Characters from “Glee” include Rachel Berry, right, a Jewish teen played by Lea Michele. (Jose A. Bernat Bacete\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I loved watching the characters in New Directions, McKinley High School\u2019s show choir, develop because I could see so many similarities between them and some members of my own theater groups in middle and high school.
But it\u2019s not just Rachel, a major character, who makes it fairly Jewish. In honor of \u201cGlee\u201d finally making it to Netflix, here are 12 Jewish facts about the show \u2014 some you probably know and some you probably don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
1. Rachel Berry is Jewish. In the episode \u201cPreggers\u201d in the first season, Rachel argued that she should be given the role of Maria in \u201cWest Side Story\u201d because, like her, \u201cNatalie Wood was a Jew, you know. I have had a deep, personal connection to this role since the age of 1.\u201d This was somewhat of a frustrating introduction to her character\u2019s Jewishness, as Rachel seemed to only announce her religious background in order to get a role. In general, Rachel was a positive character to me because of her bold ambition, but I wish I got to see her embrace her Jewish heritage and culture a little more onscreen. <\/p>\n
2. Lea Michele, the actress who plays Rachel, was raised in an interfaith Jewish-Catholic family. In \u201cThe Cast of Glee\u201d episode of \u201cInside the Actors Studio,\u201d Michele said that she was \u201craised Catholic.\u201d But in the genealogy television series \u201cWho Do You Think You Are?\u201d, Michele learned about her Sephardic Greek ancestry and the problems her family faced immigrating to the United States in the early 20th century. <\/p>\n
3. In the episode \u201cBorn This Way,\u201d Rachel considers getting rhinoplasty after feeling insecure about her \u201cJewish nose.\u201d Her friends try to help her accept her nose, with Kurt Hummel (played by Chris Colfer) pointing out that one of her Jewish idols, Barbra Streisand, publicly refused to get a nose job. In the end, Rachel decides to pass on the plastic surgery. <\/p>\n
4. Co-creator Brad Falchuk is Jewish. Both his parents are Jewish, and his mother is a former president of Hadassah Women\u2019s Zionist Organization of America, one of the largest international Jewish groups. He met his now-wife Gwyneth Paltrow when she was a recurring character, Holly Holiday, on \u201cGlee.\u201d (Fun fact: Paltrow herself is descended from a long line of rabbis from Krakow, Poland!) <\/p>\n
5. While the character Quinn Fabray is Catholic, the actress who plays her, Dianna Agron, is Jewish. Agron was raised in a religious household and said she was \u201cseverely bullied for being Jewish\u201d when she was younger in an interview with Coveteur. <\/p>\n
6. In the episode \u201cGlee, Actually,\u201d Jewish half-brothers Jake and Noah Puckerman sing the traditional song \u201cChanukah, Oh Chanukah.\u201d At the end of their performance, both brothers get Star of David tattoos on their left shoulder. <\/p>\n
7. Jewish singer and \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d alum Adam Lambert guest starred in Season 5 as Elliot Gilbert, a New York University student who joins the cover band Pamela Lansbury, which also features Kurt, Rachel, Santana (Naya Rivera) and Dani (played by Demi Lovato). In a Q&A with the Jewish Journal in 2009, Lambert describes his Jewish family \u2014 his mother is Jewish, his dad is not \u2014 as \u201cdiet Jews\u201d because, while he grew up celebrating Jewish holidays, he did not have a bar mitzvah and does not speak Hebrew. <\/p>\n
8. Rachel\u2019s biological mother Shelby Corcoran \u2014 she has two gay dads \u2014 is played by Jewish Broadway legend Idina Menzel. Before making her Broadway debut as Maureen Johnson in \u201cRent,\u201d Menzel was a bar mitzvah performer from age 15 through college \u2014 she attended \u201d While I know Menzel from Broadway soundtracks \u2014 including her performance as Elphaba from \u201cWicked \u2014 she is now probably best known, at least among the younger set, as the voice of Elsa from \u201cFrozen.\u201d <\/p>\n
9. In the episode \u201cGrilled Cheesus,\u201d Rachel sings \u201cPapa, Can You Hear Me?\u201d while in a park with Finn (the late Cory Monteith)\u2014 her on-and-off boyfriend \u2014 because she \u201cwants nothing to come between them and God.\u201d \u201cPapa, Can You Hear Me?\u201d was performed originally by Streisand in the very Jewish musical film \u201cYentl.\u201d<\/p>\n
10. One of Rachel\u2019s adoptive fathers, Hiram, was played by Jewish actor Jeff Goldblum. In the last season, Hiram and his husband, LeRoy (Brian Stokes Mitchell) were getting a divorce. Goldblum was raised in a Jewish home in Pittsburgh and belonged to an Orthodox synagogue. <\/p>\n
11. For a Jewish character, Rachel sure sang a lot of Christmas songs, including \u201cO Holy Night,\u201d a \u201cLast Christmas\u201d duet with Finn and a rendition of \u201cMerry Christmas Darling.\u201d In comparison, she didn\u2019t sing any Hanukkah songs. Boo.<\/p>\n
12. As with any Jewish or Jew-ish show, \u201cGlee\u201d had a bar mitzvah episode. New Directions was hired to perform at the bar mitzvah of the superintendent\u2019s nephew and sang \u201cBreak Free\u201d by Zedd, aka Anton Zaslavski, who has Jewish parents. The lack of bar mitzvah ceremony rituals shown in the episode was disappointing, to be honest. Fortunately the party \u2014 like every young Jew who has a bar or bat mitzvah hopes \u2014 looked like a blast. <\/p>\n
(This article originally appeared on Alma.)<\/em><\/p>\n
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