Before the dawn of the Reform movement in the early nineteenth-century, the Jews were renowned for their ability to maintain cultural and genetic segregation from their non-Jewish host populations. Even while living in the midst of other peoples for extended periods of time, Jews remained separate from their non-Jewish neighbors.
Despite strict proscriptions against marrying outside the faith, Jewish men often found themselves captivated by the beauty and grace of gentile women. To combat these natural urges, Jewish religious writings emphasized the danger in associating with non-Jewish women. These writings often depicted cunning gentile women who used deception and bribery in order to seduce unwitting Jewish men into betraying their faith, with tragic results for the entire Jewish community.
A more plausible explanation of Jewish men's attraction to gentile women is the fact that, on average, non-Jewish women are more pulchritudinous than Jewish women. Nevertheless, the conceptualization of the wily, immoral gentile woman intent on seducing Jewish men away from their family and religion has survived into modern times in the concept of the shiksa.
Shiksa, derived from the Hebrew term sheketz, which means "abomination", "impure," or "object of loathing," is a term used by Jews to refer to non-Jewish women. Traditionally a derogatory term, in American Jewish culture the word has taken on a mock-pejorative usage and is often used in Jewish comedy in a light-hearted way.
Perhaps the most well-known example of this modern usage of the word shiksa comes from Seinfeld. In the episode The Serenity Now, every Jewish male Elaine Benes (played by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus) comes into contact with is captivated by her "shiksa appeal" and feels compelled to make aggressive and inappropriate sexual advances toward her.
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