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A jingle inspired a show about dueling lawyers. Two synagogues helped bring it back to the stage.
(New York Jewish Week) — For any New Yorker, the background noise of the 2000s may well have been marked by the numbers 800-888-8888, the ubiquitous jingle for the Buffalo-based personal injury law firm Cellino and Barnes.
The renown of Ross Cellino and Stephen Barnes grew even more when the pair contentiously split up in 2017. Their acrimonious business divorce included clashes over managing the business, a restraining order against Cellino, claims of “bullying” by Barnes and a complaint that Barnes refused to let Cellino hire his own daughter.
Naturally, comedy writers Michael Breen and David Rafailedes needed to write a show about what might have gone down, including a scene about how that infamous jingle came into existence.
Breen and Rafailedes had performed the show, “Cellino v. Barnes,” a handful of times in New York in 2020 before the pandemic shut it down. Breen moved to California and Rafailedes headed to grad school and the play they wrote about a unique New York sensation almost faded into the ether.
But this isn’t that story. This is the story of how two 25-year-old high school buddies and amateur theater producers made sure that didn’t happen — and how they leaned on their synagogues to get the job done.
David Pochapin and Cameron Koffman were 22 when they saw “Cellino v. Barnes.” They loved the show for the way it spoke to their sense of humor, their New York childhoods and their love of niche theater. The pair would eventually take on the task of producing the play and teaming up with Breen and Rafailedes to bring it to a wider audience, this time in a vacant office space in Manhattan to really give audiences the feeling of authenticity.
Now 25 and a year into producing “Cellino v. Barnes: The Play,” Pochapin and Koffman are admittedly amateurs — Pochapin works a day job in FinTech and Koffman in city government.
“When we are trying to get people to come see the show, we say, ‘we’re doing this not because we saw a business opportunity but because we genuinely saw a story that more people needed to see,’” Pochapin said. “It’s hard to imagine finding another project quite like this. It’s been a wild ride and we’re super excited for the show.”
(On Oct. 2, 2020, Stephen Barnes and his niece were killed in the crash of a private plane in upstate New York. Pochapin said there is “absolutely no comedy about the plane crash” and the show centers around the creation, success and break-up of the firm.)
Ahead of the show’s opening, the New York Jewish Week spoke to Koffman and Pochapin about why they love the show, how their synagogues and Jewish communities have supported them in this process and what changes they are most excited about.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
New York Jewish Week: How did you get involved as producers with the show?
Cameron Koffman: We first saw the show in January of 2020. We had no involvement — we had just seen an article from the Buffalo News: “Show about Cellino and Barnes is an 8.8888 out of 10.” It sounded fun and it was playing in New York City for just a couple shows in January at the Bell House in Gowanus. It was the absolute funniest thing. Then COVID hit, obviously, six, seven weeks later, and life moved on.
I got an email from the venue that the show was back for two performances in August of 2021. David and I dragged more of our friends. It was a big group activity because we had been talking about the show for a year and a half at this point. I mean, it’s Cellino and Barnes, iconic New York names and a jingle that everybody recognizes. We saw it again and it was even funnier.
We had a mutual friend with one of the actors and pushed to get a drink because we just really wanted to tell them, “We thought the play was so funny. It was so great that someone wanted to tell this story.” When we met up with him, we asked if he ever had aspirations to make a permanent run out of it. He said yes, but COVID happened, he ended up having a kid and the other co-writer and actor moved out to the West Coast. Basically, life got in the way. When we talked to [Breen and Rafailedes], it really just sounded like more than anything they needed people to help initiate the process, which we thought we would be able to handle.
We certainly didn’t have experience in production, but we were so passionate about the story and we like to get our hands dirty with logistics. We just thought it was so fun that we wanted to take it to another level and really create a full run of this. We put our heads down, worked on a proposal and here we are.
How did your Jewish communities step in to help get the show back on its feet again?
DP: When we first got into this, which was over a year ago now, we talked to everyone we could, every person that would hear us out and offer an opinion. We reached out to people at my synagogue and they offered to provide chairs for the audience and books for the set, so now we have chairs and books. We’re both very involved in our synagogues — mine is Sutton Place Synagogue and Cameron’s is Temple Emanu-El. My first exposure to theater at a young age was not only in school, but during the Purim spiels at my synagogue. It is because of our communities and our upbringing there that we have the confidence that we’ll be able to do this.
CK: It really is. So many people that we know, that we rely on, that we talk to and the time that we spend with them have helped us put this show together. For example, I lead a couple of lay-led groups at Temple Emanu-El. Through that, I’ve become friendly with dozens of people, I’ve met other people through the young members circle, through becoming friendly with the rabbi and actually leading Shabbat once last year. So — for both of us — one of the main reasons we knew we could do this was because we’re deeply embedded in a large Jewish community and we knew that we could tap into people that would be able to sort of help and guide us with advice and knowledge along the way. Also, we knew we’d be able to blast out the show to a lot of people. David could tell you, one of the first people to buy a ticket for the play was the rabbi [Rachel Ain] from Sutton Place Synagogue, she and her whole family.
As producers you have a little more control than you did as audience members. What changes are you most excited about since the first production?
CK: Not much had to change about the story. Breen and Rafailedes had done the play and certainly the story of Cellino and Barnes is still ever present in the cultural milieu of today. For a large swath of people, millions of people in the New York area, and even in California, where Cellino and Barnes worked too, that jingle just rings a bell and it seared itself into our brains, so our vision didn’t have to be focused on making sure there was name recognition.
When we saw it at The Bell House, the show was very bare bones. The venue had a stage, but it’s a big hall with 200-250 seats and you don’t really feel like you’re at a theater venue — you certainly don’t feel like you’re at an experiential venue. The space that we got on West 23rd is a vacant commercial space that feels like you’re actually in a law office. That was one of the key things we brought — we thought, “if we’re going to really lean on the vibe and the aura of Cellino and Barnes, we want to make you feel like you’re stepping into a dingy personal injury attorney’s office, with plaques on the wall and all of it.”
Why should people see it?
CK: I’m deeply passionate about my love for New York. A couple years ago, right out of college, I actually ran for the New York State Legislature. I love the city. It’s just such an amazing place. Cellino and Barnes is very much a part of New York’s cultural fabric. There are just certain things that resonate with all New Yorkers. It’s Roscoe the bedbug dog from Bell Environmental, it’s Sandy Kenyon from the Eyewitness News “movie minute” in the back of the taxi cab. All those sorts of things that people who grew up in New York or who have spent significant time here will know and recognize.
So many people come from different backgrounds, but there are still these unifiers — everybody’s seen the billboards and subway ads. And although it is a very New York production, we do think that it can resonate with everybody. Every city seems to have their own version of Cellino and Barnes — the mysterious personal injury lawyer who’s on every billboard, on every bus, and who has their slogan.
DP: When you’re in the theater and you’re laughing at these two people that are so nostalgic and are two of the easiest people to laugh and make jokes about, it’s just an unforgettable night. It’s hilarious, and even though it’s a comedy it also makes you think. Cameron and I have had several discussions about who’s right or wrong and Team Cellino or Team Barnes.
“Cellino v. Barnes: The Play” opens on April 13 at 320 W 23rd St. Tickets start at $40.
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The post A jingle inspired a show about dueling lawyers. Two synagogues helped bring it back to the stage. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Netanyahu says he is formally seeking the pardon Trump requested on his behalf
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is formally seeking a preemptive pardon of the criminal charges he has long faced, saying in a video address ending his prosecution was needed to bring unity to a divided nation.
“I am certain, as are many others in the nation, that an immediate end to the trial would greatly help lower the flames and promote broad reconciliation — something our country desperately needs,” Netanyahu said in the speech on Sunday as his attorneys filed a petition with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is responsible for granting pardons.
Netanyahu’s speech comes weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog advocating a pardon, which Herzog said he could not consider because Israeli law requires the accused or his family to make the request.
Netanyahu has three legal cases open against him, on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust. They relate to allegations that he accepted lavish gifts in exchange for political favors and that he used his position to secure positive media coverage. The trial in the cases began in 2020 and has proceeded in fits and starts, with hearings routinely canceled as Netanyahu attends to Israel’s affairs, including the multi-front war and a protest movement that Netanyahu and his allies allege has been stoked through foreign interference.
In his speech, Netanyahu did not acknowledge guilt and said, as he long has contended, that the charges against him were political in nature. He alleged that crimes had been committed in the case against him. He also cited Trump’s advocacy on his behalf.
“President Trump called for an immediate end to the trial so that, together with him, I could advance even more vigorously the vital interests shared by Israel and the United States, within a time window that may never return,” Netanyahu said.
Herzog’s office said it would consider the pardon request in accordance with Israeli law. Netanyahu’s critics lambasted the request, saying it amounted to another assault on country’s legal norms by the prime minister, whose right-wing government has led an effort to overhaul the judiciary.
“I call on President Herzog: You cannot grant Netanyahu a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse, and an immediate withdrawal from political life,” tweeted opposition leader Yair Lapid while making a video address of his own.
Netanyahu’s request comes as the country nears elections that must take place within the next year. Netanyahu was reelected most recently in 2022, after the charges against him were in place.
A previous prime minister who faced legal charges, Ehud Olmert, resigned before being charged and requested a pardon only after being convicted and jailed.
The post Netanyahu says he is formally seeking the pardon Trump requested on his behalf appeared first on The Forward.
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After facing criticism, Dublin tables proposal to rename Herzog Park — for now
(JTA) — A proposal to rename a Dublin park that honors one of Ireland’s most famous Jewish emigres has been tabled following criticism from the Israeli president and the Irish prime minister.
But the bid to rename Herzog Park could be revived if the Dublin City Council’s naming committee follows a different procedure, the council’s chief executive said in a statement on Sunday, a day before the planned vote.
The park was renamed in 1995 for Chaim Herzog, the son of the first Irish chief rabbi who became Israel’s sixth president in 1983, seven years after famously ripping up a United Nations resolution that declared “Zionism as Racism.” His son, Isaac Herzog, is the president of Israel today.
Pro-Palestinian activists called for the park to be stripped of the Herzog name during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, citing Chaim Herzog’s role as a prominent defender of Zionism. Last year, activists covered all references to the Herzog family at the park with Palestinian flags and added placards with the name “Hind Rajab Park,” referring to the 6-year-old Gaza girl killed during the war who has become a symbol of pro-Palestinian advocacy.
The campaign came amid staunch pro-Palestinian sentiment in Ireland, where Israel recently shuttered its Dublin embassy, citing “antisemitic rhetoric of the Irish government,” including its recognition of an independent Palestinian state and its support for anti-Israel resolutions in international bodies during the war in Gaza.
Isaac Herzog’s office had expressed concern about the renaming proposal, saying that it believed the park’s new name would be “Free Palestine.” It said in a statement on Saturday that stripping the Herzog name from the park would harm “the unique expression of the historical connection between the Irish and Jewish peoples” and undermine the legacy of Chaim Herzog, whose father supported Irish independence and who himself fought in the British Army during World War II.
“Removing the Herzog name, if it happens, would be a shameful and disgraceful move,” the statement said. “We hope that the legacy of a figure at the forefront of establishing the relations between Israel and Ireland, and the fight against antisemitism and tyranny, will still get the respect it deserves today.”
On Sunday, Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, stepped in, condemning the renaming proposal and calling for its withdrawal.
“The proposal would erase the distinctive and rich contribution to Irish life of the Jewish community over many decades, including actual participation in the Irish War of Independence and the emerging state,” he said in a statement. “This proposal is a denial of our history and will without a doubt be seen as antisemitic. It is overtly divisive and wrong.”
Later in the day, reports emerged that the council was indeed withdrawing the proposal, which had by then drawn condemnation from Jewish groups around the world as well. In a statement, the council’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, confirmed that the proposal would not come up for a vote at Monday’s meeting.
Shakespeare said the council’s commemorations and naming committee had not followed the “statutory procedures” required for a “secret ballot” to approve a renaming and that he would be sending the proposal back to the committee for reconsideration. He offered an apology without addressing the content of the criticism surrounding the proposal.
“On behalf of the Executive of the City Council, I wish to apologise for this administrative oversight,” Shakespeare said. “A detailed review of the administrative mis-steps will now be undertaken and a report furnished to the Lord Mayor and Councillors.”
Herzog Park is located in a neighborhood of Dublin that is home to other symbols of the city’s bygone Jewish past. It sits near the intersection of Zion Road and Orwell Road and is located a short walk from the city’s progressive synagogue, Orthodox synagogue and a new Chabad center, which recently opened Ireland’s first kosher restaurant in decades to acclaim from both Jewish and non-Jewish diners.
The City Council is also involved in a proposal to build apartments on the site of the Orthodox synagogue, which the Jewish community put up for sale several years ago amid what local Jewish leaders said was a shift toward secularism among the city’s Jews.
“Herzog Park is more than a name on a sign. For the neighbouring Jewish families and schools, it is a place filled with memory, and a quiet reminder that our community has deep roots in Dublin,” Yoni Wieder, who was inaugurated as Ireland’s chief rabbi last year, said in a statement.
“When the park was named in honour of Chaim Herzog in 1995, it was a recognition not just of one man, but a chapter of shared Irish-Jewish history. That history has not changed, and it cannot be undone by motions or votes,” Wieder said. “The Jewish story in Ireland deserves to be acknowledged, not quietly removed.”
The post After facing criticism, Dublin tables proposal to rename Herzog Park — for now appeared first on The Forward.
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Palestinian-American teen from Florida freed from Israeli detention after 9 months
(JTA) — A Palestinian-American teenager was freed last week after nine months in an Israeli detention facility, following advocacy for his release by 27 Democratic lawmakers.
Mohammed Ibrahim, 16, of Palm Bay, Florida, was arrested in February while visiting his family in the West Bank. Israeli officials said he had thrown rocks at Israeli settlers, an allegation that Ibrahim and the Council on American-Islamic Relations denied.
Ibrahim initially confessed to throwing the rocks, but later said in an affidavit that he had confessed out of “sheer fear” after he claimed that the “interrogator threatened that if I did not comply, he would instruct the soldiers to beat me,” according to the Associated Press. Israeli law considers stone-throwing a serious offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
After a recent hearing in his case was delayed, he was released on Thursday. His family told the BBC that he had lost weight and was suffering from conditions sustained during his detention.
Ibrahim’s detention was first reported by the Guardian in July after his cousin, 20-year-old Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, was killed during a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
The detention and killing took place amid flaring tensions in the West Bank, including sustained attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages and farmers, that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denounced.
In October, a group of 27 Democratic lawmakers signed onto a letter urging Rubio to pressure the Israeli government to release Ibrahim.
“We write with grave concern regarding the detention without trial of Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim. Mohammed is a U.S. citizen from Florida who was reportedly blindfolded, handcuffed, and arrested on February 16th, 2025 when Israeli forces reportedly entered his family home in al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya at 3 a.m.,” the letter read. Some of the lawmakers called attention to Ibrahim’s cause subsequently, as well.
In a statement to the BBC, the state department said it was providing consular support to Ibrahim’s family, adding that “the Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens.”
The post Palestinian-American teen from Florida freed from Israeli detention after 9 months appeared first on The Forward.