The Truth About Being a Jew in Hollywood | Michael Rapaport

If you had asked me would the world seem upside down, would the New York Times take back piece after piece after piece of fake news, fake news, fake news, would we think miles away from here Jews would be gunned down in cold blood and every other thing that's happened since then? No, but here we are. The man, the legend, Michael Rappaport. Another round of applause came all the way from New York City. Is this on? Can you hear me? You have been representing and your voice has been so remarkable and inspiring to Jews all over the world, but I want to begin from October 6th. If I were to have approached you on October 6th and said what is your relationship to Jewish life, Jewish practice, what would your response have been? You know, if you had talked to me on October 6th and you had said what kind of Jewish person or however you phrase it, there wasn't much practice, there wasn't many Shabbats, there weren't many holidays celebrated, but my father always emphasized do not be ashamed of being Jewish, be a proud Jew, be a strong Jew and don't back down from ever being Jewish. That was really the gist of it that my father talked about. My mother never really was in much discussion. When I started acting when I was 19, my father never liked the stereotype of the Woody Allen character or the Larry David character. He didn't like that representation in Hollywood, so he was always like don't do that, don't do that stuff. And that was really the gist of it. I didn't grow up with anti-Semitism. I didn't grow up with much, you know, problems with it or even it was just who I was and what I identified as, but it wasn't much part of my daily life to be totally honest. I'm curious, just to jump in, because you entered Hollywood and you really had some major, I wouldn't even call it a, I mean you were on the show Friends, that's a serious run over there, a four episode run on Friends. You were Phoebe's boyfriend. Phoebe was my girlfriend. Phoebe was your girlfriend. I'm just kidding. Let me tell you a funny thing about Friends, just to say, you know, I got asked what's the worst thing anybody ever said to you online? And let me tell you, I've been called everything online. And I really thought about it. I said the worst thing anybody ever said to me online is I'm glad Phoebe left you for Paul Rudd. That hurt me deeply. I was like, yeah, that really hurt me. They were like, I'm glad she left you for Paul Rudd. I was like, damn. When you entered Hollywood, a lot of people do try to kind of like secularize. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm curious, did you ever have a thought of changing your last name? Did you ever turn down something or feel uncomfortable in the way that your Jewish identity was being dealt with? Good question. I never thought about changing my last name. I've never been hesitant about being Jewish. I've always been proud to be Jewish. I, to be totally honest, have only played one role that was quote unquote Jewish. I have lost roles or not gotten roles. I'd say five or six times from things that I felt like I was right for and qualified for because they said, you don't seem Jewish enough. You don't seem Jewish. Now, everybody knows I'm Jewish now, but in Hollywood, the presentation is dark hair, bent over, big nose and healing. And I don't mean any disrespect because that is part of who we are. The neurotic, funny, that is part of who we are. But in Hollywood, that is what we are. That's really all that comes out of it. For the most part, there's been exceptions. The bare Jew in in Glorious Bastards, which if you ask me, what's the one part you wish you ever got to play? I would say that actor was fine. He did a great job. I would have been better. Did you audition? I did. I didn't audition. That was Quentin Tarantino's friend. He's a good Jew. Eli Roth. He's also a great director and he did a good job. I would have it would have meant the world to me to do that part. It would have meant the world to me to do that part because of what it represents, because of what it represented. When when you came in Hollywood, you weren't really getting you weren't typecast. So no, people don't think that six foot three blonde haired. Now it's a little gray. Don't tell anybody. But blonde haired, strawberry blonde, six foot three Jews exist. And that's why when I would audition or meet for for role, they'd be like, he doesn't seem Jewish enough. I'm like, what are you talking? I'm ninety nine point nine Ashkenazi. I took the test with the spit and everything. Did you ever have moments where you felt that your Jewish identity was being tugged in that pre October 7th reality? Not not not anything particular and said, I'll tell you how how I got here in a nutshell. Like I said, I've always been proudly Jewish. As I got older, I've been more conscious and more in tune with it, I'd say in the last 10 years on the August of 2016, probably right around now, August of 2016 in Charlottesville, Virginia, there was on a Friday night, there were a group of tiki torch carrying kids that came out on a Friday night and they they they showed up and they videotaped themselves and they said, you will not replace us. Jews will not replace us. And I saw that the next morning, Saturday. I was still living in Los Angeles early in the morning. I was walking my dog. It was very hot. And I was like looking on my phone and I was like, you will not replace us. Jews will not replace us. Jews will not replace it. Like, you know, first of all, the Jews were looking to replace anybody. It wouldn't be you losers. It's Friday night. Like you should be doing something better with your life. And second of all, I just was I was concerned and offended by that. And I said something on social media very crassly, very aggressively about that. And I didn't premeditate it, but a lot of people saw it. And then this Kanye West stuff started. I think that was 2022. And I was very, very, very concerned about that because of the, I mean, disgusting, blatant anti-Jewishness. And I say anti-Jewishness because, you know, we know what anti-Semitism is and anti-Zionism is. I try to stay in the habit of saying anti-Jewishness because some people misconstrued it. It's all under the same pot of anti-Jewishness. So I say anti-Jewishness. So I was speaking out about that very aggressively. By the time October 7th happened, Baruch Hashem, I was ready. I was ready. And when I saw on October 7th, because of where I was at in my head, but also the response, my response to October 7th was not anything contrived or premeditated. I did and spoke the way I would expect every Jewish person to speak, which is disgusted, horrified, and to call it exactly what it was, which was the greatest atrocity attempt to eradicate Israel and every single person, Jewish and not, in Israel. It didn't seem like I was, I didn't think twice about it. I said what I said on October 8th very openly and very crassly and very, from a disturbed, concerned place. Also on October 8th, when I was actually in Atlanta on October 7th, when I flew back to October 8th and I was watching the news that morning, probably two o'clock, I see in my city, the quote-unquote greatest city on earth, people celebrating in Times Square. So all those things I spoke up. If you had asked me, would the world seem upside down? Would the New York Times have to take back piece after piece after piece of fake news, fake news, fake news? Would we think miles away from here, Jews would be gunned down in cold blood and every other thing that's happened since then? No. But here we are, me speaking out and the way I spoke out, it was very organic and very natural. But when did it dawn on you that your instincts were so misaligned from so many other of your even Jewish colleagues in Hollywood? At what point did you realize that I might be a little bit on like an island here as a notable Jew who's speaking out so viscerally? It's a good question and it's very clear. I spoke to somebody earlier in here. I think they were in here. I know I talked to them in the lobby. They said that the last time they saw me in person was at the rally in D.C. two years ago, which feels like 27 years ago. I was there, 100%. And, you know, just thinking about that makes me. It's such it's been such an emotional time for everybody. And I believe it was 37 days, 36 days into the to the hostage hostage, you know, since October 7th when we had that rally and that going to that event and speaking at that event was a ping because initially I was asked to speak at that event because I'd been speaking out a lot on social media. And the the the original lineup was very political. I believe Biden's name was on there and I believe, you know, Kamala's name. But there was and I was like, not even for who they were. I was like, who am I to even be speaking with politicians like this is, you know, not even like judging where their heads are. I was like, this is what am I doing here? And I was like, I'm going to go, but I'm not going to speak. So we came down here on our own because they were going to fly or bus or train down here. And while we were at that event that day, so many different people were coming up to me. And I went backstage to get a coffee or a water or something. And they said, oh, you're here. Are you speaking? And I said, no. And then I told my wife, I said they thought I was speaking. She said, well, maybe you should speak. So I didn't prepare anything. She said, you know, can you, you know, maybe go speak? Because what I didn't like being said at that day was every the thing that was being said that day was where cease fire, free the hostages, cease fire, free the hostages. So I, you know, jotted down a couple of things. And I wanted to say publicly that we need to free the hostages. And then we could talk about a cease fire, you know, and and it just seemed like you you're having it wrong. This needs to happen. But the light bulb moment that came on that day is that, you know, the great and fearless Deborah Messing spoke that day and no one else from my business spoke. And I know there's a pecking order. And I know that I wasn't the first Jewish actor that they asked. And there's been so many Jewish actors who have made their bones and made their millions doing it up. And I realized that day it's gotten even more real. But I realized that day just in regard to my business and to show business that I was alone. And soon after that, that event in D.C., my wife and I took our first trip to Israel, which was now we've taken seven trips in 678 days. And all of that, who I am genetically, who I am in my my Neshema, Hashem, everything has gotten me to where I am right now in this moment. It's really incredible and extraordinary. One thing that I find incredibly moving that you do, so many people could have said, Dayenu, it's enough that I'm standing up and fighting anti-Semitism. You have been extraordinarily vocal about fighting anti-Semitism, but a lot of people can confuse it. And they start to think that the purpose of Judaism is to fight anti-Semitism. When we really fight anti-Semitism in order to focus on the purpose of Judaism. And what you have begun doing is sharing publicly, not just once, not just putting on tefillin. You are always sharing selfies of yourself. I think it was Yossi Farrow, the king of finding everybody to put on tefillin. But I'm curious for you, the decision to say, I want to actually share observance. I want to actually share Jewish life. When did you start to say, I want this to also be a public part of my persona? That's a good question, too. It started to become a public part of my persona when I got concerned that Jews were feeling scared to be Jewish. When the Kanye West stuff started, I've always had a star. But when the Kanye West stuff started, I got another star. And then I got a bigger one because I wanted to be like, this is like, look, look at this. I went and got the gaudiest one I could afford. I want to look. So whenever you'd see me on TV, whenever I do press, whenever I would do my podcast, I was like, look. When that was gone, and it was purposely to show like, we're not. No, we're not. I mean, I'm saying we're not. I'm not. If I have a voice and I have something to say, you, any anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish person, know that you're going to get it at least from me as aggressively and as disrespectful as you're giving it. And I know that's not the most Jewish way, but it's just, I felt like it was necessary. You know, when I started rapping Tefillin, and I'll tell you that Tefillin has been one of the best decisions that I ever have. I love it so much. And it's been life-changing for me in so many different ways. Now, my history with Tefillin is very short. If you grow up in New York City, and you're Jewish, and you walk down the street, and somebody says, are you Jewish? And they have Tefillin, you're going to rap Tefillin whether you want to or not. You might not even realize you have Tefillin on. The whole process happens quickly. And you're not even, like saying, you know, you're a Shema, and you're just, I don't know what's going on. So that's really been the, you know, the extent of my Tefillin has been, you know, in New York and a couple of other times. But, you know, sometime in October 23, Yossi Farrow, who's a very beautiful, young Chabad kid who's very passionate about it, he reached out to me and said, will you meet me and rap Tefillin? And we met at this cafe that had been protesting in New York City, Cafe Arone, and we rapped Tefillin. And he did it very slowly and explained the whole thing to me, and I really appreciate it. He said, will you do it again next week? I said, yeah, let's do it. We met again. And a couple of weeks later, him and some other people gifted me my own Tefillin. He said, you know, you know, I'm giving this, you know, they said, if we get you your own Tefillin, will you do it every day? And I said, yeah. And it just means so much to me, the practice of it, what I get from it, what it gives me. And the reason why I share it is because of, if it's given me a smidge, you know, hopefully it could give other Jews a smidge. And also, we're not to be ashamed of anything, of anything, period, especially now. So that's why, in terms of social media, I share it. And, you know, a lot of, I privately tag, you know, whenever I do it, people that I'm thinking about, I privately tag every single time, Yossi Farrow and this group that got me the Tefillin. And it's like a way of saying, I'm thinking about you, I'm praying for you. I am, you know, you're, you know, what some people, I know some people, I don't know, like, there could be just, you know, different hostages, hostage families. And, you know, just people I met, like, to let them know, like, it's almost like a phone call. Like, I'm letting you know, like, I'm thinking about you. It's really incredible and remarkable. And I know for myself, just the inspiration that it gives, you're scrolling through all this hatred and then you come across Michael Rappaport's arms strapped and praying. Yeah. It gives me, it gives me, it gives me a great deal of faith and encouragement. And we're really very grateful to you. One question that I have is, is when you're on that island, that I'm not looking for, like, names or tea, but I'm curious, you realize you're kind of on this island in Hollywood. You described it well, you know, like, there is like this, like, pecking order of, like, the famous Jews in Hollywood and other Jewish identity. And I'm curious if you've ever back-channeled to just understand what is it, in fact, that keeps so many notable celebrities. The Jewish community is not dumb. We know who we've been going, we've been paying to see your shows and wherever you're producing. And we do hear the silence when you, and it was crickets, crickets. And, you know, like, we love Debra Metz. I love Debra Metz. Yeah. You knew that who was missing in those rooms. Yeah. Have you ever back-channeled just to understand what do you think holds back so many from speaking up? I haven't back-channeled, like, I think you mean, like, have I reached out to any of them? No, the ones that I've spoken to are the ones that have been outspoken, you know, the ones that have been proud, you know, Amy Schumer, who, you know, you know, listen, you know, people want more from everybody. People want more from this actor, this actor. I'll say for Amy Schumer, if Amy Schumer, pre-October 6th, goes on social media and says the sky's blue, she gets F-U. Her relationship on social media is not fair. But, you know, there's been a handful of ones that my relationship has gotten closer with, a handful of ones that I've reached out to and, you know, talked to publicly, some I've spoken to privately. As far as the ones that have disappeared on us, why they do it, some of them believe this free Palestine, and they say it, they say it. And I don't, I have made a pledge to not publicly disparage other Jewish people, but, you know, as far as actors, I, you know, and I consider myself a trash talker, but I feel like even the ones that aren't in tuned with their Judaism the way we would like them to be, I feel like when the world is throwing crap at us, they don't, and I don't need to throw more crap at us publicly. As far as the actors, I just, I just think it's the right thing. That's, that's my, that's my thing. You know, I know somebody like, you know, this one and that one, you know, I just think that everybody's coming at us. We can keep some things amongst ourselves. We don't have to do it publicly. We have bigger fish to fry than Seth Rogen. I'm just, that's just a name I just picked out of a hat. That was just a random name. One thing that I, one thing that I'm curious about is if you look back and- Or Larry David, for instance. That was just another name, just random. Random name. If you look back and see- Or, no, I'm just kidding. They're like, who's next? If you look back and think about the Michael Rapaport who was growing up. Yeah. The Michael Rapaport who may or may not have had a bar mitzvah celebration and you want to reach him. You almost think about how you could grow up in America, in New York City and kind of Judaism can feel both close but also somewhat foreign. And I wonder, what would you tell the Jewish community? What could we do better for how to reach the Michael Rapaport that your story doesn't have to be such a long route that was a shortcut at the end, but maybe shortened the length of the long part? We have to take responsibility. You know, one of the beautiful things that I heard from a Chabad rabbi, the rabbi was talking about, you know, he said to me, you know, being Jewish is a participation sport. It's a participation sport. And I said, what do you mean? He goes, you know, you got to participate. And he goes, sometimes you don't want to participate. Sometimes, you know, you don't want to do this. There's always a holiday. There's always this. There's always a Shabbat. There's always Shul. There's always something. He goes, but the more you put into it, the more you get. And the more you participate, the more you get back. As upsetting, as frustrating, as scary as it is to be Jewish right now, I think it is the most magical time to be Jewish right now. I really do. It's an incredible time to be Jewish. And there's a lot of things that are like overwhelming about it and exhausting about it. I mean, it is exhausting time. If you're on social media and the fact that we're 678 days and our people are still not back and the misinformation and the fake, it's exhausting. But there's so much more beauty and positive that has come out of it for me and I think for everybody. So I want to hear a little bit about your journey. And now that you've become more engaged, you're discovering so much. You're practicing much more. Is there a specific Jewish practice or Jewish idea that you previously had no idea about? Even a Jewish holiday that you discovered and you're like, oh man, I love this. This is so fantastic. I'm just discovering it now for the first time, but it really either resonated, piqued your interest as a Jewish idea, Jewish practice, a Jewish holiday, Jewish celebration. Was there anything that you discovered that stands out as like, wow. Well, I got, you know, obviously Tefillin is ginormous to me. When I was at this Chabad rabbi, really, really like, you know, he talked about there's a familiarity that we all have to the Torah. And because in the womb, we learn it. Because when I read Torah a lot of times, if it's making sense and I'm understanding it, it makes me emotional. And I was asking the rabbi about it and he explained this because it's something familiar to you. So that's something also that was like a wow. So I'm curious for you, like really connecting to the land of Israel. What did stick out at you? What were the moments in Israel that you felt your Jewish identity like leaping out? Were there specific moments, incidents or places? There's so many. My first trip there, you know, they took me right to Kibbutz Beri. And this is in December of 2023. And seeing what I saw and smelling what I smelled and hearing what I heard and truly bearing witness to what had happened. And at that point, I really was very clear that this could have been anybody. It could have been anybody in any Jewish person. It was up for the taking, for grabs, for killing, for raping, for burning, for kidnapping on October 7th. There's been so many. That first trip when I was there, this happened a couple of times, but I would be walking around and the emotions have been so high. I found myself one day, you know, because so many people I share tears with and they share tears with. I had people's tears on my shoulder, like literally on my... Yeah, like from crying and holding people. Gotten to me so many IDF soldiers, injured IDF soldiers. I've had horror stories. I heard beautiful stories. In February of 2024, I met a guy named Michael Levy. Michael Levy came up to me. I was at the hostage forum. Michael Levy's my height. Told me my brother Orr Levy is in captivity. Show me a picture of his brother Orr. And he was just so heartbroken. And he told me his story. And he told me that, you know, that his wife had gotten killed. And, you know, show me his picture. And we stayed in touch. Stayed in touch. In February of 2025, Orr was one of the four people that got out earlier this year. He's one of the four men that was really skinny. He was very emaciated. He was disturbing. I was in Israel in April and Michael Levy, his brother, got in touch with me. He said, you know, I would love for you to meet Orr. So I went to this building where a bunch of people had been recovering. And, you know, I met Orr. And we talked with no cameras, no nothing for like two hours. About an hour and a half through the conversation, lo and behold, sirens went off because there was missiles being, you know, coming. Which was ironic to me because I was like, this poor guy has been held hostage for 550 days. And now I'm going into a bomb shelter with this man. There's no pause for him. There's no, oh, I just did 550 days. You know, leave me alone. No. And while we were in the bomb shelter, we saw Yarden Bibas. Yarden Bibas is the father of the Bibas family of the redheaded two children and his beautiful wife who were killed. And I'm sitting in this bomb shelter with Orr Levy, who has a wicked sense of humor, by the way. The sense of irony is insane. And I see Yarden Bibas and I'm like, you know, it's like literally like seeing a ghost. And when we got out, you know, his brother said, did you see Yarden? Would you like to meet him? I said, yeah, if he wants to talk. So because I've seen so many people meet different hostages and different soldiers, I've seen people like break down in front of them. And I always try to get my composure because I don't want to put my crap on them. But when I got to meet Yarden, I just literally was hysterically crying. And I met him and I met his mother and he has a beautiful smile and he was so sweet and a really wicked sense of humor. His humor is very funny. But he told me the first thing he told me, he said, I want to thank you for what you've done and what you've said about my family. And the reason why I say I want to share that is because a lot of times we talk about, are we are we speaking in a vacuum? And we probably are speaking in a vacuum. But I am telling you that Yarden Bibas or Levi to every single family that I've come across, they always thank me. And it's not just when I say me, I mean us, you know, so as overwhelming as it gets, as frustrating as it gets, should I be sharing? Should I be posting? They see the support. They see the yellow ribbons. They see it all. And it means something. So that was another moment when I got to talk to Yarden and his mother, who tough, tough woman. One question that I have, especially from the vantage point where you are like a true New York City Jew, I am worried that in the shadow of October 7th, there was a great religious awakening. People were able to kind of move the needle to find a sustainable practice for their Jewish life and attach. But I am also worried because even after the Holocaust in the 1940s, there were people who said never again. And there were people who said, we'll never let it happen again. And here we are now. And we are facing more antisemitism. We're facing more assimilation. What advice would you give to American Jews who are not plugged in? Not the ones in this room, not the ones at JLI, but the ones who were touched by October 7th, realized something changed, but don't really know where to go or how to make that lasting difference in who they are Jewishly. What would you tell them? As somebody who kind of grew up seeing maybe some of the, because my family did the same thing, some of the mistakes of the previous generation of how they related to Jewish identity. How do we avoid not making the same exact mistakes after October 7th? That's a good question. I think the most effective way is, you know, sitting down and, you know, having conversations, invite to Shabbat, have a kosher meal, something, you know, to just make an awareness and a pride and hopefully a light bulb will go off. Listening to you speak, you hear somebody who is not just the movie star in Hollywood. Really, I mean this as the greatest compliment. I feel like I'm speaking to an ordinary Jew. I'm speaking to somebody who their neshama, their soul is speaking in the most organic, natural way. Michael Rappaport, really a round of applause. We are so grateful. Thank you guys. For you sharing honestly and sincerely a round of applause for Michael Rappaport. Thank you guys so much.