In honor of Chanukah, let’s take a look at eight characters currently making television a little more Jewish.
Depending on just how hyped you get for the holiday season, it can start anywhere between November 28 and December 26. And once it’s started, one has a hard time even thinking above the melodic sounds of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” or those sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling, too. While Christmas may always hold the number one spot in the country’s collective conscience, times like these benefit from a reminder that there are other glittering stars besides Christmas lights. So, in honor of Chanukah season (which began this year on Sunday, December 2, at sundown and ends on December 10) we’ve put together a list of eight characters (one for each night) from recent television shows who reflect how Judaism is currently represented. These characters appear in a range of genres (though mostly still trailblazers within comedy) and show that there is a lot more than one way to be Jewish.
1. Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)
She might be the crazy ex-girlfriend and the villain of her own story — but as the first season’s theme song reinforces, it’s a lot more nuanced than that. Rebecca shines as the endlessly-complicated-and-sympathetic-despite-her-worst-qualities antihero we rarely see in lead female characters of any ethnicity. The Judaism that lies in her core is at worst an excuse for her own issues and at best allows viewers an intimate look at what it means to be a young Jewish woman in secular America.
2. Jake Peralta (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
There’s no doubt that the Brooklyn Nine-Nine lead is a shining example of how NOT to play into stereotypes of Judaism on television. Jake Peralta is wacky, but never the bumbling idiot; he rejects toxic masculinity without being effeminate; he’s brave, sometimes to a fault, and easy to root for. Simply put, Jake is a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn. His favorite movie is Die Hard, he gets a little too excited about investigating arson, and also he happens to mention his Bar Mitzvah on occasion.
3. Sydney Katz (Saving Hope)
Canada’s medical/supernatural drama Saving Hope introduced Orthodox Jewish lesbian Dr. Sydney Katz in its third season, exploring both her sexuality and faith. While sometimes Sydney’s references to her Jewishness can seem incessant, that strong hold on her identity distinguishes her from the culture of christian-normative secularity that prevails so heavily on North American television. Plus, she’s a lesbian who got a happy ending.
4. Abbi Abrams & Ilana Wexler (Broad City)
Leads in Comedy Central’s Broad City, Abbi and Ilana are just two Jewish millennial women living in New York City. Not affluent enough to be “Jewish American Princesses,” not studious enough to be overachievers, and without children they can’t exactly be overbearing mothers, Abbi and Ilana take preconceived notions of what it means to be a young Jewish woman and turn them on their heads. They are unafraid to own their sexuality, and while it might make some cringe, the two girls’ openness signifies a shift in the way Jewish young women can relate to and talk about sex in today’s media.
5. Frankie & the Bergstein Family (Grace and Frankie)
The “Jewish Mother” has been a longstanding stereotype, but Frankie Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) of Netflix’s Grace and Frankie refuses to be defined by it. She is a complex, nuanced character with her own goals and aspirations imbuing her with strength and autonomy beyond the family dynamic, allowing her to live for herself. The weekly ritual of Shabbat also plays an important role in the narrative of the show and its inclusion offers a solid, positive look at a secular (and stupendously convoluted) family still integrating religious Jewish traditions and ceremonies in mundane, yet meaningful ways.
6. Winston Schmidt (New Girl)
Judaism, son! Schmidt is unashamedly Jewish and isn’t afraid to remind us. Rather than shying away from his identity, he is loud and proud, throwing out Yiddish-isms left and right, while never falling into the trap of a Jewish stereotype. He comes most into his own while proudly acknowledging who he is and captures the hearts of his friends, his fiancée, and the audience — while still managing to throw a couple dollars in “The Jar” every so often.
7. Felicity Smoak (Arrow)
How could we talk about current Jewish representation on television without mentioning Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards)? Even if she says a simple mazel tov or performs small Jewish rituals during the funeral of an old friend, Felicity with her Jewishness, her intelligence, her poise, her strength, and her beauty make up who she is — a superhero in her own right.
8. Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Curb Your Enthusiasm made its triumphant return this year — and, really, what list of Jewish characters would be complete without a dash of Larry David’s self-deprecating Jewish humor? Outrageous, brash, and rarely ENTIRELY wrong, Larry continues to prove that Jewish humor can shine not just for eights nights, but over eight seasons.
Paley Matters is a publication of The Paley Center for Media.
Sofia Arnold is a curatorial intern at The Paley Center for Media and senior at Hampshire College. When not working on her capstone project about Jewish representation in television, she’s most likely on a soapbox somewhere, yelling about her severely underappreciated favorite characters.
