Jewish actor Noah Wyle is really good at playing a doctor. When HBO Max’s “The Pitt” first started airing earlier this year, it quickly became one of the hottest original new shows on TV. Fans and critics alike praised the ensemble cast filled with exciting newcomers, the precision and accuracy with which “The Pitt” depicted Emergency Room medicine and Noah Wyle‘s performance as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch. As Dr. Robby, Wyle is a natural captain for “The Pitt,” effortlessly playing a wise leader and mentor who is still just as nervous and vulnerable as his residents.
But before there was “The Pitt,” there was “ER.”
The OG medical drama, which ran from 1992 to 2009, follows the doctors and nurses of the fictional County General Hospital in Chicago. The cast rotated a few times over the course of its 15 seasons. But some of the most important characters include the level-headed chief resident and later attending physician Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), the charming and rule-breaking pediatrician Doug Ross (George Clooney), ER linchpin nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianne Margulies), confident surgical fellow and later attending Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), the overbearing Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) and Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle), a deeply empathetic and skilled medical student who becomes a resident and attending physician over the course of the show.
Noah Wyle and “ER” producer R. Scott Gemmill initially attempted to create a reboot of “ER” and when that failed, they came up with the idea for “The Pitt.” In that way, the two shows share a familial feel. They also find similarity in their inclusion of Jewish storylines. In “The Pitt,” Dr. Robby is explicitly Jewish, the basis of which is drawn from Wyle’s own Russian Jewish roots, and in episode 14 of the first season he recites the Shema. Meanwhile, in “ER,” the most prominent Jewish character is Dr. Greene, who comes from an interfaith family. There are, however, a handful of other Jews on staff at County General throughout the years like Nurse Yosh Takata (Gedde Watanabe) and ER Desk Attendant Jerry Markovic (Abraham Benrubi).
Though these character’s Jewish identities and Jewishness as a whole don’t come up that often in “ER,” they do provide the foundation for some heartfelt and hilarious Jewish moments. These span from single episode narrative arcs to subplots to even just a single line. So, without further ado, here are the most Jewish episodes of “ER” that any Jewish fan of “The Pitt,” Noah Wyle and/or medical dramas in general should absolutely check out.
“24 Hours”
season one, episode one
The potential for Dr. Greene’s Jewishness is planted in the pilot of “ER.” Early in the episode, Dr. Greene is examining a man who came into the ER because his vision was doubled when he first got out of bed. His vision has since gone back to normal, however, and he’s having no other symptoms. “I’ll tell you, Mr. Ervin,” Mark says, “I can call a neurologist to go over you, but that will cost you another $200. If you don’t have any symptoms now, I’d leave well enough alone.” It seems clear that Mark is just trying to get through the long line of patients waiting to be seen, but this response agitates Mr. Ervin.
“You wouldn’t talk like this if I wasn’t Black,” he insists. Given the historical exploitation and mistreatment Black Americans have faced from medical establishment, it’s fairly understandable why he feels this way. But his next accusation is not as understandable. “You are Jewish right?” he asks Dr. Greene.
Dr. Greene doesn’t engage with Mr. Ervin on this, only telling Nurse Hathaway to call a neurology consult for him. But Dr. Greene’s non-response seems to be a response in and of itself.
“A Miracle Happens Here”
season two, episode 10
Dr. Greene’s Jewishness is finally confirmed an entire season later in a holiday episode. While Carol is dealing with an elderly man named Stan Calaus who bears a striking resemblance to Santa and Dr. Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) is trying to save a priest who was shot, Mark treats an elderly carjacking victim. The woman is unconscious when she’s brought in, but Mark immediately notices the numbered tattoo on her arm, educating one of the nurses on staff that she must be a Holocaust survivor. When she comes to, we learn that her name is Hanna Steiner and we also learn something more troubling: Her baby granddaughter Tirzah was also in the car with her.
The ER staff alerts the police, but in the meantime, the horrible news makes Hanna nervous and agitated. She needs to get a CT scan due to her head injury, but she’s reluctant to go in case she misses any news about Tirzah. She needs a cat scan like “a loch in kop,” Hanna tells Dr. Greene. “No, to make sure you don’t have a loch in kop,” he responds, demonstrating he knows enough Yiddish to know she said “hole in the head.” Inferring that Dr. Greene is Jewish, Hanna calms down a bit and agrees to get checked out.
When she returns from her scan, there’s still no news about Tirzah. “She’s only been missing a short time. Don’t give up,” Mark reassures her. He adds, “I guess I don’t have to tell you that.” Hannah anxiously rubs her tattoo, telling him that it’s easier not to give up when you’re younger. “You’ve seen the worst in people,” Mark reflects. “And the best,” Hanna points out. She explains to him that the best revenge is to just live one’s life to the fullest. “And then something like this, and you know that it can all be taken away,” the Holocaust survivor laments.
They go on to talk about prayer, how Hanna had given up on praying long ago except she just prayed for the first time in 50 years to get Tirzah back. Dr. Greene admits that he’s the son of an agnostic Jew and lapsed Catholic (but learned some Yiddish from his grandmother). “You’re no good at all,” Hanna snorts. “I can’t ask you to pray for my family.” “I can try,” he offers.
A little while later, it seems that the prayers worked. Police officers come in with a screaming baby they found abandoned in a triple-X movie theater. Mark and Doug Ross decide to check her out before asking Hanna to identify the baby, but Hanna comes anyway, hearing the baby’s cries. It is indeed Tirzah, and she’s completely fine, just hungry.
In the end, Hanna has to stay the night in the ER for observation, but her entire family comes to celebrate Hanukkah with her and baby Tirzah. In an unused exam room, Dr. Greene joins the family to light the candles and Hanna tells her grandchildren that a great miracle happened here today. “Tirzah came back to us safe and sound. And also, Dr. Greene and I said our prayers and that’s a miracle too,” Hanna reflects. “I thought that God and I had forsaken each other. And then I found out he was always with me, in each of you.”
After celebrating with the Steiners, Mark goes out to call his daughter, Rachel, who is in Ohio celebrating the holidays with his ex-wife. In a moment where we see him embrace his Jewish identity for the first time, he tells her that when she gets to back to Chicago, they’ll have a post-Christmas, post-Hanukkah, pre-New Years’ Eve celebration. When Rachel asks him what that would even look like, he responds, “Well that’s the good part. You and I are going to make it up!”
“True Lies”
season two, episode 12
In the series premiere, audiences meet Dr. David Morgenstern (William H. Macy), the chief of surgery and head of the ER at Country General. Based on his name alone, it seems pretty obvious that Morgenstern is an Ashkenazi Jew. But we finally learn more about Morgernstern’s background in a subplot of this episode. In “True Lies,” Morgenstern is brought into the County ER in what Carol Hathaway describes as “a Catholic school girl’s outfit.” Turns out, it’s traditional Scottish attire; Morgenstern injured himself (and his great-aunt Jean Ferguson) tossing the caber at a Burns Supper. “Russian Jew on my father’s side, full-blooded Highland Scot on my mother’s,” he explains to Dr. Greene and Dr. Lewis.
Morgenstern’s Highland Scottish ancestry is very in-your-face throughout the rest of episode as he practices bagpipes in the ER and laments that he won’t be able to join his family to cut the haggis. In a surprise twist, however, his family decides to come to him. They process into the ER, bagpipes blazing, and give the surgeon the honor of cutting the haggis. “What is this?” Nurse Haleh (Yvette Freeman) asks him. “It’s sheep’s blood, intestines and testicles mixed in a gruel. L’chaim!” Morgenstern tells them, as the rest of his family lifts mugs of presumably Scotch and offer their own “L’chaim!”
“Stuck on You”
season five, episode six
A plot point in season four and five of “ER” is Carol’s journey to starting a free clinic at County General. In this episode, one of her patients is a needy old man named Stan Levy who loves to remind Carol that he has “sugar diabetes.” It turns out that Stan is a widower and he recently lost his home health aid, making it hard for him to take care of himself. When an assisted living facility can’t take Stan immediately, Carol decides to call Mr. Levy’s temple for help. Another temple member with diabetes agrees to stay with Stan in the interim, but when the temple member arrives at the ER, the show pulls a hilarious and extremely Jewish twist. The temple member is Mr. Kloner, Stans’ nemesis.
“I spit on your grave!” Mr. Kloner yells at Stan when they realize what’s happened. “I’ll see you dead, first!” Stan retorts. Through their bickering, the viewers quickly learns that Stan still owes Mr. Kloner $20,000 for a timeshare in Florida, which he calls “a shack in the swamp.” Regardless, Carol has done her part and Stan can leave the ER.
“Hindsight”
season nine, episode 10
“Hindsight” tells the story of one particularly bad night for Dr. Luka Kovač (Goran Višnjić) in reverse. We see him get too drunk at a work holiday party, require the assistance of medical student Erin Harkins (Leslie Bibb) to get home, get unexpectedly called into the ER while hungover, make some mistakes that result in a patient experiencing irreversible brain damage and get into a car accident which gravely injures Harkins and two passengers in another car.
At one point during the day, before the incident with the patient and the car accident, Kovač actually has the opportunity to clock out. What makes him decide to stay for another shift is the arrival of a an elderly man via ambulance. When he hears the patient’s name is Ivo Guter, whch he recognizes to be a Croatian, he decides to stay. Kovač is himself Croatian, and he offers to translate for the other doctors if necessary.
A bit later, another elderly Croatian man named Doric is brought into the ER and it’s revealed that Guter attacked him. When Kovač asks why he did it, Guter responds, “Are you Jewish?” Kovač and Dr. Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) indicate that they are not. “Still, maybe you can understand,” he says. “I didn’t see that man for almost 60 years. Then I see him… on my street, on my own street, an old man now like me. With a face I’ll never forget. He worked for the Ustaše.”
Kovač takes a second to explain to Pratt that the Ustaše were like the Gestapo but in Croatia, then Guter continues. “That man, Doric, was our neighbor. He told them where to find our family. I ran to the woods when I saw them coming. But mama, tateh, sisters, they went away to Jasenovac camp. I never saw them again.” He tells them that when he saw Doric, he couldn’t contain his anger. When Pratt asks him how he could be sure that it was the same man, Guter repsonds, “Some things stay in your head forever as they were yesterday.”
Later, a police detective comes to investigate the assault and potentially arrest Guter. Compelled by his story, however, the doctors cover for him, telling the policemen that they don’t recall treating a man fitting his description. It’s unclear whether or not Ivo Guter is ever arrested, but given that Doric was unwilling to confess his crimes to the doctors (even his daughter, who later arrives to visit, seems in the dark about her father’s past), it seems unlikely that he would pursue charges against him.
In a much less heavy moment, viewers also learn in this episode that Nurse Yosh Takata is Jewish. At one point Yosh is behind the admit desk when he spots a broken menorah decoration. “Hey, what happened to my menorah?” he asks. The admit desk clerk Frank (Troy Evans) alludes to the fact that he used it to keep back some rowdy ER visitors, to which Yosh responds, “This is bad, Frank. The menorah has great symbolic value. Do you know what it represents?”
“Yeah, yeah. Eight crazy nights,” Frank says dismissively.
“I was going to say our liberation,” Yosh corrects him. Yosh then explains to Dr. Pratt, who overheard the conversation, that he converted to Judaism.
“Like Sammy Davis Jr.?!” Pratt responds, excitedly.
“Man With No Name”
season 12, episode three
In this episode, “ER” touches on an a medical issue that disproportionately affects the Ashkenazi Jewish community: the BRCA gene mutation. The episode does this through a young woman named Stephanie Lowenstein (Jessica Hecht). Stephanie comes into the ER after getting dizzy while on a roller-skating date with a guy named Lou (Ben Weber) and crashing into a kid on a motorized scooter. She reveals to Dr. Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) that she tested positive for BRCA1 last year and in an effort to stave off breast cancer and ovarian cancer, went to Mexico for some pseudoscientific herbal treatments. It’s through this information that Abby is able to determine that the herbal treatments gave Stephanie lead poisoning, which they give her treatment for.
Meanwhile, Dr. Archie Morris (Scott Grimes) treats a cut on Lou’s hand and the pair make small talk. Lou explains that he and Stephanie hit things off at a Jewish speed dating event a few days ago, which prompts Morris to start reciting Hebrew. “That’s a holy prayer you just said,” Lou says, and asks if Morris is Jewish.
“No, no, no, I had a crush on a Semitic girl once,” Morris says, revealing that he spent a lot of time at synagogue trying to impress her.
Back with Stephanie, Abby tries to convince Stephanie to at least talk with an oncologist about a preventative mastectomies and oophorectomies. Stephanie shares that she’s hesitant, and wants to find love and have a family, despite having lost her mom to cancer as a teenager. Finally, Abby convinces Stephanie to talk to an oncologist.
“It won’t feel like my body,” Stephanie says mournfully of potentially having surgery. “Well, the things you want. You can’t have if you get cancer,” Abby tells her. This seems to reassure Stephanie, who goes into the meeting with the oncologist with some hope.
“All About Christmas Eve”
season 12, episode 10
Santa Claus, Hanukkah Harry and a man celebrating Kwanzaa walk into the ER. Not only does this sound like the start of a potentially offensive joke, it’s also a subplot in this holiday episode. As the threesome explains to Nurses Sam Taggart (Linda Cardellini) and Eve Peyton (Kristen Johnson), they are all employees of the same company which decided to throw “a PC holiday party.” Unfortunately, Santa is a real jerk. He antagonizes his Kwanzaa-celebrating co-worker about kente cloth and cracks a fatphobic joke about another ER patient. With all of the trio sporting wounds from a brawl, this behavior seems to explain how they ended up at the ER in the first place.
Eventually, Eve has enough and ends up punching Santa and pouring his own urine sample on him after he mocks a group of blind, caroling children. This leads to Sam, who witnessed the whole thing, having to speak with HR in the break room. In the background shot of this very serious scene, there’s an electric menorah attempting to display all eight nights of Hanukkah, but the sixth candle and the shamash are inexplicably not lit.
“Bloodline”
season 13, episode one
Season 12 of “ER” ends on a massive cliff-hanger. County General is shot-up by prison inmates who faked illnesses to escape. In the chaos, ER admit desk clerk Jerry is critically shot while protecting a child. The season 13 premiere titled “Bloodline” begins almost exactly where the previous season left off with the ER doctors and later surgeons trying to save Jerry’s life.
Here, we meet Jerry’s mom for the first time and it turns out she’s perhaps the most stereotypical Jewish mom there ever was. But as much as the stereotype can be cringeworthy, it’s hard not to love Jerry’s mom as she’s played by the incomparable Estelle Harris (perhaps best known for her role as Estelle Costanza in “Seinfeld”). When Mrs. Markovic arrives at County General, she immediately diminishes her son’s workplace, calling it “a fakakta cesspool.” She displays the stereotypical Jewish mom behavior of beatifying her son, telling Dr. Morris that Jerry could’ve been a lawyer had Harvard not rejected him four times. And to round it all out, she asks Dr. Morris how much the treatment will cost.
When Jerry is finally awake and in recovery, Mrs. Markovic bursts into the room. “Do you know what time it is? I’ve been out there watching the same cable news over and over,” she kvetches. “I missed my water aerobics, you were supposed to take me.” Even though Jerry almost died, he immediately takes on the role of dutiful Jewish son, consoling and apologizing to his mother. It’s here that Mrs. Markovic finally breaks down.
“Oy vey, you gave me such a scare.” She hugs him tightly. “My shaina boychik.”
“Look at that punim,” Dr. Morris adds. Given how much time Morris spent in a synagogue for a Jewish girl, you’d think he’d know better than try to impress an elderly Yiddishkeit woman. Predictably, it does not work and Mrs. Markovic gives him a blank stare, implying that she’d like some time alone with Jerry.
“I Don’t”
season 13, episode 21
Neither Luka nor Abby are Jewish. However, the on-again, off-again couple end up being married in a rabbi. Here’s the deal: In this episode, Luka decides to remove all the stress of wedding planning from Abby’s life by throwing a surprise wedding! What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out, not much. Luka is able to get the ER staff to the venue under the guise of a departmental dinner. He knew what wedding dress Abby wanted and got it for her — with her tailor cousin standing by for any last minute adjustments. And Luka finds an extremely conscientious wedding planner/coordinator in medical intern Hope (Busy Phillips).
The one thing that doesn’t go according to plan, however, is that the justice of the peace they booked suddenly had a conflict come up. In his stead, he sent a rabbi. It’s an unusual development for the non-Jewish couple, but both decide to just roll with it. (In Abby’s case, because she didn’t even know it would be a rabbi until she was walking down the aisle.)
“Today, you become a man!,” the rabbi begins the ceremony. “No wait, sorry, Bar Mitzvah this morning. Kid was such a schnook.” Other than that hiccup, and Dr. Neela Rasgotra (Parminder Nagra) offering what she says is a Punjabi blessing, but later is revealed to be just a string of random words (she wanted to say something but got nervous), the wedding goes off without a hitch. At the end, the rabbi asks the couple to humor him, and Luka smashes the glass. Mazel tov!
“In a Different Light”
season 14, episode two
In this episode, Frank takes up genealogy as a hobby and starts looking into the ancestry of his ER coworkers. “Hey, Pratt! Mazel tov,” he says to Dr. Pratt. When Pratt expresses confusion over this, Frank asks him, “Did you know that your great-great-great-grandmother on your mother’s side was an Ethiopian Jew?” Morris overhears the conversation and interjects, “Wow! Black and Jewish. You’re like County’s own Sammy Davis Jr.”
Another reference to Sammy Davis Jr.’s Jewishness in “ER”? It’s more likely than you think!
“The Chicago Way”
season 14, episode 19
Pratt’s Jewish ancestry comes up a little later in season 14 when he’s engagement ring shopping for his girlfriend, Dr. Bettina DeJesus (Gina Ravera). Frank hooks Pratt up with a jeweler and then gets him a discount by telling the jeweler that Pratt is Jewish. “I told him you were part semite,” Frank explains to Pratt.
There’s also a rabbi-spotting in this episode! Before the engagement ring scene, Luka, who is working at a nursing home at this point, looks on as a rabbi recites passages from the Psalm 90 over a dead man. The moment is used to create some comedic relief when Luka then goes to check in on another resident who he at first thinks is dead, but turns out to just be deeply asleep.
All seasons of “ER” are currently available to stream on Hulu.
