Weekly Kibbitz
Michelle Williams, Spielberg’s mom in
‘The Fabelmans,’ to raise kids Jewishly
ichelle Williams is one of the
only non-Jewish
actors with
a starring role in “The Fabelmans,” director
Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical fi lm based on his
Jewish family.

But it turns out that Williams, who plays the
mother of the Spielberg character, has a Jewish
family of her own. She told The Wall Street Journal
that she and her Jewish husband, director Thomas
Kail, are raising their two young children with
Judaism and that she is studying the religion her-
self. (Williams is also the mother of a 17-year-old
daughter by the late actor Heath Ledger.)
“I can’t teach it to them unless I learn it fi rst,”
Williams, who was raised Christian, told the news-
paper. She said that she and Kail had picked out a
synagogue for their family and also said that she
had positive memories of traditions from her Jewish
childhood friends.

“I adored being in their homes; a lot of it is those
early memories of the discourse at the tables and
the deep sense of belonging that tradition fosters,”
said Williams. “It has always been something that
I’ve gravitated towards — something that felt
immediately exciting and deep and very diff erent
from the tinsel and cheer. I say this as somebody
who also sings Christmas songs to my kid before
he goes to bed. I love both.”
In raising their children with Judaism, Williams
and Kail are falling into line with the majority of
Jews in the United States, according to a large-
scale study of American Jews released last year.

Nearly three quarters of non-Orthodox Jews who
have gotten married since 2010 have married
someone non-Jewish, according to the survey. A
majority of those families are raising their children
Jewishly, with another 12% raising their children
partly Jewish, as it sounds like Williams and her
husband are intending. All together, two-thirds
of intermarried couples are raising their kids with
some Jewish identity, a rate that seems to have
risen over time.

Williams has won acclaim, along with two
Golden Globes and an Emmy Award, for her per-
formances in indie drama movies and shows such
as “Brokeback Mountain,” “Blue Valentine” and
Michelle Williams
“Fosse/Verdon.” She is winning accolades now
for her portrayal of a character loosely based
on Spielberg’s mother, Leah Adler, a popular Los
Angeles kosher restaurateur who died at age 97
in 2017.

Kail is best known for directing Lin-Manuel
Miranda’s hit Broadway musical “Hamilton.” In
2020, he was tapped to direct a fi lm remake of
“Fiddler on the Roof” that is still in development.

— Philissa Cramer
FOREST HILLS / SHALOM
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