Jewish commentaries on Star Wars: theology, history, and debate

This paper examines how pop culture commentators, rabbis, bloggers, and others create commentaries on the implicit Jewish dimensions of Star Wars movies. These midrashic commentaries fundamentally challenge the conceptual divide between pop culture and religious life, and online religion and religion online. Commentaries examined here are grouped into three categories, including those created by commentators who link a range of points from Jewish theology to the Star Wars universe, events, and characters; see in Star Wars traces of Jewish historical experiences, from biblical episodes, Second Temple times, the Enlightenment, and the Nazi period, to the present day; and believe that aspects of the Star Wars story, particularly key scenes and characters from Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), facilitate critical debate on Jewish movements today.