L ifestyle /C ulture
‘Wonder Years’ Revisits Bat Mitzvah Ritual
T E L EVISION
PHILISSA CRAMER | JTA.ORG
PAUL PFEIFFER’S BAR
mitzvah made Jewish televi-
sion history when “The Wonder
Years” devoted an episode to it
in 1989.

Pfeiffer, played by a Jewish
actor named Josh Saviano, was
the best friend of the show’s
main character, Kevin Arnold,
also played by a Jewish actor
— Fred Savage — but who was
not Jewish on the show. The
episode focused on Kevin’s
jealousy as Paul’s big day
crowds out his own birthday,
but for Jewish viewers, the
bar mitzvah offered a dose of
meaningful representation,
including a realistic depiction
of a Shabbat service.

Now, 33 years later, a
revamped version of “The
Wonder Years” that showcases
the contemporaneous experi-
ence of a different tween
as he comes of age in 1968
Montgomery, Alabama, has
served up a new on-screen
depiction of Judaism’s coming-
of-age ritual.

The main character of the
reboot, Dean Williams, is Black,
and much of the show focuses
on his experience as one of
just a few Black students at his
junior high school at a time of
great turmoil over integration
in the United States. That gives
him insight into the psyche of
his best friend, a Jewish boy
named Brad.

“Even though he looked
white, people saw him differ-
ently, too,” Williams says
early in the episode that aired
Wednesday night, as a class-
mate throws a penny at Brad in
an antisemitic gesture.

“At 12 I didn’t understand
the complexity and hate behind
the joke,” Williams continues.

“I just knew they were targeting
Brad because he was Jewish.”
Later that day, Brad demurs
when Dean and their friend
invited him to a comic book
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM store: He has to go to Hebrew
school because his bar mitzvah
is coming up.

Brad isn’t excited. “I’ve got
to learn to sing my whole bar
mitzvah parsha, and then write
a whole speech about it. And it’s
not one of those cool portions
about locusts or boils either.

It’s about a father giving his
son advice from his deathbed,”
he says. “Imagine singing
something in a language you
barely know in front of people
you barely know.”
Dean answers, “Sounds
brutal,” before offering to help
with the speech. “Thanks! Now
I can focus on the best part of
having a bar mitzvah: throwing
the party!” Brad responds.

The actor who plays Brad,
Julian Lerner, is Jewish, and he
told TV Fanatic that he was
proud to represent his culture
in the show.

“I am Jewish, so I am
well-versed in Judaism,” he
said. “My great-grandparents
are Holocaust survivors, and
my grandmother was born in
the woods during the war. To
share Jewish life in this episode
means a great deal to my family
and me.”
“Brad Mitzvah,” which aired
Jan. 12, was directed by Savage.

He connected Lerner with his
own children’s Hebrew teacher
as part of the preparation, while
the writer of the episode, Yael
Galena, drew on her own bat
mitzvah experience in crafting
the episode, Lerner and
showrunner Saladin Patterson
told TV Insider.

The episode delivers an
extended reflection on race,
religion and inclusion. When
Dean and his parents discuss his
invitation to the bar mitzvah,
his mother emphasizes how
welcoming Brad and his family
are to invite Dean and his sister.

“A bar mitzvah means a lot
to a young Jewish boy, and it
says a lot about Brad to include
everybody,” she says.

Dean’s father is more
circumspect, warning that
From left: Elisha Williams and Julian Lerner in the “The Wonder Years” episode “Brad Mitzvah”
some people who are present
may not be happy to see Black
guests — much the way, he says,
that Dean’s own grandfather
sometimes speaks unkindly
about white people. Dean’s
sister, on the other hand, is
hung up on the fact that she is
being made to chaperone her
brother. On the day of, she warns, “I
don’t want you talking to me or
looking at me or breathing on
me. I don’t even want people to
know we’re related.”
Her father responds, “Uh,
I’m pretty sure they’re gonna
know.” Much of the plot revolves
around Dean’s new girlfriend
and how he treats her and his
friends as he navigates the
terrain of preteen romance. That
distracts him from supporting
Brad as the big day approaches
— though he comes through
at the last minute, awkwardly
making his way to the bimah to
give Brad tips about managing
his anxiety.

That empowers Brad to
deliver a moving speech about
a rabbinic teaching about how
Jews have three names, the one
they are given by their family
(for him, Baruch), the one they
use with their friends and the
one they take on themselves.

“It was that third one I was
JEWISH EXPONENT
stuck on. I had to really think
about who I was separate from
who people wanted me to or
who people were forcing me
to be.

“Being Jewish
in Montgomery means feeling
different all the time. I spend
a lot of the time feeling embar-
rassed about being Jewish.

“But I don’t want to feel that
way anymore. So from now on,
I’m not just going to stand by
while people make fun of me
or try to make me feel bad.

Instead, I’m going to stand up
for myself, for my people and
for what I believe is right.

“I may not know what my
third name is yet, but I do know
who I am: a proud Jew from
Alabama!” Laughter follows. So does
some physical awkwardness for
Brad, who had taken Dean’s
advice to picture the congrega-
tion in their underwear.

Some elements of the episode
strain belief — most notably,
that a bar mitzvah guest list
in 1968 Alabama would be
so thoroughly integrated
— but others ring true. The
synagogue lobby, with its wood
paneling and tallit rack, would
be familiar to anyone who has
ever walked into a mid-century
synagogue in the United States.

So are the tweens shoveling
Screenshot sweets — including Israeli flag
cookies — onto their plates.

(One guest can be seen stuffing
food into his pockets.) And
Brad’s triumphant, “Thank you,
and Shabbat shalom!” at the end
of his speech has been repli-
cated countless times.

For Dean, the whole experi-
ence is one that — as happened
to Kevin in the original episode
— causes him to reflect on
his friendship and his own
behavior. He realizes that he
and Brad have a great deal in
common. He also realizes,
sitting alone in the synagogue
social hall as the rest of the
guests dance a spirited hora,
that he hasn’t been so kind to
his friends.

“Luckily, I was able to lean
into the part of Judaism that
suited me in that moment:
the suffering part,” Dean says.

“Hmm. Maybe I had gained a
better understanding of Brad’s
cultural history.”
Dean goes on: “But watching
Brad get lifted up on that chair,
I realized that standing up for
yourself and owning who you
are can actually elevate you
in the long run. Because even
though I had lost so much that
day, I gained something else:
self-respect. And if that doesn’t
make you a man, I don’t know
what does.” l
JANUARY 20, 2022
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