The Big Bang Theory, the perennially popular CBS sitcom centered around the social and romantic woes of three exceedingly intelligent physicists and one engineer, is consistently among the most popular shows in primetime on network television, even in its sixth season. The engineer of the bunch, and the only member of the male quartet of characters without a Ph.D., is Howard Wolowitz. Wolowitz is a physically small, even timid, man who is awkward around women, often exaggerating his masculinity and prowess, and who still lives with his overbearing mother. He is also Jewish, although if you didn’t glean that from this description, you obviously don’t watch a lot of television. The range of Jewish references and experiences on the show marks Howard as being more informed by Judaism than one might expect, even if his behavior...

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