Editorial note: Spoilers ahead for “Severance.”
On Passover, Jews gather at our seder tables for the retelling of the Exodus from Egypt and we recite the Ma Nishtana. Why is this night different from all other nights? Why do we eat matzah on this night? Why do we eat bitter herbs on this night? Why do we dip our food twice on this night? Why do we recline on this night? We deem these questions so important in Jewish culture that in English, we know them only as “The Four Questions.”
But here’s the thing…
I’m a Jew and I have so many more questions. I have questions all day long. Every waking moment of my life, I am asking “WHY?” and “WHAT?” and “HUH?” just as my Jewish ancestors did before me. ICYMI, questioning is a huge part of Jewish culture (see: Larry David) (see also: The Talmud). And it is quite literally my job as a writer at Hey Alma to interrogate Jewish topics.
But I also cannot separate my inquisitive Jewish lens from moments in the cultural zeitgeist which are not really Jewish. Like: Should the next season of “The White Lotus” take place in Boca? Is “Oh, Mary” a spiritual cousin of the Purim spiel? If Chappell Roan’s “The Giver” proves that lesbian country music can be successful, who’s going to make Jewish country music successful?
In that spirit, I’ve decided to start interrogating these non-Jewish pop culture trends from a Jewish angle for culture vulture members of the tribe like myself, condensing all my queries to just the top four in honor of Passover’s Four Questions. (Alternatively, if this article doesn’t take off as a series, no I’m not.) First up, I’ve chosen a subject which has been everywhere over the last 10 weeks.
Here are The Four Questions I, a Jew, have about “Severance”:
1. Was Kier Eagan a raging antisemite?
Like, probably. Right? Let’s look at the facts: Kier Eagan lived from 1841-1939 — a big time for antisemitism. He founded Lumon Industries in 1865 and seems to have seen himself as a biblical, messianic-like figure. He infused the multivolume Compliance Handbook for Lumon Employees with his near-biblical philosophies, blending corporate-speak with his own dogma. He writes that Lumon employees should be guided by Nine Core principles (not unlike the Seven Virtues in Catholicism) of vision, verve, wit, cheer, humility, benevolence, nimbleness, probity and wiles. He also constructed lore for himself, which he dutifully teaches to his family and his employees, all of whom he calls “children.”
“In my life, I have identified four components, which I call tempers, from which are derived every human soul. Woe. Frolic. Dread. Malice. Each man’s character is defined by the precise ratio that resides in him,” an animatronic version of Kier recites in season one, episode three. “I walked into the cave of my own mind, and there I tamed them. Should you tame the tempers as I did mine, then the world shall become but your appendage. It is this great and consecrated power that I hope to pass on to all of you, my children.”
This savior-like mythos has clearly been passed on through the years via Lumon’s corporate culture. “Kier, Chosen One, Kier,” Harmony Cobel literally sings his praises in season one, episode six. The walls of the Lumon Industries office building, and particularly the severed floor, are adorned with paintings of scenes from Kier’s life, as if he were Jesus.
Given that pretty intensely cultish vibe that Kier Eagan established for himself, my guess is that Kier wouldn’t appreciate any competing life philosophy or religion. But also given just how puritanical Kier Eagan was and his family is, I really, truly get the sense that they would dislike Jews.
2. Does Lumon offer kosher food options for innies?
Thanks to a tweet I saw asking what Muslim innies did on Ramadan, I had to wonder what accommodations Lumon might make for their observant Jewish employees. (Despite the fact that I believe the Eagans would likely be antisemitic, they can’t just… not hire Jews.)
While the audience never sees employees at Lumon get a full lunch break, we have seen the Macrodata Refinement Team drinking coffee and snacking on melon and deviled eggs. Episode two reveals that the MDR kitchenette has a vending machine full of dried blueberries, sunflower seeds, cubed ginseng, dry roasted edamame, raisins, roasted peanuts, dried and sliced beets, smoked and salted meat and fig bites. (Though not all the products are visible in the Lumon vending machine, this Reddit thread shares some thoughts.) Every quarter, one refiner wins a waffle party, which viewers later see includes a glass of milk and three waffles with maple syrup and butter. At the ORTBO, the MDR team was also supposed to have marshmallows, but Mr. Milchick ordered Ms. Huang to burn them.
Based on the fact that the snacks in the vending machine do not appear to have anything written on their packaging, like a kosher certification, my guess is that Lumon does not offer kosher food. Granted, beyond the marshmallows at the ORTBO and the mystery meat in the vending machine, the rest of the food ranges from maybe to probably kosher. (Please note that I am not an expert in kashrut, but just a Jew with opinions and research.) The melon bar is certainly kosher, because fresh fruit, vegetables and grains are kosher. But the vending machine and the prepackaged Lumon coffee would be a toss up, as there would be no way for an employee to know if they were processed in a kosher certified facility. Similarly, the waffles and deviled eggs are likely coming from a non-kosher kitchen, so while they don’t have any outright non-kosher elements, it would be hard to tell.
3. Will we ever get a Ben Stiller cameo?
Jewish actor and comedian Ben Stiller has long been behind-the-scenes of “Severance,” acting as an executive producer and frequent director of the show. And while I personally would love to see Ben as a distant Eagan cousin named Francus or Gilf, the chances of that are slim. “Stiller says he has had no desire to cast himself as a character in ‘Severance,'” The Hollywood Reporter reported in a profile of Ben Stiller from February 2025.
I guess we’ll just have to settle for Ben Stiller voicing a computer animated Kier Eagan in the season one episode “What’s For Dinner?”
4a. Is the severance procedure kosher?
In the world of “Severance,” the severance procedure is a very controversial topic. There are social action groups organizing around trying to make severance illegal and politicians advocating for the procedure. In season two, outtie Irving meets outtie Burt and his husband Fields, and it’s revealed that Burt became severed after going to church and hearing the belief that even if his outtie goes to hell, his innie could still go to heaven. All that to say: Jews in that world would almost certainly have opinions, both secular and guided by Jewish law, about the severance procedure.
So first, let’s break down what the severance procedure requires. Based on what we’ve seen and heard in the show, the severance procedure requires drilling a hole in the patients’ skull and inserting a chip into their brain which splits their consciousness and memories into essentially two people housed in one body: a non-employee outtie and an employee innie. It is not a medically necessary procedure, and it could be potentially life-threatening. It also calls into question the issue of consent, as only an innie can really consent to the procedure.
OK, so, what does Jewish law have to say about medical ethics? Once again, please note that I am not an expert in halacha. I’m just a Jew with opinions and research. “It is not always easy to arrive at a halakhic conclusion regarding a medical question,” Avraham Steinberg writes in the 2015 article, “Risky Treatments: A Jewish Medical Ethics Perspective.” “Judaism in general prefers the casuistic approach to resolve halakhic questions. This means that one must examine each situation according to the individual circumstances and develop the response according to the specific details, nuances, and characteristics of that situation, using many of the basic halakhic rules, regulations, and principles.” In other words, it seems that while the severance procedure could be halachically allowable for one person, it might not be for another person.
It seems to me that some key Jewish teachings in the case of severance are the following: 1) Jews’ bodies are not our own, but rather are on loan from God. 2) Relatedly, the Torah states that we may not “incise any marks on yourselves,” meaning we may not mutilate or wound ourselves. And, 3) According to the teaching sh’mirat ha-guf, we must take care of our bodies and therefore must heal ourselves.
Based on these teachings, the fact that severance is not medically necessary, it (allegedly) permanently changes the human body and consciousness through a large wound to the head and seems pretty risky, my guess is that rabbis would generally rule that it is not allowed under Jewish law. But, it would depend on the person.
4b. Is reintegration kosher?
Lumon does not recognize reintergration, or undoing the severance procedure, as being a real possibility. But through protagonist Mark Scout’s journey, viewers have seen that it might be. As Mark has tried to reintegrate, former Lumon employee Dr. Reghabi has tried to sync two of his brainwaves and later, tried to flood his severance chip by re-opening the hole drilled into his skull via the severance procedure. Reintegration is clearly very risky — in season one, Petey died because of his reintegration sickness (though Reghabi claims he would’ve been fine had he followed her post-op instructions). And Mark himself also nearly died after having his severance chip tampered with.
So what would Jewish law have to say about reintegration? Based on the evidence in part 4a, my guess would be that Jewish law wouldn’t recommend it. The only situation in which I could see rabbis allowing reintegration would be if a severance chip posed a life-threatening risk.
Any more questions?
