HeyJaredJews on Film: Exploring Jewish Stories & Themes in Cinema
Daniel Zana & Harry Ottensoser discuss films of all types to investigate what truly makes a film Jewish. Covering everything from Fiddler on the Roof to Uncut Gems, they finish each episode by ranking the film’s production, content, and themes on a scale of 1 to 5 Jewish stars.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 4
- Latest publication
- Sep 3, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 30, 2026
Latest episodes
Garden State w/Gila Pfeffer (opens the original)
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Daniel and Harry are joined by Gila Pfeffer, author of Nearly Departed , to discuss Zach Braff's 2004 indie darling Garden State , directed by and starring Braff alongside Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard. The trio debates whether the film is "actually" Jewish or just Jewish-coded, digging into Ian Holm's distant Jewish father, the humorous Doctor Cohn, and how two decades of over-prescribed lithium leave Andrew frozen in grief. They talk through the funeral and Shiva scenes as the real emoti
The Breakfast Club w/ Rachel Israel (opens the original)
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Daniel and Harry are stuck in detention with Rachel Israel, director of The Floaters , so they figured they might as well record a podcast about the 1985 film The Breakfast Club , written and directed by John Hughes. Together, they revisit the iconic coming-of-age classic and its five high-school stereotypes—the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal—and ask whether those labels really tell us anything about who we are. They discuss the film's surprisingly earnest ex
Lenny w/ Eli Leibowicz (opens the original)
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Returning guest and comedian Eli Leibowicz joins Harry and Daniel to discuss Bob Fosse's Lenny (1974), starring Dustin Hoffman as the groundbreaking—and deeply controversial—comedian Lenny Bruce. Together, they explore why Bruce remains one of the most influential figures in stand-up comedy, even decades after his death. The conversation dives into Bruce's Jewish identity, the role of Yiddish in shaping his voice, and how Jewish humor became a vehicle for challenging authority and exposing hypoc
Special Episode: "The Floaters" Interview w/ Jackie Tohn (opens the original)
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Daniel and Harry are (almost) back for Season 7 of the podcast! In anticipation for the premiere in August, have a listen to an interview with Jackie Tohn, star of the new film "The Floaters", out now in limited release in theaters across the country. They cover Jackie's experience at Jewish summer camps growing up, her four favorite Jewish films, how a long tradition of Jewish humor helped inform her acting choices in "The Floaters", and touching on how the film depicts a wide range of Jewish b
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