy routine.”

Even though Midge jokes about various topics over the course of the series, Cohen notes that the routine always goes back to the family and Midge’s life. In other words, the family is her shtick. Despite the appeal of Jewish humor to Jews, another fan of the show, Rochelle Popkin, questions the show’s effect on non-Jewish viewers.

“I personally would prefer that the family wouldn’t be Jewish and that they wouldn’t be bringing up the—what they consider to be—Jewish humor,” said Popkin, who attends Shaare Emeth Congregation. “[There is] too much anti-Semitism in the world today, and it only does us more harm than good.”

Popkin’s least favorite character on the show is Moishe Maisel, Midge’s obnoxious father-in-law. Popkin dislikes his stingy business practices and the way he treats his factory employees. Though she opposes the stereotypical portrayals in the show, Popkin still finds most of the show’s humor clever. She also relishes the nostalgia “Maisel” brings to her. Zelda, a maid who works for Midge’s family in the show, reminds Popkin of a maid who worked for her own family decades ago.

“It’s fun for those of us who lived during that period of time to go back and be reminded of the way we lived,” said Popkin. “My parents had a maid that came almost every day. And I don’t think people today can afford to do that.”

Popkin was raised in a small Indiana town and has lived in St. Louis since attending Washington University. Being so far away from New York (where “Maisel” takes place) all her life, Popkin still sees the lifestyle from the program as foreign.

“Even though I lived during that period of time, I can’t really relate to what people were like who lived in New York—and especially getting involved in a nightclub type of a situation,” Popkin said. “The lifestyle of living in an apartment in New York is just too far away from the way I was brought up.”

Despite the disconnect with the New York lifestyle, Popkin recalls having articles of clothing that resemble those worn on the show. Her grandparents traveled upstate to the Catskills (like many of the show’s characters) for the summer, and Popkin even has a vague memory of making the trip herself. Miller also had family who traveled to the Borscht Belt annually. Miller’s New York family members even speak, to some extent, like the characters from the show.

“I have a lot of Jewish family in New York,” said Miller. “When I first started watching the show I was like, ‘Oh my god, they sound just like that side of my family.’ It was crazy. So, they’re really nailing their accent.”

Cohen finds reminiscence in the tone the characters use. Even though she was not yet born, she still recognizes their “Jewish inflection,” which has largely vanished from her life.

“I remember as a kid, I would hear that. But today, I don’t think I hear it at all from anybody, because the old people from my youth are gone,” said Cohen. “We’re so many generations into living in America that that inflection is gone.”

As far as the way the characters talk, Popkin’s primary observation is not about the sound, but rather, the words. She remembers avoiding expletives that Midge uses in the series.

“It’s funny because she uses the F-word quite frequently. And she says that she never talked that way before [becoming a comedian]. I knew a lot of young Jewish women, and most of us would not use that word, not when we were young,” said Popkin. “It wasn’t until later that we felt at ease saying the word.”

Miller, on the other hand, has been raised in a time during which curse words have proven much more socially acceptable. She also finds the show to be more deeply rooted in Judaism than Cohen or Popkin, possibly because she is younger and/or as a result of growing up less surrounded by Jewish people. Perhaps seeing large groups of Jewish people is more memorable to Miller because she has grown up in a time of less diversity.

“Pretty much the whole show revolves around Judaism,” said Miller. “It’s the ‘Jewiest’ show on T.V., so it’s relatable to me.”

Cohen, in contrast, notices very few Jewish references in the show.

“As it relates to Judaism, I don’t really see a whole lot,” said Cohen. “We don’t see them talking about going to services… But yet, we know it’s a Jewish family.”

Though Cohen thinks the show isn’t copious in lines and jokes relating to Judaism, she still finds that “Maisel” resonates with her. She thinks it portrays the family’s Judaism as being of some importance. 

Last month Cohen visited the Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot on the campus of Tel Aviv University. There, within an exhibit (titled “Let There Be Laughter”) dedicated to Jewish comedy around the world, she spotted a poster for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” The exhibit, which opened last March, was unveiled just months after the release of the show’s first season. Midge’s surname was displayed alongside iconic ones like Marx, Lebowski and Seinfeld.

“I thought that was pretty telling that after just one season, a poster for ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ was out there,” said Cohen. “If it has already made its way into one museum exhibit, there may be something with this series that is going to stand the test of time.”

Personally, I just wonder if anyone in the poster looked like my grandmother.