Being Jewish Goes Live! Josh Gad, Ginnifer Goodwin & Marlee Matlin on Jewish Identity, Israel & More

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[Music] [Music] welcome welcome to this very special episode of being Jewish with me Jonah Platt for the first time recorded in front of a live studio audience yeah we're here at the iconic CBS Television City home to so many classic game shows and TV series like The Price is Right All In The Family the Carol Bernett show and most importantly the Survivor Live season finales and with all that Showbiz Spirit inhabiting these walls we wanted to make sure to bring you a truly spectacular Trio of some of Hollywood's finest actors for tonight's episode should I introduce the guests my first guest tonight is a man whose voice alone is instantly recognizable for millions of fans around the world he's a Tony nominee two-time Annie Award winner children's book author Jewish comic book writer and has a new book of personal essays he calls a tell some coming out next month please welcome the hilarious Josh G D my man thank you for having me all right get comfortable my second guest hails from Memphis Tennessee where she was both baptized and bought mitzvot before fully reclaiming her Jewish identity as an adult she's played a Mormon wife a fairy tale princess and a rabbit cop though today you're most likely to see her playing the role of leader advocate ating for Jews at numerous public events and all over social media please welcome the enchanting Jennifer [Music] Goodwin oh yeah welcome oh we love to see it and last but certainly not least she is an Oscar winning Powerhouse who broke barriers as the youngest and first deaf actor to receive the award at just 21 years old she's got four kids four emoms 18 tattoos and one upcoming PBS documentary all about her please welcome the one and only Marley Matlin and her fabulous interpreter Jack 19 tattoos as of today oh as of today let I want to start with that what's the 19th tattoo it says it's my granddaughter's name a that's beautiful thanks for being here you guys this is so awesome I'm so psyched to have all three of you uh I thought it would be fun to kind of structure this a little bit like a movie or a pilot something with which you are all familiar so we're going to do uh a little inedia res I'm going to start at the climax and then we're going to jump back to the beginning of the story and go from there so I'm going to start with October 7th which was no doubt a turning point for so many Jewish people in so many different ways and certainly for all of you how has each your connections to being Jewish changed since October 7th and how if at all has the way you spend your time changed since October 7th Josh why don't we start with you yeah I was hoping you would start with a soft easy question like this one to we only have 90 minutes I got to get all three you know I was like it's either going to be the Holocaust or October 7th it's like col with microphones um Jesus Christ Jonah does your mic like app sace or sour cre God all right well October 7th uh I was on Broadway doing a show called Gutenberg the musical and thank you very much um and we were um you know part of the opening of the show Andrew rolds my co-star and I had this joke about you know how every Big Show every big musical has an important issue and our important issue was the Holocaust and it got a big laugh and everybody was you know laughing it was much funnier when you went to the show and we did this I come home and I see that um oh I forgot it was opening night of October 7th oober was opening night wow suffice it to say there was no laughter the next day um I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on stage I had to play a character named little Nazi girl in it which again you know was really funny 24 hours before and suddenly really difficult to figure out how to navigate this comedy where we were you know um able to do what Mel Brooks always says which is weaponize anti-Semitism in a way to make people laugh and it was no longer funny and I had a really hard time and it was really difficult navigating art and commerce simultaneously in real time and I sat down with the writers and Alex Timbers and Andrew rannals and I said as the Jew here uh we need to we need to fix [ ] now uh and we workshopped it and that day I told them what I was comfortable with and I and they said do you want to get away from the concept I said no not at all now more than ever I want to I want to lean into it but I just think we need to ease up on the wording so we changed little Nazi girl um strike that reverse it it was anti-semite and we changed anti-semite to little Nazi girl right and cuz the Nazis were safe not to make fun of Nazis if Indiana Jones could do it so could we and I once we made that change you you couldn't laugh at anti-semite as you're literally seeing acts of anti-Semitism likes of which we hadn't seen in years how how how deep into our into the Run are we talking now since when when these changes are going in oh this was day three this was right away this was right away and I was very I was very grateful that I had such a collaborative team who was willing to roll up their sleeves and go okay we hear you we're going to do this we changed some of the wording and it suddenly it's suddenly got laughs it invited people to actually engage with the idea of anti-Semitism being real and laughing sort of like my other show Book of Mormon did at the fact that like yes there are you can laugh at tragedy and you can do satire but you have to navigate it gently and it was a real learning curve but one I was grateful for and also I was pretty scared to leave my my apartment during those during my run of the show I had to have security uh because I did the thing you're not supposed to do which was be Jewish oh that thing yeah and it was tough I made one post after October 7th which is my heartbreaks for the families that is not a political post that is not a post that should have any controversy and I was met with death threats I was met with rabit anti-Semitism and I called it out and I said this is insanity the fact that you are making me feel ashamed of giving condolences for people being massacred is that is that's a point of no return that's a that's a problem and I felt really uncomfortable in my skin yeah and I felt scared and I felt felt really really sad that I had to feel those things my grandparents are Holocaust Survivors and they always said never forget and I just didn't realize I I didn't realize that the warning meant because it could happen in your lifetime powerful um I noticed Marley and Jenny both nodding as you're talking about that post and the and the backlash you received Marley I was going to ask you about it later but I'll ask you now you posted something thing right on October 7th very similar to what Josh did what it's you know sending condolences and and praying for people who had been harmed and I saw the comments some were supportive but some were extremely hateful and you know I'm unfollowing you I used to be a fan I'm not anymore what was the effect of that on you I I posted right away exactly when it happened and I just wanted to say you know let's call for peace and the comments were so hateful so I mean full of words that I couldn't even process or look at after the first time that I felt I mean just disgusted and upset my kids who saw the same comments and I wanted to sit and have a conversation but probably for the first time I just had no words I mean I was too stunned I was too stunned to have to I it really literally had to take a break for like a day or two and try to process it and talk to them about it about the hate that we were experiencing after all those posts of the just the the spewing forth of of hate just from one post and on October 7th my first I mean my my first thought was all the people that had to experience the families the friends everything that was going on when the one thing I kept thinking about were deaf people that might have gone through the same thing not being aware of what was going on the lack of communication in the state of Israel the chaos the the craziness of everything that was going on that really worried me to the point where I I mean I it was constantly on my mind that's really an interesting and unique perspective to hear so thank you for sharing that Jenny I want to take it back to the the original question with you of how has your connection to being Jewish changed since October 7th because I and you know I asked you know how's have you spent your time since October 7th how's that changed and I know those are both been big changes for you well I mean I think the biggest change has been just people finding out I'm Jewish um apparently that was something we were supposed to keep our heads down about um I will say it's interesting because I relate to words um specifically the words we use changed my life as much as October 7th did I'll say and social media plays into this too so on October 7th I remember when I read the news of what had happened and um which I think was actually October 8th by the time we were um by the time time we found out and I immediately went onto Instagram and I was reposting I have friends who escaped Iran in the 80s and um escaped from the regime that has been in power all of this time and so I felt in reposting what they had posted like surely the world just needs to understand the situation and that then there will be sympathy for you know for the victims of this so I started reposting and I immediately got calls from my Persian friends which I wasn't expecting their question was do you understand what's about to happen to you like we really appreciate the support however we think maybe you shouldn't like your like your career could be at risk for speaking up about this which took me days to then process and on October 10th I remember someone made a Jew joke to me and I've spent my life laughing at Jew jokes realizing people didn't know that I was Jewish because I wanted to seem endearing and um I mean it it was it's a form of assimilation right I wanted to I I wanted them to if they found out that I was Jewish think that I was like hip to it and I could be self-deprecating in a way that made me more appealing um as if being Jewish comes with all these caveats that we are not and in it was the first time in my life so the Jew joke was made to me and my comeback was terrible like usually I would laugh but the most I could muster was not today and I realized that like I was done I was just done with I was I was done with all of it I I experienced a lot of anti-Semitism in my childhood um I felt like we were in this other period of I mean like you were saying about your grandparents like we were never going to have to face these things again in our lifetime and I thought that what I had experienced I could frankly right off as being well I was living in the South and in a very different sort of political climate and maybe that's why I experienced what I what I did as a child but in all of my trying to assimilate in Hollywood um and for all that I did to keep my head down I just realized on it was on October 10th when these words were used with me that I was like no I'm done I'm done with this I don't need to apologize for doing something like reposting what my Persian friends experienced escaping Iran in the 1980s and you know my husband and I had to have a lot of talks as I then continued to post I was asked to post about um the hostages and we talked about like what if I what if I lose my career over this um like what if I become some kind of priot because I am standing up for us and it came down to like you know yeah okay we would be okay if we like lost the house and had to pull out the pull the kids out from school and all of these things because the truth is like there's only one way this goes where I can sleep at night and and that's the way where I not only Embrace Judaism but I fight for the continuation of our people and I you know educate and I celebrate and I advocate this is the next phase of my being an adult and there's only that one path where I'm going to feel good about who I am as a human and I oh thanks and it and I simultaneously realized that I had to become as well Brett Stevens said if you follow the writings of Brett Stevens I think he's New York Times oh brilliant um and he said in an interview recently um he did an ADL panel of some kind and he said um he hopes that everyone you know post October 7th becomes 10% more Jewish and I mean I do I mean honey how many what do you think I'm like a million percent more Jewish at this point um yeah because my my path through this has been it's not just that I'm going to be loud and proud because I feel like our job as public figures is to give permission um and to show like we can take this so you can take this too 100% And it's part of like stepping out into the community and say like I'm here come with me we're going to do this together this is a team sport we and we all need each other to continue and it turned into Not only would it be about this advocacy work but I was really worried that my kids kids were going to think that um my girlfriend Dory we would always celebrate um she's in the audience here so I'm pointing at her if you're not watching the video thought just randomly pointing at I'm just pretending but um I really did fear that my kids were going to think that my friend dory's house was was synagogue because we would just go to her house for all the Jewish holidays and I realized that I could not be in control of if I'm if I'm the sole person teaching my children about Judaism and and if going to dory's house is like their sole experience with Comm like Jewish Community then like I was not giving them the option as adults to lead Jewish lives and that I needed commun like real Community lots and lots of people to help me raise Jewish sons and that that was part of my contribution to commit you know to the future of the Jewish people is I need good Jewish boys and so I enrolled them in Hebrew school and my eldest is already studying for his bar mitzvah and we're going to go to Israel and um we started we had we had kind of we had stopped celebrating Shabbat every Friday now we definitely celebrate Shabbat every Friday night like it really was like I Brett Stevens 10% has nothing on me you're nailing it I I want to just follow up on something you mentioned you know the the fear of your career being affected by your speaking out has it been no I've gotten far more jobs in the past year than I have in like 10 years exactly right so yes I mean I've talked about that a lot on the show that I think people get I'm still I'm still looking I I think you know the big barriers to entry for people taking that step forward into taking up space and speaking out is first they're afraid that that that startling hate that you get when you do that first post that you've all experienced can be extremely arresting and jarring and and scary but and there's also that fear of this is going to ruin my professional career I'm going to be blacklisted but if you push through that you actually see that it opens up all kinds of new doors and new relationships and new opportunities with people who are appreciative and connecting to what you're doing in an amazing way so encourage everybody to keep speaking out um okay so I said we'd go back to the beginning so I want to talk a little about your Jewish origin stories this is now we're into act one here um Jenny you were talking about how you felt you know anti-Semitism growing up in the South you grew up in Memphis Jewish mother Catholic father do well he's actually converting right now but I'm really happy for him converting to Catholicism converting to Cath okay what what was that like growing up with both I mean I feel really lucky I feel like it was always I mean we are dare I say like we're the people who love arguing about things oh yeah and like this was just this was just yet another thing for us to in a very productive healthy way I feel like really like go to the literary sources and go to the rabbis and ask all the questions and and I feel like I was really blessed to have a little bit of everything thing um but I really gravitated towards towards the the Jewish part of my upbringing and I was the I mean being the south in the 1980s I was like the one person who was not like an 80-year-old male in synagogue on Friday nights and I would go with my grandfather and he would you know point to the Hebrew and help me follow along and um it was very very uh it was very meaningful to me and I felt like it could be a choice as much as it was that I was born in into it it could also be a choice and it's a choice that I make again and again you waited until you were 15 to have your Bot Mitzvah is that right tell us why I didn't feel ready before I was going to all of these parties which are nothing like the LA parties like the theme of my bot mitv was being Jewish y'all and we didn't have like like t-shirt shooters or whatever those are um but um no offense but um yeah I went to my Rabbi who's still my buddy and by the way like married my husband and me and and we see him when he visits la and um I just I went to him and I Saidi feel like this doesn't mean anything to me right now can I do this like when I'm feeling it it's so mature and he said yeah you can do it when you're feeling it and like a year and a half later I was like I'm feeling it I want to have a bota amazing so yeah as I mentioned baptized and Bot Mitzvah you're closer to God than all of us um Marley you grew up with a different kind of intersectionality uh you grew up reform but your temple in skoki serve both death and hearing congregants so born and raised in Chicago yay Chicago and I was fortunate enough to have Temple a temple that served both hearing and deaf communities uh our Rabbi was hearing but he signed fluently in a American Sign Language and I would attend Sunday school and uh you know half hearing kids half deaf kids half hearing adults half deaf adults lots of deaf children some hearing children and and I it was my duty to learn Hebrew and I learned to phonetically speak it I did not sign Hebrew fun fact by the way sign language is not Universal so there is not a similar sign language in Israel or in Hebrew there's like hundreds of sign languages out there so I learned to speak Hebrew for my Mitzvah at 13 by the way Jenny and I wanted my money I wanted my money sooner okay no listen I was very proud to be by but anyway I was ready at 13 and I attended Shabbat Services after dinner we would go to Temple every Friday night and I went to Sunday school and I learned my Hebrew and I really was so proud as a Jewish person my B Mitzvah day was really something I'll never forget I studied my Hebrew I had the Torah before me I had it ready for everybody was was perfect to to recite and when I looked up into the audience everybody was crying they were crying and I'm like why are they crying and so I started to cry and then everybody in sh was crying and when I looked down I noticed that my tears had stay in the parchment of the Torah and I began to cry even more so then I said to the rabbi I ruined your Torah with my tears and so after the service was over I went to the rabbi I said I'm so sorry I didn't mean to cry on the Torah I'm so sorry sorry and the RAB said look Marley No Marley your tears are a Mitzvah because they a reminder of the tears of those who were persecuted the history of Jews and instead yours are tears of joy so bottom line is bottom line is very proud to have had a Jewish learning experience fortunate enough to have been deaf and to have had the opportunity to have been taught and exposed to both Temple and my family the Judaism that we all had about being Jewish and because there's just not enough out there for people who are deaf and Jewish so I feel very grateful H have you ever found another similar Community or space or anything that offered that same synthesis there's there's one in Los Angeles but it's very very small I know they have it in New York maybe two or three across the country not not many we got to work on that but in Israel I've had a chance to visit there and their de Community is very very rich and they took me to see I went to an army base and excuse me a military base and what impressed me is that the IDF hired people who were disabled including people who were deaf not used for combat but putting people with disability to work whether it was in the office working on computers they don't do that here with disabled people in the military service here so I was very grateful for Israel for showing me that amazing Josh you grew up correct me if I'm wrong you grew up modern Orthodox uh in Florida to a German mother Afghan father who grew up in Israel and grandparents who survived the Holocaust right beat that guys was your childhood a game of Mad Libs so tell us a little bit of what it was like growing up in the in that game of mad lies oh wow now you know why I am the it all makes sense so yeah my mom was born in Germany um at the end of the second world war she was born in 1946 uh in a in a place called ven Germany um an ashkanazi Jew born to two Holocaust Survivors who met post-war Evelyn and Joseph greenblat My Heroes true superheroes um uh my father was a spartic Jew born and raised in Afghanistan it's wild uh to say that um but he lived there and for 13 years uh and then at some point his parents were like oh [ ] we're in Afghanistan I don't think they like us here we got to get out um so uh they left uh I was born and raised in South Florida my uh we went to a a Sho called Young Israel um and it was the kind of Temple that separated the men from the women uh and it was one of those things where growing up be not being 13 my brothers being 10 uh and 9 years older than me respectively me being the youngest I was the one who had to turn the lights on and off and you were the shabus child I was the shabus child um I was the cheat code uh for My Brothers to watch Smurfs on Saturday mornings um um and you know I I had sort of a tricky relationship with Judaism growing up if I'm being honest because when I was about 5 years old I found out that um my dad had cheated on my mom had another family and you know he was the one who sort of was the Orthodox person he was the one who you know bestowed this on us we would walk to Temple every Saturday uh and I went to Hebrew school and while I didn't know everything I knew that he had broken one of the Ten Commandments and I was kind of yeah and I was kind of pissed as a kid yeah and it made me um made me sort of be like well this is hypocrisy sure and you know my family was broken and I was very angry and I sort of started to have a much healthier relationship ship with Judaism once I was old enough to have it on my own terms I also had a bar mitzvah I loved it I didn't love the process I felt bullied into learning my haft Torah and not like it was a communal experience and so I'm jealous hearing these stories because I'm like I would have loved that um but again I it was mine was a childhood of rules and regulations in Judaism and the spiritual connection to Judaism came much later for me and when I was able to have that spiritual connection then I really became a Jew then I really became proud then I really became um inspired by the history by the Traditions by the faith uh and that Journey ironically began my sophomore year of high school because I played a character named tevia and um through ART I was able to fall in love with faith amazing one of the many gifts of the Arts um that's a good segue actually to you know our act two which is you know you you each sort of had a period where you maybe not as connected to your Judaism we've just heard a little bit about yours Jenny you said there was like a 10-year period really where you were not connected to your religion or or jewishness and then in a speech at your temple you said I was a Jew by birth and now I am a Jew by choice what what changed what happened in those 10 years um I met my husband it made me feel real nesty yeah I totally understand it's one of the big changes in life that changes your priorities absolutely because you start exactly you start thinking about like what it is that's ultimately the most important and self-de and so I think that meeting my husband really uh yeah had a really profound impact on Me In terms of yeah just rebalancing what it like not just who I am but what it is like what puzzle piece I am in the world and so I made that choice and then I will say I had babies and like we had their brises and everything and we served the deli meat which I still think it's really weird that we do um at those ceremonies and um and then I'll say like I feel like I became like a tired mom and an actress working 16 hours a day and then I I do feel like tradition fell away again after I even gave that speech at Temple um and I feel like it really there were years there where like I said we were not celebrating Shabbat um in any kind of meaningful way and like we would still do holidays but I don't know it just wasn't I I got lazy and uh and I I I've recommitted to myself I feel like it's sort of like a cycle with me where you know I'm I'm grateful that in the past year I've been able to rebalance again yeah you know and flows I think for everyone their connection and as as you go through life it's different at different times it's just the way it is um Josh just to kick it back to you for a second you have said that uh it's thinking about your grandparents that at times really pushed you to stay connected to the faith before you found it for yourself can you tell us a little bit about your connection to your grandparents and you know what what they mean to you they they were everything I mean they're so my grandfather was was in aitz um my grandmother was in some pretty gnarly camps as well both of them escaped on the death march um separately anybody here with uh family members who survived the Holocaust Chans so you probably have similar stories to my grandparents the first time I even understood what the Holocaust was was I I was walking outside with my grandma I was very young and I saw a tattoo and I said what what is that why do you have that and she said it wasn't by choice it was forced on to me and thus began a conversation that with last the duration of her life where she very openly talked to me about the experience of the Holocaust my grandfather I'm fortunate enough um committed to doing a showa testimonial uh which I come back and revisit once a year um and those stories really um they taught me a lot about what it means um to protect your faith to protect yourself from others who would take that Faith away from you um to not live with shame of having people make Jewish jokes at your expense um and without saying it they survived so I could live and I don't take that for granted it's why I speak out it's why I speak up it's why I'm here amazing um you're doing I'm proud never again kind of means now and I wasn't prepared for that I don't want this job I don't want to have to talk to people about why they shouldn't be [ ] uh it shouldn't be hard but it is and um I hear my grandparents in the back of my head every day saying keep going and and for my own kids it's it's more important than ever I have a surviving aunt who's 97 years old who lives in New Jersey and she wakes up and she says it's happening again isn't it and I want to defend her and I want to defend everyone else who shouldn't have to feel that way who shouldn't feel that there is this hate this naive this ignorance um and that's my battle and and I am wearing it wearily but proudly so to change gears a little bit I want to talk about marriage kids you guys are all married you all have kids what it's a good thing um what's what I find interesting you guys are a tapestry of Jewish identity reform modern Orthodox Interfaith you were all three married to non-jews um what was the calculus for each of you you know what there's no no judgment we have to talk about it not if you don't want to it's fine you know it's it's this is your your life you know there's nothing nothing wrong with any of it I just want to get into I had we have a beautiful Christmas tree wa Christmas treeb Christmas trees are beautiful no um no we um I been married for thir 31 years to a Catholic guy and we had both Rabbi and a priest perform our wedding at Henry Winkler's house I also got married to Henry house yeah see there you go no no so no um yes we decided that we would have both a rabbi and a priest to perform our wedding unfortunately the rabbi that I grew up with that my bar mitz were with um we had a falling out and so uh and we had someone from Los Angeles but the priest I flew out from Chicago because he um had a church for the deaf in Chicago a church for the de Catholic church so I was very good friends with him as the de Community is is all very close so it wasn't Jewish but you know whatever um so we got married at Henry's house and we talked about our kids and we did say that we had a discussion that is my husband here he's not here I see no okay he's not here so um good now I can tell stories he'll never be able to find this conversation anywhere stays in this room doesn't go out of this room anyway so uh he doesn't know much he doesn't know much about this C of anyway podcasts uh so um we talked about our children and I did mention that they would be Jewish and he looked at me and he was like okay fine so they'll be baptized too and I said hell no so I said no no not happening and he said okay well then so I said they'll be B mitford he said no so I said okay then they're going to have a naming ceremony and we went back and forth back and forth and we never really in all honesty none of this was ever resolved so they're just sort of they are so we celebrate both holidays we do all the Christian holidays and the Jewish holidays and that's that thank you for sharing um Jenny love to hear from you so um on top of the fact that I grew up in an Interfaith household which was it's also just fairly Jewish leaning um my great-grandparents escaped from pograms in Eastern Europe in the very early 1900s and they were Orthodox and they kept Christmas trees in their Windows when they moved to the United States like they saw this is a very American um it was a way to feel very American and it I never questioned that we then always had also Christmas trees and Santa Claus and all of this and celebrated the like the bunny part of Easter right yeah the candy part the fun part the yes finding the eggs part um I didn't know what it all meant um to other people and that we were stealing this from other people um but um when I met my husband who was um All About raising a Jewish family as that was important to me um he actually I hope this is okay that I'm going there honey um we love it don't worry he not exited what happened's husband stage they'll get a drink after um he actually he asked my Rabbi when we were getting married if he was interested in converting and the rabbi said like I don't think that I don't think it's time he was like you don't need to convert for Jenny and we can have more conversations about your converting but I as your RAB I don't need you to convert in order to you know have this relationship with your family and to marry you guys under the Hoppa which was actually um Josh's grandmother's tablecloth that we used for our HOA and um right and then he actually Revisited this um after October 7th Josh said I'd really like to talk about converting again um and there are a lot of reasons um including including fear and he was somehow in conversation with my now eight-year-old and this was yeah he was seven years old at the time and he said Daddy I don't want you to this is my keepo wearing youngest and he said Daddy I don't want you to convert and Josh said well why not and he said I love you just the way you are and like he said Josh is saying that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to him and it I mean it's a conversation that we've Revisited again and again but it's never been like if he if if Josh has ever if he's ever feeling it it's like me with my butt Mitzvah if he gets to a point where he's like I'm feeling it then I will be I will throw the party with the deli meat if that's what you do um however um I don't I'm not making a comment about his private parts um but nobody thought you were until you said that because I mean I made the comment earlier about the bris and the just just say taking it back if you can like never mind um so I'll be there with bells on with Christmas bells on um but I Sil Bells if yes but I um but yeah it just this this way it just works for us it just works for us great uh Josh kicking it over to you uh I too married a Catholic uh I you know I it was definitely hard because in my mind again growing up the way I grew up I was only ever going to marry a Jewish woman uh and sometimes you can't help but fall in love with who you fall in love with and that was a hard thing to navigate uh because I felt pressure from my grandparents sure and I felt like I was breaking my grandmother's heart and it was really painful and I had a conversation one day with my an and I said look I'm in love with her it was a very Fiddler on the Roof conversation you're like little bird little and and actually my grandmother's Jewish name was havala which made it that much more strange and and I said you know I I I didn't mean for this to happen but um I love her and I really can't and won't marry her without your blessing and she came around my grandfather was like oh yeah fine that's great um she came around and she said that she approved and then she died the week of my wedding uh a week before um I got a call and she passed away in her sleep and I was so grateful yeah that I had that closure that I had that gift of acceptance because I don't know that I could have gone through with it without that um you know similarly um I'm raising my girls Jewish my mother-in-law is is very old school Italian Catholic speaks Italian lives with us now uh and you know I always think back to my grandfather telling me the story of being in the camps with um Catholics Italian Catholics and every day the Jew would be in the corner being like Why Us Why Us why this and then he would hear the Catholics being Porto Maria Porto what did they say Porto Porto uh which is a term I will not translate here but it was the same sort of there's so much in common there's so much communal anguish there's so much communal Joy Joy there's so much communal eating uh there's so much communal guilt that it felt familiar and it felt really nice to learn about another culture and um my wife was so supportive of allowing my girls to grow up Jewish because she knew it was super important to me and um I'm very grateful for that everything you're saying is reson hard with me I Married an Italian Catholic now Jewish weekly shout out to Courtney she there she is uh did I say that right Porco Porto modan Porco yeah okay she she's like Italian American she don't know they're the ones who pronounce all the things weird that none of the Italians pronounce it the same way like Mel and the Italians are like what Jersey Shore is the week that I met my wife's parents for the first time somebody came up to me and they're like you hear something you should say to them they'll love it and I was like oh great so I go up to these old school Italians and I go Chow mfor which means eat well [ ] well and she looked at me she go I like oh such Gusto yeah that I learned correctly um do this is a free skate question uh for anybody uh any favorite family Jewish Traditions that you guys like doing with your own families or ones that you had growing up just something to to share with us I mean we play Ry Cube on Fridays nice got to have a nice little shabab board game situation on Passover we would um we would beat each other with leaks is that a tradition anyone else does yes that's a spartic thing yeah it's a spartic tradition and I would have like welts like went for it like my brothers and I just truly like boom and then I did pass over here and I brought this to like a friend's house and they were like what the [ ] are you doing man they were not impressed they're like why are you hitting my kids with vegetables it's meant to be like the the slave masters beating the the slaves yes does not play as well in ashkanazi yeah right my favorite thing is that I've I've been able to I'm the youngest of three I have two older brothers one is 12 years older one is eight years older and I was born in the 60s and uh because I was home by myself mostly because the two older brothers were out of the house but I think I remember I'm always looking for Hanukkah gifts searching the house for Hanukkah gifts trying to find it and so one day I was bored and I was looking and I we had to crawl space into our house and so I went into the the crawl space and I opened the door and there I saw and I asked what is that so I went to my mom I said mom come here take a look at what's down here under there what are what are all those plants and my mother's like plants all lit up pot plants that my brothers had planted in the crawl space while I was looking for Hanukkah gifts both of my brothers had this giant farm growing underneath the house and they wanted to kill me while I was looking for Hanukkah plants you found the a jackpot what happened to the plants Seth Rogan bought them all what happened oh of course mom threw him out so anyway sorry sorry um okay so now bringing it back to Jewish advocacy stuff sort of where we started uh Josh not new for you you you've been speaking out about this stuff as you said for a while guys my mom was a proud member of Jewish Federation when I was growing up like it was from the time I was like 5 years old I remember the Jewish Federation you know everything around our house of all of the material all of the literature um no I've I've been I've been advocating um passively if that makes sense what do you mean by that I've always felt like it was something I had to do at I had to Advocate I had to talk about Judaism I had to communicate what it means to be Jewish communicate to and I don't say this jokingly communicate to others what it means to be anti-semitic because I think a lot of people don't necessarily realize they're engaging in anti-Semitism that that I actually wrote down a quote that you have from uh something you post online I'm getting tired of having to explain how anti-em are being anti-semitic figure it out or don't but stop coming to us to explain why your behavior isn't what it so clearly is which is great what what what was like what were you seeing or getting thrown at you that prompted you to you know put your foot down on that one what wasn't I saying I mean I it's just stuff online it's it's stuff everywhere it's all around me it's in our community it's in the same people I advocate for and with and alongside it's heartbreaking it's heartbreaking to stand with others firmly and unequivocally and then hear their silence when it's your turn it's really tough that's really tough I think a lot of people here can relate to that and and so then I've become an active activist because now I don't feel like I just need to I feel like I desperately want to um because I have a position to speak out and again it comes back to the fact that nobody spoke out for my grandparents they their lives were taken from them they were forced into you know first they were forced into compounds um ghettos with barbed wire fences and stripped of their jobs stripped of their identities and then stripped of their families stripped of their clothing stripped of their hair stripped of their legacy and taken to barbaric camps where at best you would starve and leave you know with maybe one or two family members and at worst it would be the end of your name that was my legacy that's my that's that happened two generations ago and I'm not going to sit here and [ ] let that happen again so like that's right that's why I speak out because I'm I have a microphone because I have a platform because I know the consequences of not speaking out and I know that people are scared I get it you know I I am I'm not doing this because it's thrilling I'm it's not a great time no it's not a great time it's a bummer um I would so much rather be rolling around in that basement at your house than here right now but in the crawl space the crawl space but your brothers sound dope I wish it was still there not there anymore so but but you know like we're all here because we know the stakes right we're all here because we are we're community and we have each other's backs and I can't tell you how many times somebody comes up to me on the street and says thank you thank you for using your your platform and I and it makes me sad that people need to thank me because you shouldn't have to I shouldn't have to be doing this but I promise to keep doing it as long as I can and as long as I have to which may be at this point in my whole life when when people Express fear that I'll be in conversation with that we're we're heading towards another kind of Holocaust it's the reason it's not going to happen is people like you three on the couch saying it's not going to happen again which they didn't have last time that's right yeah I believe that very strongly we we I mean thank goodness to UT who sends me out to the federations all over the country thank you UTA um because I've been speaking to federations everywhere really thank you thank you for that opportunity it's really important to do the old school way of meeting people in person instead of posting online I'd rather meet people in person Marley you have obviously been a hugely influential and involved activist for deaf and disabled community at large how has how those communities responded to your public support for Israel and the Jewish people you probably wouldn't believe this but but the largest number of those people are anti-semitic in the deaf Community what what do you think that's about probably for a lot of reasons um they're uneducated they don't have the opportunity to they're not exposed to what is really going on in the world they don't have the opportunity to overhear what's going on they they really feel I mean I felt the hatred uh towards the Jewish community on a lot of people's behalfs and yet there are allies in the deaf Community um it's just the same as it is in the hearing Community right I was going to say it sounds all sounds very familiar people just are they're not willing to pay attention not willing for whatever reason they're not willing to accept a different point of view it is so there are people there there are Jews who are really really really like Josh very outspoken who make a point of making noise and saying you know what don't [ ] with us and I'm Greatful for them because we need them yeah eventually we need everybody but it's good to have some people on the front lines abely yeah um Jennifer you have been doing so much advocacy especially over the past year in so many different ways um es you've done a lot speaking up for the hostages which is actually how you and I met at the home of Yeah Ashley Margolis when she was hosting some of the hostage families whose you know kids are still in captivity who are you trying to reach when with your advocacy like are you thinking of a specific audience or group or person and are you we haven't had this conversation before which is what like it seems like you are leading me to tell the story I am about to tell however we have not had this conversation before um I got a phone call from someone I did not know um who was involved with the um families and friends of the hostages that now known as the like bring them home now the hostages forum and it was in early days of releasing videos and he said I would like you to make this video where you are taking on the voice of of one of the little girls who's being held hostage and speak as if you are her and um we're hoping that this will connect with people and at first I said absolutely not my fear was a video of an actress acting like a little girl was going to appear opportunistic and that that was going to do more harm than good and also I said to him I mean Hamas is not going to let her go because Jennifer Goodwin made a video like talking about her favorite this little girl's favorite singer and I don't understand how this is going to make any kind of difference in the world of what has happened October 7th and anti-Semitism and he goes no here's the thing he said you're making that video could make it's G to make me emotional is it there's a chance that it will make one member of her family feel like someone out there is listening and I was like I'm in whatever you need and I did learn I had to turn my comments off of social media because that's not a a healthy place for Discord anyway um but that was kind of it for me it wasn't like the audience for me was frankly like just maybe possibly have you ever read Franny and Zoe by JD Salinger I just am putting this together now because that was like my favorite book as a teenager I read it a long time ago yeah had never thought about this until this moment but remember there's the he has the whole thing what he's in the bath and and Franny sitting outside the bath and there's the convers at me like I didn't just say I read this a long time ago but there's something about like but if you can reach one person in the audience just one then you're doing God's work and um and I felt like yeah so my audience was really it was really just her family it was just like maybe someone in her family will feel like someone is listening from the other side of the planet and just it's just that Community thing again it's beautiful as much as you have each advocated for Jews you've also celebrated being Jewish publicly you know displaying Jewish Joy which is so important and is you know the other side of this coin that we can't just be defending against hate we have to be celebrating what we love about being Jewish and putting that out there Josh you one of the things you've done recently is written an award-winning Jewish comic book series called the writer please tell us about the writer how you got involved what it's about the whole shebang yeah I just want to Circle back to something because I oh let's do that first no because I it's it's it's fascinating to me and I keep reminding myself of this it's like the Hoops that we have to jump through we represent .1% of the global population why do we have to do all this work to just be who we are you mean like the mental Jenga just the you have to do this and you have to do this and you can't do this cuz then this will happen and it's like leave us alone let us be that that's you know let us be I was talking to an executive at Tik Tock and he was like one of the one of the reasons you know the counter messaging is so overwhelming is because they have a a a a charge free Palestine and he was like you know the Jews don't have anybody anyone I was like can ours just be leave us alone yeah hash hashtag it's been thousands of years all we want is to make give just we just want a schluff and we love a schluffy I what was your question the writer the writer the writer um I so yes I I I did a comic book series um with these brilliant writers um the burkowitz brothers who um they're amazing one person know the burg brother Burg is um and they came to me and they said we want to do we want to do a a a story that celebrates the Jewish faith and that celebrates Jewish mythology and like I am Raiders of the Lost Arc is one of my favorite movies of all time it's a masterpiece and part of the reason I think it's so damn compelling is because it has a monopoly on Jewish myth and Old Testament mythology and if you if you go back into the scriptures there's some real really interesting incredible powerful stuff in there that is ripe for storytelling and I was like this is great and the premise is is that this this writer um basically every time he takes uh he writes a a word on a piece of parchment and consumes that he then embodies the power on that piece of parchment and I just loved that idea and it's really connected with the zis it's um we've sold out of of all of our um initial copies and we have the trade paperback coming out in March and it's it's just been a thrill to get to tell that kind of story in a new form in and and one of my favorite stories ever is the adventures of cavalier and Clay by Michael Shaban amazing book and I wanted to you know also pay tribute to all of the incredible Jewish artists uh who created some of the most iconic comic book characters of all time so that was a big part of it as well amazing Marley I I found on Instagram you posted a video last Hanukkah celebrating Hanukkah eating gelt why was something like that important to you to Showcase I love celebrating Hanukkah because it's eight days of gifts uh and I found weed one day as you said but no no no no I'm just kidding um uh I love I love my childhood growing up with Jewish traditions in marttin Grove Illinois and the times that I spent in Temple on Fridays sometimes on Saturdays often on Sundays the way that my parents truly exposed every aspect of the Jewish holidays to me was just it just it just brings great joy and there are great memories and lighting the candles the festive aspect of of Hanukkah it just it just moves me just cherishing our religion simple as that our Judaism and never forgetting our ancestors I love that Jenny you have been rocking lots of Jewish jewelry Jewish jean jackets yeah you posted an amazing photo of you carrying a Torah from your Bot mitzvah I thought it was great if you want to check out Jenny's Instagram um what what's your approach to showcasing Jewish Joy how do you think about it or is it something you think about I mean it's kind of all I think about in terms of posting in social media and I've had friends recently ask me like but what about you know work and all kind and I'm to me there's nothing as important as this everything else sort of pales in comparison so everything to me is about opportunities to I don't look for the opportunities but I feel like they they keep coming opportunities to celebrate and share and it's that thing for me always about like giving permission giving permission letting people know like that the I mean I think that that just saying like I am Jewish is like what yeah is is um one of the most I don't know it's like the most important first step and so I feel like I'm repeatedly trying to show people that that first step yeah I love that I I relate to that a lot okay so now I want to take it to Hollywood the industry in which we all work super liberal Community but by and large has been mostly silent in this time on the hostages on you know anti-jewish hate in this country uh Josh you spoke about that a little bit earlier tonight but how does that feel and and why do you think it's happening doesn't feel great um it's heartbreaking you know I it's it's heartbreaking because a lot of times I will actually reach out to the community and uh conveniently not hear back um if it's another issue I hear back very quickly right and um and that sends a message you know I think that sends its own message even the simple task of hey guys not sure if you've noticed lately but uh a lot of people hate truth can you help tell people not to uh you would think that that's an easy ask uh not so much it turns out and a lot of times there's an excuse right and it's again it goes back to I'm tired of people telling me what anti-Semitism is and isn't is the amount and I'm sure a lot of you experien this the amount of people who explain who je explain to me why what I'm asking is not easy you know well it's complicated yeah no no this is not complicated no I'm not asking you I'm not asking you to not speak out on what's Happening to innocent cousins I'm not asking that I'm not telling you to make a choice I'm asking you as a Jew to stand up when you see somebody getting their head bashed in in New York City that's not hard I'm not telling you to make a choice you're choosing to make a choice that's a problem that's the problem yeah and we've we have been trained by social media to think in terms of football matches you're on team Palestine you're on team Israel I'm on team [ ] Humanity always have been always will be be a human nobody deserves to suffer nobody deserves to live in fear nobody and I'm not telling you not to advocate for everyone I'm just asking you to remember that everyone includes Jews that's right we are fully capable of handling complex issues and holding multiple truths at the same time I want we should we we are able to but as you said sort of society has pushed us into this false paradigm where so many feel they need to pick aside it has to be polarized and it just it doesn't but by the way have you met I mean not to be self-righteous about us but I'm gonna like I also like haven't met a Jew who's like choosing a side like everyone is on the human I mean all the Jews I know everyone I talk to is on The Human Side yeah I I think I think a part of it is again I think it's there's ignorance I think a lot of there's a a lot of ignorance my my r shout out to my Rabbi Rabbi Sharon brow who's the most badass Rabbi in the universe she said something uh during um her sermon during yum kapore that really stood out to me she shouting about the rights of Gins and the right to free Palestine is not anti-semitic it's simply not shouting it at a je going to Temple is anti-Semitic and that's a distinction that I think people are forgetting and I think it's important to remember that when you start to paint a [Music] group with any brush regardless of what group that is it's wrong it's textbook bigotry it's textbook bigotry y and and I see these kids going to Halal houses and terrified and I'm I'm just scratching my head going what where are some of these kids brought up that their parents don't tell them no it's not okay to do this to anyone do you know what I would do if my daughter went up to a Muslim kid and made them feel unsafe you wouldn't see her for a week she'd be punished yeah punish your [ __ ] kids teach them right from wrong this isn't hard this is called decency stop pointing at a group of people who have nothing to do with the issue that you are upset about and saying it's their fault because they are just like all of them yeah don't do that to anyone any race religion nobody deserves that no doubt um sticking with the Hollywood theme what are your guys feelings about Jewish representation today in Hollywood both in terms of the way things are being cast and in the stories that are being told do you feel like things are in a good place is there room for improvement um I I mean for me I mean my first television show I played a character named Tess Kaufman and I was as Jewish as they come but there was there was nothing really they didn't go into depth about her being Jewish it was a character that I played on the lward I played a deaf Jewish lesbian and but there was nothing really specific about her Judaism I haven't played a character that really went in depth into their Judaism but I've always wanted to do Jewish story um like like a Hanukkah story for Hallmark I've tried and tried and tried and i' and they're like not so much not so much and they ort of turned down the ideas that I've had I've I've I've made attempts there's so many great ideas and stories having to do with that space But no takers what can you do so that's Hallmark for you but double Wy deaf and Jewish okay what about you to either of you have either of you any thought about this at all or experienced something we're both trying to get cast on nobody wants this season why are we we are available I mean I would like to see more Jewish representation in General and I'm not saying that there are not enough Jews in Hollywood but there the truth is there's never been a survey um there's no mechanism thus far for self-identifying as being Jewish so we actually have no concept of what our representation is as far as in the workforce but I would certainly love to for there to be more representation on screen and I would like it to not be so much about um I feel like the bulk of things seem to be about people like escaping from like you know orthodox and freeing themselves from the shackles of Judaism which I I'm I'm just exhausted from and um I would like to see being Jewish just more normalized I would like to to have more you know mot and I would like for there to be more keot and I'd like to I'm just trying to show you how many words in Hebrew I can pluralize um accurately um I would like to see as many um hania as I do thank you that's not plural but wait hanot no that's still oh I did it um as we see Christmas trees in movies and just have it be like have it be normalized I mean that's I feel like we're trying to even do this at our elementary school right now with just normalizing you know the fact that when you have the Winter Fest there's also some Blas um and so I I I would like that to be yes everywhere that's come to my house come to my house a nice segue into uh just a little tidbit you and I are working on a project together yes we are which is a Jewish forward narrative contemporary Jews just being Jews called the mench can you can you tell us a little bit about you know what Drew you specifically to that project um well I think it is though it is about I mean our Central character is a rabbi that I am not playing um but our Central character is a rabbi and it is I don't know how much I can say say whatever okay um and and we are we are searching for a um Holocaust erator um and chaos and seus but though that is the case I still feel like um it's not it's not a story about being Jewish about people who are Jewish yes your characters happen to be Jewish and like leading with Jewish values but it's not about being Jewish and there's something that was so unusually um Dynamic about that because I have read a number of Jewish scripts this year and I am ecstatic that there is seemingly a focus on developing I mean I hope that they all move forward but a focus on trying to get these projects developed but this was the script that I felt like um was all the things it was a brilliant movie like on top of being Jewish leaning right which is you know exactly what I had been advocating for before got involved with this project was stories about people being people and those people are Jewish and this is their life yes yeah I think that's super important um all right we're getting close to the end here but I do uh I do want to mention I know it's it's sitting on the table there uh there's a water bottle this water bottle please tell us about it there's a book there it's called in Gad We Trust which is a total home run Title by the way you you told me in the like pre-meeting for this there's a a Jewish chapter um so yeah so why don't you tell us a little can I read an excerpt oh please so this this felt like Kismet um the the book is coming out January 14th but tonight's conversation sort of I speak about this in the book and I thought it was worthwhile if you guys is it okay if I read a little section I just think it's on point and I want to read you this piece that it stays with me um about my grandfather um I once asked my grandfather if he believed in God I assume because he always sent me to Temple every Saturday and kept a kosher house for most of his life the answer would be obvious and in the affirmative however less than a second after I asked that question he turly answered back no I stared at him in disbelief why because he continued no God would have put me through the hell that I had to endure no God would allow my family to all be murdered in Cold Blood for no reason no God would have taken my entire youth from me as I fought to simply not starve to death or be shot or Gass the answer the answer was both shocking and yet so obvious I'd always taken for granted that his mere survival meant a renewal of his faith never once contemplating that the horrors he had to endure to survive could simply mean proof of an absence of God in his weary eyes as I pondered his answer however I suddenly became incredibly confused by a simple set of facts why for 90 plus years had he continued to worship if he felt this way why would he go to Temple every week celebrate every holiday insist on his children and grandchildren doing all of the Jewish traditional rights of Passage from brises and baby gings to bar and Bot Mitzvah How could a person who didn't believe in God pray to that God publicly and celebrate in his name again and again I couldn't for the life of me understand Papa why then if you don't believe in any of it do you continue to do all of the things that identify you as being a practicing Jew he looked me Square in the eyes and smiled a crooked grin because Josh it's all I know so what the hell else am I going to do tradition identity and guilt the perfect recipe for a card carrying Jew I am destined to never fully Embrace and never fully withdraw my and my descendants Journey with Judaism is inevitable and familiar it will be the same as those who for thousands of years have asked similar questions and arrived at similar answers despite the pain despite the aggravation despite the NeverEnding hate from others and from ourselves we are who we are because whether I like it or not whether you like it or not I am a Jew what the hell else am I going to do so if you feel like me find my book on the 14th it's actually there's a copy for each of you under your seats no there's not sorry uh people are going to no there isn't I'm a Jew hey people people are going to like Jump Ahead listening to this episode and think they've stumbled into the audio book of inad We Trust um all right so to bring us home we're going to do something we like to do on the show it's a little lightning round um so we'll just go one at a time I'll ask the question you could just throw them out it's easy these are easy ones these are these are the real softballs favorite Jewish holiday Hanukkah Passover Passover interesting uh least favorite Jewish H yeah I'm with Marley I'm like Passover that's like the stuffiest and the long pass Passover Le pass our Thanksgiving just with less bread yeah uh least favorite Jewish holiday Passover Easter I cannot think of what I mean I really think they're all that's a good answer that counts do you know what's funny it used to be Yom kapor yeah cuz fasting for those listeners at home just look up a picture uh but I but but I've really come to adore yum kapor lately I think post the 7th it's actually maybe weirdly become my favorite holiday just a day of reflection yeah um so least favorite I never got suco I just never understood why we're wasting so many twigs and lemons lemons I make a mean cougle for any Jewish holiday hey all right you're invited you're invited over raisins or no raisins no um okay we ask this all the time on the show kala rip or slice yeah rip what she said rip I if you come with a knife to a Hala party you better come with a gun cuz I will not let you get away with that I am so in the minority of having like grown up with people slicing the kala like nobody slices kala no M we used to rip it apart throw it rip it rip it rip it what is your Jewish deli order what do I order from what do you order when you go matal soup classic matball soup anak Kines hey oh God give me some good New York Bagels and locks I mean I I love me a good I all I want after I fast on the holidays is just a bagel and some dead smoked fish that's all I want some good cream cheese it's all I want you're you're invited to our house that's what we have every year that's what every not all of them not all of them I'm coming what is one of your favorite Jewish values family I was always taught that and I don't know what you'd call this maybe tum but that it was not about how we I remember distinctly learning this lesson in Hebrew school as a young person that it is not about how we feel about anything it's about what we do Josh Community I mean this yeah pretty great feels good commity my Rabbi always said I always listen to him I love Love Thy Neighbor that's what my Rabbi used to always say love that classic um favorite Yiddish word yeah oh yeah big time I'm Gonna Keep with the um and I'm now I'm a boobby officially hey Ma I'm going to stick with my um bris theme and say schmuck hey nice you know what schmuck really means Josh I loveah yeaha is just such a it's got so many consonant in it lot to chew on so much um what is one thing you wish the world understood about Jews or Israel that we are human beings I've done a lot of um what is it Jew presentations Since By the way four grade um and the thing that I find Most Fascinating is that we are just incapable I think like on a world stage we are it's very hard for people to understand this concept of our being an ethnicity and a tribe and a religion and all of the things that every group of people used to be thousands of years ago you were the religion of your community before we had the the borders that we have now and defined countries and states in the way that that we do you were all of these same things we just happen to be like one of the only tribes that survived yep Jos I think those are both beautiful answers actually I I love that we're just people is sort of it isn't it like that's the whole ball game yeah yeah and last but certainly not least any parting bit of advice or inspiration or call to action for our audience call your mother very Jewish advice call your mother um just be kind be kind fabulous and it's past my bedtime okay Jenny bring us home you know what I'm just gonna steal from Brett Stevens and let's go with everybody just go for a 10% more Jewish and we'll be good boom a huge thank you to each of our incredible panelists for their honesty advocacy and being with me here tonight thanks to G2 and rainbow creative for making us look and sound great thank you to everybody here at the amazing CBS Television City for hosting us so graciously a massive thank you to Jewish Federation Los Angeles and every individual lay and professional who worked so hard to make tonight possible especially my good friend and entertainment co-chair Jacob Fenton and the singular Steven Singer without whom none of this would have happened oh yeah this was such a blast thank you all for being here and I'll see you all next time for the next unbelievable episode of being Jewish with me Jonah plat give it up for our panelists [Applause] [Music]