Gladys Kravitz, Jewish heroine of "Bewitched"

Last year, I wrote a short essay on the Jewish themes of the classic "Bewitched" sitcom. But there is one character in Bewitched that I omitted, and she was the most recognizable Jewish character on the show. I'm referring, of course, to neighbor Gladys Kravitz (nee Gruber), who lives with her long suffering husband Abner. The character was played by two actresses,...

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Popular Saudi social media star tries "a favorite drink of the Jews:" Cola and milk.

Asma Al-Sayyari is a popular Saudi social media influencer, with 753,000 followers on TikTok. Her latest video, uploaded Thursday, shows her and her sister trying out what they call the "favorite drink of the Jews."It is cola mixed with milk.I have no idea where she got the idea that this was a Jewish drink. A British comedian on Twitter wrote that he liked...

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The Secret Jewish History of "Gilligan's Island"

(I can't believe no one has done this before!)Gilligan's Island, the enormously popular TV series of the 1960s, was created by Sherwood Schwartz, a Jew born in Passaic, NJ in 1916. Schwartz, who also created The Brady Bunch, became a writer in part because of antisemitism.He intended to go to medical school but the quota system in place limiting the number of Jews stopped...

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The Secret Jewish History of "Bewitched"

I always see the Forward find Jewish angles in the most goyishe seeming parts of pop culture, so I'll do one too - from decades ago."Bewitched" was a hugely popular TV series about a witch Samantha, who marries mortal man Darrin Stevens. Most plots involve her magical relatives meddling in her marriage, especially her disapproving mother, Endora.The show was created by Sol...

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