arts & culture
‘The Offi ce’ Star B.J. Novak
Coming to Katz JCC
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
B .J. Novak, best known for co-writing
“Th e Offi ce” and playing its hilar-
ious and depraved con man character
Ryan Howard, will culminate the Katz
JCC’s Festival of Arts, Books and Culture
with a talk on Nov. 13.

Novak’s appearance will begin at 7
p.m. in the Lahn Social Hall at the Cherry
Hill, New Jersey facility. Tickets are $75
for JCC members and $95 for guests. You
can buy them on the JCC’s website or at
this link: howclix.com/event/novak.

“Th e Offi ce” co-star grew up in a
Jewish family in the Boston area and
attended the Solomon Schechter Day
School and Camp Ramah. His talk will
conclude a week’s worth of events that
feature an illusionist and several authors.

But Novak is the biggest name on the
list. Th e co-writer of the classic NBC
sitcom has been busy in recent years, too.

Over the past two years, he has written
and starred in a black comedy movie,
“Vengeance,” and created and produced
a Hulu series, “Th e Premise.”
A JCC email about the event called
Novak a “multi-talented pioneer” and
“authority on turning raw creativity into
bona fi de success.” Th e writer, actor and
producer did not agree to be interviewed
for this story or to make himself available
at the talk.

“He’s an intellectual. He’s a smart per-
son. I like that,” said Roberta Abramowitz,
one of the festival’s co-chairs. “Smartness
appeals to a lot of people.”
Th e Jewish kid from Boston “began
his career as a stand-up comedian” in
the early 2000s, the event email said. He
landed his “Offi ce” job when the show’s
executive producer, Greg Daniels, enjoyed
his routine at a comedy club, according to
a Boston Globe article from 2009.

Th e sitcom’s nine-year, 201-episode
run ended in 2013, and its co-writer went
on to sign a seven-fi gure book deal with
Alfred A. Knopf. In 2014, he published a
book of short stories, “One More Th ing:
Stories and Other Stories,” and a chil-
dren’s title called “Th e Book with No
Pictures.” Both spent weeks on Th e New
York Times bestseller list.

He has also created an app and main-
tained an on-again, off -again relationship
with fellow comedian and “Offi ce” star
Mindy Kaling. He has even advised cor-
porations on how to apply the “collabora-
tive, improvisational spirit of Th e Offi ce’s
writing room to their teams,” according
to the event email. In other words, not
unlike his “Offi ce” character, who created
a website and got promoted to corporate,
among other ventures, Novak has done a
lot. Ryan Howard even had an on-again,
B.J. Novak
off -again relationship with Kaling’s char-
acter, Kelly Kapoor, in the show.

“He encourages listeners of all ages
and backgrounds to embrace the
unknown by breaking out of established
formats and modes of thinking, while
emphasizing the inherent importance of
approaching every endeavor with a sense
of humor,” said the email.

In a summer interview with
JewishBoston to promote “Vengeance,”
Novak discussed how his Jewish upbring-
ing shaped him. Perhaps not surprisingly,
he said Jewish humor infl uenced him
See Arts, Page 31
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d’var torah
Responding to Ye and
Other Antisemites
BY RABBI LANCE J. SUSSMAN
T Parshat Vayera
he Irish statesman Conor
Cruise O’Brien once remarked,
“Antisemitism is a light
sleeper.” Unfortunately, in recent years,
antisemitism woke up in America.

It’s not, as O’Brien suggests, that
antisemitism disappeared; rather, “the
oldest hatred” has come roaring back
from Charlottesville to Tree of Life
to the pronouncements of Ye, who
has changed his name from Kanye
West. One important question is how
to respond to the spiking of anti-Jewish
animus in America.

A close reading of this week’s Torah
portion, Vayera, helps explain one his-
torical response. At the end of the
portion, Abraham is commanded to
sacrifi ce his son Isaac. When Abraham
“reached out his hand and took the
knife to slay his son,” the text does not
state that Isaac resisted.

Although in the Torah an angel inter-
venes, stops the slaughter and points
out that a ram is available as a substi-
tute for Isaac, some medieval Jewish
commentaries maintain that Isaac
was actually slain. Th is viewpoint was
explored by Professor Shalom Spiegel
of the Jewish Th eological Seminary
in his 1967 book on “the binding of
Isaac,” “Th e Last Trial.”
Th e paradigm of Isaac passively
walking to his death has reverberated
throughout Jewish history. It helps
explain the images of tens of thousands
of Jews walking to their deaths in Nazi
concentration camps. As unarmed cit-
izens herded into cattle cars, there was
little possibility of physical resistance.

Instead, they went to their deaths
with dignity, itself a powerful state-
ment of spiritual resistance. Others,
including the fi ghters of the Warsaw
Ghetto and partisans, took up arms
against the Nazis. Whatever their form
of resistance, we hold all of them dear
in our hearts.

Today, we must ask, “What should
be our form of resistance to antisemi-
tism?” We need to fi nd our own path to
protest the growing hate in our midst.

What can we do? I have six suggestions:
First, it is essential that the Jewish
community support its traditional
defense organizations beginning with
groups like the Anti-Defamation
League and the American Jewish
Committee, as well as general anti-hate
initiatives like the Southern Poverty
Law Center. Jewish Federations spon-
sor agencies that respond to antisemitic
incidents, as do major Jewish religious
denominations. However, none of these
groups can be eff ective without strong
fi nancial support from the Jewish com-
munity. Second, leaders of all stripes need
to be fi rm in their condemnation of
antisemitism. Silence is complicity.

Condemning antisemitism needs to
be directed to both ends of the polit-
ical spectrum and not cherry picked
for political expedience. United States
Envoy for Monitoring and Combating
Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt can
help set a national standard for our
leaders to follow.

Th ird, as was recently demonstrated
in the case of Ye, economic action
can be taken both by businesses and
by consumers to fi ght antisemitism.

Although delayed, even Adidas broke
its ties with Ye, as did several other
major business entities.

Fourth, Holocaust education is
urgent and needs to be mandated by
state governments. Holocaust denial,
trivialization and ignorance play a
major role in empowering antisemites
to spread their nefarious message.

Fift h, Jewish holidays such as
Chanukah and Purim can be refocused
to include major eff orts to advance
anti-hate messages. Yom HaShoah,
once broadly supported in the Jewish
community, needs to be reinvigorated.

Perhaps the shofar can be adopted as
an instrument and symbol of warning.

Finally, Jewish education and out-
reach needs to strengthen Jewish iden-
tity and engagement. Too many in our
community are distancing themselves
from our tradition. Grassroots Jewish
pride not only guarantees Jewish con-
tinuity, but it also conveys a strong
message to the larger society about the
beauty of Jewish life in America.

Th ere is much we can learn from
our heritage about how to respond to
contemporary antisemitism. We can
be the angel in the story of the binding
of Isaac and the shofar sounded to
warn everyone that hate has no place
in America. It’s not enough to just talk
about antisemitism. It’s time to act. JE
Rabbi Lance J. Sussman is rabbi emer-
itus of Reform Congregation Keneseth
Israel and the past chair of the board of
governors of Gratz College. Th e Board of
Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud
to provide diverse perspectives on Torah
commentary for the Jewish Exponent.

Th e opinions expressed in this column
are the author’s own and do not refl ect
the view of the Board of Rabbis.

F TAY-SACHS
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social announcements
ENGAGEMENT R
SEVERAL-LEONARD obin and Jay Several of
Gladwyne and Jill and
Larry Leonard of Richboro
announce the engagement
of their children, Ariel Bree
Several and Eric Benjamin
Leonard. Ariel is a graduate of
Johns Hopkins University
with degrees in political sci-
ence and entrepreneurship
and management. She is
a senior commercial strat-
egy consultant at Veeva
Systems. Eric is a graduate of
Syracuse University with a
degree in economics. He is
a senior merchant success
manager at ShipBob.

An October 2023 wedding is planned in Philadelphia.

Photo by Michele Corbman
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