For Jewish critics of Rachel Sennott, the 30-year-old actress has built her career playing Jewish roles when she herself is not Jewish. They point to “Tahara,” “Saturday Night” and, most notably, “Shiva Baby” as examples of Sennott engaging in so-called “Jewface.” Whenever there’s been a discussion in recent years of whether non-Jewish actors should play Jewish roles onscreen or onstage, Sennott’s name is always among the first to come up. For her part, the actress has never commented on the matter.
Until now.
In last week’s episode of “I Love LA,” Maia (Sennott) is desperate to score an invite to the high-profile brand dinner for her client/bestie Tallulah (Odessa A’zion). There are just a few small problems: She’s accidentally stabbed herself in the foot right before a meeting to secure the invitation, and the hospital she’s arrived at is prioritizing victims of a bus crash. Oh, and did I mention the bus was transporting Hasidic Jewish school children? So Maia develops a hare-brained scheme to have her foot tended to in time.
She’s going to pretend to be Jewish.
“Everybody thinks I’m Jewish,” she confides in Tallulah, explaining that people from Chabad are always stopping her to ask if she’s a member of the tribe. “We just pretend.”
Tallulah tries to convince Maia not to before she is persuaded to go along with the plan (after Maia admits that a gay Ritz Cracker advertisement mural she helped Tallulah secure in the previous episode was a flop.) “Go be Jewish,” Tallulah tells her, shaking her hand and eyeing Maia’s long skirt and cardigan. She adds, “The outfit helps.”
Let’s be real, the mostly modest outfit does help, and none of the nurses or doctors question Maia when she claims to be a teacher from the bus. Neither do any of the Hasidic children, despite Maia getting wheeled through a crowd of them as they confusedly look on. She gets the stitches she needs, makes it to the meeting and scores Tallulah the sought-after dinner invitation.
For perhaps any other actor, this joke would feel off-color. But for Sennott, it’s a subtle, self-aware and hilarious response to the “Jewface” debate. It says: I know this conversation about me is happening, and I’m down to poke fun at myself and the way others perceive me. And to have A’zion, the Jewish actress who plays Tallulah, effectively sign off on playing Jewish heightens the joke.
I personally have never had any qualms with Sennott for playing Jewish roles. (Whatever happened to the Jewish-Italian handshake?) But especially after this scene in “I Love LA” — and creating a show which gifted us the “Mimi Rush fired me for being gay and Jewish” hat — I think she deserves some slack. What other non-Jewish public figure is so publicly responding to intra-community Jewish conversations, let alone via comedy, a language of our people?
Well played, Rachel. Well played.
