Never in a million years did I ever think I would hear a 20th century Lithuanian chief rabbi get a shout out in “The Bachelor” franchise. Nevertheless, “The Bachelorette” persisted.
In Monday night’s episode, Bachelorette Jenn Tran and her seven remaining contestants arrived in Seattle for a final week of group and one-on-one dates before hometown visits. Baruch Hashem, Jewish contestant Jeremy Simon got the chance to solidify his connection with Jenn! On their one-on-one date, the pair rambled around Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. Jeremy made Jenn a bouquet of flowers, they had their palms read by a psychic and they tossed fish around the stalls. Romance (and gills) were in the air!
Later in the evening, Jeremy and Jenn reconvened for a dinner date where the conversation got more serious. When they discussed their potential future together, the matter of religion came up, and Jeremy opened up about his Jewish heritage (moreso than mentioning he was a member of the Jewish fraternity AEPi, which he did in a previous episode). “Being Jewish, culturally, is very important to me,” he explained over dinner to Jenn, who is Buddhist. “I don’t expect you to convert, I don’t need you to convert. But eventually I do want kids.”
Jeremy then went on to explain that he wants his kids to have some sort of Jewish identity to honor where they’ve come from and the violence and oppression Jews have faced in the past. “My grandmother, who you’ll maybe be able to meet, her grandfather was a very famous rabbi in Lithuania who died in the country because he wouldn’t leave during World War II,” he shared with Jenn, who listened attentively.
Jeremy is talking about Rabbi Avraham Dov-Ber Kahana Shapiro, the last Chief Rabbi of Kovno. Shapiro was born on October 1, 1873 in Kobryn (modern-day Belarus). He was the great-great-grandson of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, who established the Volozhin Yeshiva, the first modern yeshiva. Rabbi Shapiro studied at Volozhin Yeshiva as a young man and became known as an “ilui,” a Hebrew term meaning “prodigy.” He became the chief rabbi of Kovno in 1923.
Just before the breakout of World War II and the Holocaust, Rabbi Shapiro happened to be in Switzerland for medical treatment. Despite insistence from his son to join him in America, Rabbi Shapiro was committed to being with his community. “The captain is the last to abandon his sinking ship, not the first. At this time of danger, my place is with the people of my city. I am going to Kovno,” he replied to his son. Rabbi Shapiro died in the Kovno Ghetto on February 27, 1943. He was 69 years old. He is best remembered today for his book of responsa called “Devar Avraham.”
Should we look at a side-by-side of Jeremy and his great-great-grandfather? But of course:
Honestly, I kinda see the family resemblance? But back the “The Bachelorette”:
After sharing about his famous and tragic relative, Jeremy asked if Jenn would be open to having kids with mixed religious and cultural identities. In response, Jenn shared that she’s done Shabbat dinners with Jewish friends in Miami and is open to blending cultures with her partner, but it’s still important to her to have her future kids also have a strong Buddhist identity. To which Jeremy replied, “Honestly, the idea of like Jewish-Buddhist kids sounds fun.”
All in all, Jeremy and Jenn had a very wholesome and caring conversation about interfaith family building that ended in a rose for Jeremy. This means that next week we’ll get a chance to meet Jeremy’s Jewish family and see how they interact with Jenn! In their dinner date conversation, Jeremy already gave us a preview of what his mom is like. “I’ve always looked for someone who’s like — I’m not trying to compare you to my mom — but like someone who’s as caring as my mom,” Jeremy told Jenn, in the most peak Jewish man statement of all time. “She worries so much, very Jewish mom of her.”
Fingers crossed Jeremy’s hometown visit goes well and we get as much Jewish representation as Ariel Frenkel’s hometown visit in season 27 of “The Bachelor.” Regardless, I will be seated to watch (and prepared to discuss in Kveller’s Jewish TV Club thread about Jews of reality TV).
