Communicating Identity through Religious Internet Memes on the ‘Tweeting Orthodoxies’ Facebook Page

It is the well-known “bulletproof” scene from The Matrix movie. We see Keanu Reeves in a green hallway, wearing a black trench coat, dark sunglasses, and a Kippah. His hand is stretched out, holding back a stream of hovering candies, instead of machine-gun bullets. The caption above the photo states “Neo’s Bar-Mitzvah.” This is not a Jewish remake of The Matrix, it is an internet meme shared on the religious Facebook page “Tweeting Orthodoxies,” that playfully presents the custom of throwing candies at the Bar-Mitzvah boy after reading the Haphtarah on his Aliyah La-Thorah. This meme, and many others like it, demonstrates how digital culture provides a group of National Religious Jews with unique opportunities to communicate about and engage in the reconstruction of their religious identity. This engagement is studied in the current chapter by investigation of the ways a specific National Religious Facebook group employs internet memes.

H. Campbell