Mayim Bialik Discusses Being Orthodox in Hollywood

This weekend I attended an event called, “Free Ranging Communities: Jewish Life in Marin and Hollywood” at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael. The keynote speaker was Mayim Bialik, of “Blossom” and “Big Bang Theory” fame.

What struck me the most as Bialik spoke was how refreshingly grounded and genuine she seems. She comes across as a person who is comfortable in her own skin, while acknowledging that who she is doesn’t always fit in with others in the industry in which she is working.

She spoke about the following seven values she carries with her:

First, she spoke about complex families. She called the Torah a “handbook for life” and pointed out there are many stories of dysfunctional family relationships in the first two books in the Torah. As a result, it sounds like she doesn’t expect herself or others to be perfect all the time.

The second value she holds is routine. In particular, she spoke about the routine of Shabbat, and how it reminds her that, from Friday night through Saturday, nobody else “owns” her. She doesn’t work, she turns off her electronics, and she engages with her family in a way that is difficult to do during the work week.

The third value is joy. In particular, she spoke about the joy of the holidays throughout the year.

Fourth is character. She voiced her desire to be honest and compassionate in her interactions with others. In particular, she spoke about the amount of deception and gossip contained in conversations in Hollywood, and how hard it is not to engage in lashon hara. She quite touchingly described how she will leave a conversation that turns to gossip, even though she thinks doing so makes her come off to others as unsocial or unfriendly.

She also spoke of modesty as part of this value. She does not wear pants outside of her home, she covers her elbows, her skirts are at least knee-length, and she doesn’t wear anything with a plunging neckline. She lamented that when she was nominated for an Emmy, her standards of dress made it difficult to find and appropriate dress for the ceremony. Many designers, she said, would not supply a dress that fit her needs.

Next, she spoke about otherness. Despite the fact that there are plenty of Jews in Hollywood, very few are Orthodox. Thus, she says, especially in the fall, people think she’s making up holidays. She talked about the tension created when others want her to work on days on which work is forbidden.

The sixth value she spoke about is God. She regularly studies Torah and engages in others with conversation about God.

Last but not least, she mentioned Israel as a value. She has family there, and goes there every other year.

The most quotable moment of the day came when she exclaimed, “I was not put on this planet to win an Emmy.” Rather, she says, she was put here to pass on to her children the traditions that people have died for over thousands of years. That certainly sounds like a fine purpose to me.

The rise of Orthodox Jews at AIPAC is an indicator of the community’s growing political involvement and influence

At the sprawling AIPAC Village, a subterranean expo spanning three city blocks beneath the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, attendees are assaulted with options. They can take a virtual tour of Israel, hobnob with congressional leaders, or watch live presentations on Israel’s Iron Dome defense system. But they can eat only one kind of food: glatt kosher. That’s because all the fare at the entire Policy Conference—from smoothies to shwarma—is under strict rabbinic supervision.

It’s one of several indicators of the rise of Orthodox Jews within AIPAC’s ranks and the lengths to which the organization has gone to make them feel at home. “It’s amazing,” said Rabbi Josh Pruzansky, New Jersey director of political affairs for the Orthodox Union. “You come to the AIPAC conference and you see thousands of Orthodox Jews as part of what is ostensibly a secular Jewish organization.”
“The official buzz is Iron Dome, but the unofficial buzz might be velvet dome,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, a longtime Chabad emissary in Washington, D.C. (who famously kashered the White House kitchen), referring to the velvet skullcaps worn by the numerous Chabad attendees. “You used to see maybe a couple dozen yarmulkes at the AIPAC conference. Now there are many hundreds.”
“AIPAC has been cognizant of the growing interest of many in the Orthodox community to become more politically involved in a more obvious way,” said Shemtov, “and rather than making Orthodox Jews feel accommodated, they make them feel welcome, which is something other [Jewish] organizations have not yet invested in.” (AIPAC’s competitor, J Street, failed to provide kosher options at its national conference in 2011.)
This year, for the first time, in addition to events for Conservative and Reform rabbis, the conference had several sessions for Orthodox ones, including a Monday panel discussion with California Rep. Ed Royce and New York Rep. Eliot Engel, and a Sunday address from British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Sacks himself was impressed by the Orthodox turnout. “I think the Modern Orthodox community is solidly supportive of Israel,” he told me, “and I think increasing numbers of Orthodox Jews at AIPAC actually reflects their increasing prominence in all aspects of the American Jewish community.”
Rabbi Judah Isaacs, director of community engagement at the Orthodox Union, concurred. “It’s like the Federation movement. The GA used to be on Shabbat with microphones and everything else, and now it’s been transformed,” he said, dubbing AIPAC “a natural partner” for many in the Modern Orthodox community. “When you talk about people in the seats who are committed to Israel, they’re in Orthodox congregations right now. For AIPAC, it makes sense in the framework of what they’re doing.”
The conference first went full-kosher under Orthodox AIPAC President Howard Friedman, though kosher options predated his tenure. But the recent explosion in Orthodox participation can be attributed in large part to the efforts of one man: Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Steven Weil. Since taking on his role at the OU, Weil has cemented ties between America’s largest Orthodox organization and its largest pro-Israel lobby group.
“Today we have 70 of our shuls who have the OU-AIPAC initiative,” he told me with pride, “which involves serious pro-Israel activism; participating in policy conferences; setting up a PAC—not affiliated with the synagogue because it’s a 501c3, but with members of the synagogue; [and] bringing in their congressional leaders—people in their area who may not have large Jewish constituencies.”
Under Weil’s stewardship, the AIPAC Shabbaton that precedes the conference has grown to over 350 people. This year, it was jam-packed with longtime activists, school groups, and Jewish professionals, all praying out of Artscroll prayerbooks stamped with “Property of the AIPAC Synagogue Initiative” stickers. (And while the AIPAC Synagogue Initiative, founded in 2007, is a well-known part of the lobby’s outreach, now encompassing hundreds of synagogues across the denominations, lesser known is that Weil’s own Beth Jacob Congregation of Beverly Hills served as the model for the entire program.)
Burgeoning Orthodox involvement at AIPAC is not a fluke. It is part of a broader trend of engagement in the political process by the community. From the Republican National Convention to nationwide battles over school choice and tuition support, Orthodox Jews are becoming increasingly prominent. “The Orthodox community has really evolved into a political force around the country,” said the OU’s Pruzansky, who works to harness that power in New Jersey.
“There are Orthodox groups all over the country that are setting up PACS—not as part of the shul, but as individuals—and that are reaching out to congressmen and senators from both parties,” adds Weil. “OU shuls are basically engaging their populations in two types of political activism: on a state house level in terms of tuition affordability, and on a national level in terms of the American-Israel relationship where they’re partnering with AIPAC.”
And the trend of Orthodox political activism shows no sign of abating. When Weil started the AIPAC-OU synagogue partnership, it kicked off with just five participating member synagogues. Three years later, there are 70. “For Orthodox rabbis, it’s becoming that kind of thing—this is the place to be,” said Isaacs.