Israel is facing wars on multiple fronts and in the Diaspora where Jews are under attack daily, celebrities remain shamefully silent. One cant even think of a single strong Jewish Hollywood voice who is pro-Israel and a respectable role model for our people.
For example, Steven Spielberg who has done so much good for the Jewish people has been largely quiet since October 7th. Thirteen months ago, he made brief comments and claimed his organization is collecting testimonies and accounts from survivors of the October 7 attacks, which we still haven’t seen or heard about. Since then he has been largely silent about Anti-Semitism worldwide and has never been seen even wearing a yellow ribbon. If he was alive in the 1930’s and the Jewish people needed him he would have failed us. His film still hasn’t come out, maybe it will after the next Holocaust we face? A voice which could do so much good.
So many of us are mega disappointed in Adam Sandler who made a career playing Jewish stars, including his blockbuster hit “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” Sandler has been deafeningly silent even on Anti-Semitism near his home in Los Angeles and while he claims that he dreams more than anything of visiting Israel, noting “Well, I haven’t been to Israel and I’m the Zohan, for God’s sake. I’m excited to get there” he is 58 years old and has never made any visible effort in real life to help the Jews. We wont hold our breath.
What there are however are movies largely with fictional characters, as Arthur Phillips wrote in his New York Times best-seller, The Tragedy of Arthur, “In American literature and movies, the reigning Jew is still the meek scholar or the mild family man, although I’ve lately noticed a growing cinematic population of tough Jews, surprising hero soldiers, rebels, kickers of Nazis ass, the occasional gangster…”
And among them are some great movies with tough Jews. Here is a list of Top 10 Tough Jewish Movies Ever:
- Defiance: It is impossible to watch this movie as a Jew and not rejoice with pride at the real life valor of the Bielski brothers and their heroism in fighting the Nazis and in teaching us not just how to fight, but also how to live. Even more impressive is that they were real heroes and saviors of Jews and not merely fictional creations. The Bielski Partisans saved more than 1200 Jews who fought the Nazis.
- Inglorious Basterds: Made by Quentin Taratino who lives in Israel and is married to an Israeli, this movie takes place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II and is about a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers. In many ways this is the ultimate tough Jew movie with a character called “The Bear Jew,” who beats a Nazi’s head in with a baseball bat.
- Exodus: This Zionist epic describes the great tale of the creation of the Jewish state. Starring Paul Newman, it’s a who’s who in Hollywood cast and a must-see.
- Raid on Entebbe: With Charles Bronson playing an Israeli commando, what more can be said? This is based on the actual fantastic and miraculous mission of freeing Jewish hostages being held by Palestinian terrorists at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Yoni Netanyahu, the brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the commander who orchestrated the rescue mission and was killed as the successful mission ended.
- Once Upon a Time in America: The epic gangster movie tells the story of Jewish kids on the Lower East Side and their rise to gangster prominence among Italian and Irish mobsters. While not quite a heroic film, it shows Jews in a different time and age when they were seen as weak and timid immigrants, having escaped Russian and Eastern European Persecution in search of the safety of America, as strong and powerful people.
- School Ties: A hard-working Jewish student must fight anti-Semitism, while being used to win football games for a prep school. Throughout it, the character of David Green remains a mensch.
- Fiddler on The Roof: Not just a great tough Jew movie, but a great movie all around, the main character Tevye is a real hero. He protects his family and his faith stands up to the thugs who disrupt his daughter’s wedding and is a macho man through and through, and he remains true to his people and his faith throughout.
- The Hebrew Hammer: There’s a classic scene which shows a bar fight with skinheads, where the hammer yells: ‘Shabbat Shalom, Motherf******!’ and that alone may be worth watching. Watching him protect the Jewish community gets this movie named to my Top 10 Tough Jewish Movies list.
- Knockaround Guys: Vin Diesel is the tough guy of a crew of tough guys – and has a huge Star of David tattoo on his arm. He doesn’t lose a fight and is the constant protector.
- Chariots of Fire: A 1981 sports drama about an English Jew who runs to overcome hatred and has been named one of the best British movies ever.
The Jewish people are the people of Samson and the Maccabees, the fighters of Masada and the Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky, our holy IDF and today’s contemporary fighting Jews the people of Israel. While in Israel we have plenty of well-known tough Jews, sadly silence is deafening among them in Hollywood.
Ronn Torossian is an Israeli-American entrepreneur.