In 2005, Allison Josephs started “Jew in The City” as a YouTube channel to push back against negative depictions of Orthodox Jews in TV and film. Josephs more recently founded the Jewish Institute for Television & Cinema Hollywood Bureau in 2021. JITC held its second Jewish Media Awards November 12 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
Josephs told the audience she was thrilled that the event had everyone from Hollywood to chassidim and explained how the new organization came about after she realized that there was no group fighting for Jews on screen.
“I suddenly understood that every other minority group had been organizing for decades for better representation,” Josephs said.
She said it was “hashgacha pratis” (divine providence) that she realized there wasn’t a group to fight for Orthodox and Jewish representation and that she was able to do so. She noted that positive Jewish representation is a kiddush Hashem.
“To be a ‘Jew in the City’ is to be able to fully lean into one’s Jewishness with pride and confidence while engaging with the larger world,” Josephs said in her opening address. “This is in opposition to a mindset that began during the Enlightenment, when Jews were emancipated from the ghetto on a conditional basis. ‘Be a Jew in the home, but not on the street’ was the refrain of our ancestors. It’s time we put that message to rest once and for all.”
In a pre-show red carpet event, Nachum Segal, renowned radio host of “JM in the AM,” actress Emanuelle Chiriqui, and Aleeza Ben-Shalom, star of Netflix’s “Jewish Matchmaking,” spoke to The Jewish Press.
“It seems that every ethnic group and niche group is represented well in Hollywood,” Segal said. “That was not the case in our community until Allison Josephs came around. To strengthen her efforts and to keep building a coalition that gets larger and larger is vital for our people in Hollywood and outside of Hollywood.
Chiriqui noted, “This event is important because aside from Jewish representation, it’s about pride in who we are. I am proud of who I am, where I come from and the family I was born into. Being a Canadian Moroccan Jew. I think we need to be better at being proud of who we are.”
Ben-Shalom addressed the state of Jewish dating in our politically-charged culture. “Jewish dating and any dating and politics are difficult. Some people of opposing views in our modern day can’t date. Fifty years ago, it was no problem. It didn’t even matter. Today they can’t have a conversation or sometimes even be in the same room.”
She said she is able to work with people who are politically in the middle. She added that about six months after President Trump’s inauguration, things will die down for those who are not die-hards.
“If you’re very far to the right or left, it never eases up,” she said.
On stage, Ben-Shalom said she was proud to help publicize “the concept of shomer negiah,” in reference to not touching a member of the opposite sex before marriage. She urged people in the crowd to think of someone who is single and make a match suggestion. She also called for the hostages to come homes safely as well as the Israeli soldiers who are fighting.
Ben-Shalom was among several who won the Keter Shem Tov Award for proud and authentic Jewish storytelling. Also winning the award was the show “Fauda” with cast member Doron Ben-David there to accept the award.
FX’s “The Patient” stars Steve Carell as a Jewish therapist who is held hostage by his patient. The show has scenes of Carell with a chassidic family and the producers of the show accepted the award.
Sheryl Sandberg’s “Screams Before Silence” a documentary about Israeli women who were raped and violated on October 7, also won the award, as did the Amazon documentary “Destination NBA: A G-League Odyssey,” which featured Ryan Turell, a former Yeshiva University star who played for the Motor City Cruise in the G-League, which is the NBA’s minor league. Ethan Zohn, a winner of the third season of CBS’s “Survivor,” in which contestants have physical competitions and are given little food, said that after winning a challenge, he was offered ham and bacon, but refused. He presented the award to Turell’s brother, Jack, and mother, Laurel.
In a video address, British actor David Baddiel, who won an award for his documentary “Jews Don’t Count,” joked about those who claim Jews run all the media.
All-Star Awards went to several Orthodox Jews in different fields, including “Friends” writer Jeff Astrof. He told the audience that he is likely the only showrunner who does Daf Yomi and that his career has only gotten bigger since becoming shomer Shabbat. Astrof has worked on numerous shows.
Another winner, Aaron Twerski, a chassidic law professor specializing in tort law, who has written several books, said he was once told that someone who looked like him would not get a job. He said he bucks the stereotype whenever he walks into a classroom. Twerski was a trial attorney for the Department of Justice, was a teaching fellow at Harvard University, and taught at Brooklyn Law School as well as Hofstra University School of Law, where he became the dean; he has also been a visiting professor at Cornell School of Law, Boston University and the University of Michigan.
“We can make the difference as to how the world perceives us,” Twerski said on stage.
Other All-Star winners were Shira Kolsky, chief accounting officer of Discover; Sharon Mazel, co-author of “What To Expect When You’re Expecting”; Ari Sacher, primary engineer of the Iron Dome; Mitchell Silk, former assistant secretary for International Markets in the U.S. Treasury.
Also accepting awards was the director of “We Will Dance Again” on Paramount+. The documentary is about the Hamas terror attack on October 7, focusing on the Nova Music Festival.
Director Yariv Mozer referenced footage in his film of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered by Hamas. After Hersh’s name, Mozer added “Hashem yikom damam” (May G-d avenge his blood). Eliyah Cohen, also featured in the film, was kidnapped and is believed to be alive in Gaza. Mozer urged the Israeli government to bring her and the remaining hostages home. Susan Zirinsky, former president of CBS News, called the film “gut-wrenching” and said intimate stories of individuals should not get lost in the headlines.
Daniel Posner won the Lion of Zion Award for his work with Athletes for Israel.
The event concluded with an emotional musical performance by Aaron Holder, who sang “I Won’t Let You Down” as his music video played on screen, which features him in Israel performing for soldiers.
