“Today, I Am A Man” is a series of anecdotes on Bergman’s perspective on masculinity, Jewish masculinity in particular which are linked together by a series of stories he tells. Bergman notes on page thirty seven how Jewish masculinity “prizes storytelling” and how “as a people of diaspora a people with a staggeringly long oral tradition, even considering our equally staggering literacy rate, there seems to be some…genetic selection at work” (Bergman, 37). Earlier Bergman notes the qualities that have become to be valued due to the inability to compete openly with the culture of the ruling class in it’s areas of achievement are “intellect, skill at argument , or ebate, being bound to family, storytelling (and, especially, good comic timing), and certain sartorial flair, among others” (Bergman, 31). This ideals along with the stories Bergman tells shape the essay as a whole. The initial story Bergman tells about his cousin who cried for three days after the death of his grandfather frames the entire piece. This story is put in contrast to the traditional “north american” masculine standard in order to highlight the uniqueness of this moment, and how it is part of the very essence of what is considered to be Jewish masculinity. This story did not strike at first when reading Bergman’s essay. It struck me though after the following story of my own :

a young man sitting on an upholstered couch in a black suit, shoulders slumped, breath trembling through deep breaths, an arm around my shoulder as he tries not to cry. A young girl not ten minutes later breaks down in her mom’s arms sobbing.

This story is in direct conflict with the experience of Bergman and his cousin, a young man who’s emotions were accepted. The story above is laced with traditional north american masculine values.  

By picking this story to ground the whole essay Bergman emphasizes an essential point, “when they are grown and faced with loss, none of them will think that their tears of grief, or process of healing from them, are the exclusive province of femininity” (Bergman, 32). By stating this Bergman brings to the forefront the importance of emotion and expression in identity, and how this was embraced when he was growing up. “Today I Am A Man” does not seek to analyze the long standing traditions of the masculine and the feminine when it comes to practicing Judaism but seeks to better understand the essence of masculine identity but presenting key moments from his experience as both a Jewish girl and a Jewish man. The ending of the essay is in direct contrast with the beginning story. The ending of “Today I Am A Man” ends with the mother smiling in order to not cry and Bergman’s Dad “looks down and away, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. I think, but do not say : Very Jewish” (Bergman, 38). This element of masculinity in this moment is transcended past just young adulthood into manhood.

The direct associations Bergman makes between masculinity and storytelling are crucial and he highlights the imagery of, “a man sitting back in his chair at the dinner table with a glass of something in his hand, smiling slyly, saying, “I got one for you”, in just the right way” (Bergman, 38). This imagery continues the element of the man being in possession of a certain level of the tradition because of the conflation of masculinity and storytelling. In its own way the masculine Jewish culture becomes Bardic one with the man becoming responsible with preserving the past and the future, not so much in a poetic way, but the essential aspect of storytelling is there.  

One of the important comparisons that is made between a story and reality is the discussion of Bergman’s brother arguing with the family about bats. Bergman notes how “where other cultural groups might be playing football in the yard or sparring in the basement or honing their marksmanship on the cranberry-sauce cans, the Jewboys are inside arguing about bats, practicing our own eventual ways of exerting our power in the public sphere” (Bergman, 35). Bergman draws a connection between how the encouragement to be argumentative, and the practice in doing so preps these young boys for the current structures in place for the public sphere. Bergman references multiple examples of the legal language that places men above women in public, legal, religious, and social hierarchies in Jewish society. Bergman also notes how this is sometimes the direct symptom of feeling “emasculated” in their public life. Bergman’s family created a unique situation because they functioned differently than others at that time. Bergman as a young Jewish girl was encouraged to be “smart and learn to argue someone else into submission” (Bergman, 35-36). This family dynamic allowed for the transition between the feminine sphere to the masculine sphere easier for Bergman. Bergman however noticed as a child that a lot of the other Jewish women of his class were “policed” in regards to their gendered behaviors in argument and debate (Bergman, 36).

“When I am asked, as I sometimes am, why transgendered Jews–and especially transmasculinely gendered Jews–appear, anecdotally, to be more likely to remain religiously affiliated, I say that this is part of the answer : It seems to me that we do not have to go as far, nor do we have to climb into places that seem quite as foreign to us” (Bergman, 36). This statement about the transition into being masculine as a Jewish person is interesting because it calls out the difficulties that could arise when making this transition in a different context. Bergman notes that trans men do not have to “climb into places that seem quite as foreign to us”, they do not necessarily have to, in his experience, acquire new comfort levels that did not exist before because there are certain things that are widely accepted for men to do, such as crying and being sweet on babies. Bergman throughout the essay attempts to illustrate a divide between femininity and masculinity, and comments on how within his family structure the divide was blurred because the females of the family were encouraged to do things the men did such as be argumentative and smart. These similarities made assimilation easier because the leap was smaller.