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In new miniseries ‘The Calling,’ an NYPD detective’s Judaism helps him solve crimes
(New York Jewish Week) — In “The Calling,” a new miniseries streaming on Peacock, a Jewish NYPD detective fights crime and solves mysteries by letting his Jewishness lead the way.
Jeff Wilbusch plays Avraham Avraham, a detective whose Judaism is both central to his character — in more than one scene he says the Mourner’s Kaddish for a murder victim — and an identity that influences the way he does his job.
“It is so beautiful that, in our profession, as actors in the storytelling business, that you can play such a character,” Wilbusch told the New York Jewish Week. “Also, in these crazy times now, to have this beautiful role and character brought to life on screen on such a big platform is a really good thing.”
“The Calling” is based on a series of detective novels by Israeli author Dror Mishani. Though Mishani’s books take place in Israel, the show, produced by David Kelley (creator of “Ally McBeal,” “Big Little Lies” and more) and directed by Barry Levinson (“Diner,” “Good Morning, Vietnam”), transports Detective Avraham to New York. Slightly reminiscent of “Law & Order,” it has less of a procedural bent, with cases that span multiple episodes and more emphasis on the character development.
Detective Avraham — whose double name is not explained in the show further than one off-hand comment “my parents liked the name, I guess” — is a bit of a mysterious and complicated figure who works with his team to solve missing persons cases and a bomb threat at a day care.
Wilbusch, who is Israeli, is best known for his role in Netflix’s “Unorthodox” as Moishe Lefkovitch — the unruly and somewhat dangerous cousin who flies to Germany to track down Esty (Shira Haas), the show’s formerly Orthodox protagonist. For the actor, who grew up in the Satmar Hasidic community of Mea Shearim in Israel until he was 13, and whose native language is Yiddish, he feels a certain responsibility to honor the Jewish characters he plays.
“As a storyteller you have a lot of responsibility, especially when it comes to playing characters that are specific. I do feel a very strong responsibility to Avi,” the 34-year-old actor said. “I’m Jewish and I’m playing Jewish and it is a strange time for us Jews. The current events don’t really leave my head.”
Avraham is considered the best interrogator in the department because of his willingness to listen and empathize in pursuit of justice. (Heidi Gutman/Peacock)
In some instances, the show seems to combine several different streams of Judaism — Detective Avraham says he grew up in Crown Heights, though in a shot of him saying morning prayers and wrapping tefillin on his roof, he appears to live in Williamsburg. He doesn’t wear a kippah save for a few scenes, and while he attends an egalitarian synagogue, he also seems to speak fluent Yiddish.
Still, the character’s Judaism is less about the external markers of Judaism on the show — the scenes of him praying, saying a blessing, or performing “shemira,” watching over the dead — and more about how he carries himself and conducts his job.
“He’s not just Jewish because his name is Avraham, or Jewish because he wears a kippah. He’s Jewish because many different things make him Jewish, storytelling-wise. He’s not a superficial character,” Wilbusch said. “He is such a deep and complex and interesting character with such a strong message of humanity. ”
Avraham is considered the best detective in the department: He knows how to ask the right questions, how to bear witness to tragedy and how to continue to advocate for justice.
“I learned many things from him — to really listen to people, to really use the senses and to fight to see the good in people,” Wilbusch told the New York Jewish Week.
“The Talmud teaches us to see every single human being as the whole world, and that each and every person is entitled to infinite respect and concern. It’s not that I didn’t believe in this before, but just to play a character who consciously embodies this in his whole way of living is a very strong thing and a very healing thing,” he added.
Though Avraham is guided by that very Jewish conscience, he still has his blind spots. He prefers to work alone, he keeps his methods to himself and he remains guarded about his background and personality, perhaps aware that his Judaism sets him apart.
Juliana Canfield as Janine Harris, Jeff Wilbusch as Avraham Avraham, Karen Robinson as Captain Kathleen Davies (Heidi Gutman/Peacock)
Upending these tendencies in Avraham is his more junior partner Janine Harris (Juliana Canfield), who is eager to learn more about Judaism in order to understand her colleague better. Throughout the series, she asks about synagogue, shiva and Sukkot in a respectful and curious way.
“The Talmud says it’s forbidden for a teacher to reject his student,” she tells him in one scene. “If I ask you, you kinda have to teach me.”
It’s a relationship not often seen on television, a non-Jewish character with an innocent curiosity about Judaism and a recognition of how it influences one’s entire being. For Wilbusch, the relationship between Avraham and Janine was one of his favorite parts of the show.
“It says in the Torah ‘Lo tov heyot l’adam l’vado,’ a person should not be alone,” Wilbusch said, quoting a line in Genesis. “Avraham thinks he works best alone, but he needs Janine badly. The relationship that they have is not just a master-student. She keeps them in line where he has blind spots.”
The relationship on screen bled into their real world interactions on set, Wilbusch said. As production went on, Canfield, who is not Jewish, would slip in Yiddish phrases like “oy gevalt” after messing up a line.
“It means a lot to me. It’s a dream come true — a dream that I never knew I had,” Wilbusch said. “I never thought I would play a Jewish detective, that this would be my first leading role in America.”
All eight episodes of “The Calling” will be available to stream on Peacock on November 10.
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The post In new miniseries ‘The Calling,’ an NYPD detective’s Judaism helps him solve crimes appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens ‘Significantly Increased’ Anti-Israel Content in 2025, Study Shows
Tucker Carlson speaks at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, Oct. 21, 2025. Photo: Gage Skidmore/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens ramped up their anti-Israel and, in some cases, overtly antisemitic content over the last year, according to a new study, which tracked the prominent far-right podcasters’ disproportionate emphasis on attacking the Jewish state in 2025.
The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), a think tank based in Israel, used artificial intelligence to analyze the transcripts from 3,000 videos posted to the YouTube channels of Carlson and Owens, each of whom has collected more than five million subscribers. JPPI researchers looked at keywords around Jews and Israel, comparing how the populist-nationalist presenters spoke about those subjects compared to other nations and peoples.
The report identified February 2025 as when Owens initiated her anti-Israel shift, while noting Carlson intensified his focus on disparaging the Jewish state in April.
“Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have significantly intensified their focus on Israel in recent months, accompanied by a marked escalation in anti-Israel rhetoric and, in the case of Owens, explicit antisemitism,” the research stated. “While both figures have long been known for their critical stance toward Israel, the study documents a sharp and recent increase in both the volume and intensity of negative content.”
The report described how for Carlson “the share of negative content about Israel rose sharply from 48.9% in the previous six-month period to 70.3% over the last six months,” while for Owens “the primary change in her case is quantitative — a substantial increase in the overall volume of such negative content.”
Specific instances of hate cited in the report included that “across multiple videos, both figures employ sharp rhetoric, including comparisons between Israel and Hamas, use of the term ‘genocide,’ accusations of deliberately killing children, and the circulation of conspiracy narratives alleging Israeli influence over the United States.”
Analysts deployed OpenAI’s o3 reasoning model to make the assessment regarding whether Owens or Carlson’s statements ran afoul of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which has been widely adopted by hundreds of governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and United Nations.
For Owens’ videos fed into the analysis, 45 percent initially came up as antisemitic. However, that number in the past six months “rose to roughly 75% — nearly double the rate for the previous six-month period.”
The report described how many of these videos by Owens described Jews as part of a “cult” or engaged in “Jewish supremacy.”
“Antisemitism on the American far right is now overt and out in the open,” JPPI Director-General Shuki Friedman said in a statement. “The data should serve as a flashing warning light for Israel and its leadership regarding the kind of support it can expect from the right, today and in the future. Only a determined effort to counter this extremism can help preserve this vital base of support in the United States.”
In November, The Algemeiner reported that Owens admitted she had become “obsessed” with the Jewish people.
A user asked Owens directly, “Why are you so obsessed with Jews?”
The longtime associate of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, answered, “Because they are so obsessed with me. Feeling is mutual now.”
In March, Owens argued that Jeffrey Epstein-style blackmail plots undergirded the US-Israel relationship and that “this is the reason we don’t get to open the Epstein files, we don’t get to open the JFK files.” She asserted that a special relationship between the US and the Jewish state was actually “a form of gaslighting.”
In recent months, Carlson’s decision to platform white supremacist podcaster Nick Fuentes has roiled the American political right, prompting resignations within the Heritage Foundation following its president Kevin Robert’s choice to support his longtime friend’s decision to platform a vocal advocate of Adolf Hitler.
Carlson also provoked condemnations when appearing to suggest a Jewish hand behind the killings of both Jesus of Nazareth and conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
On Monday, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) highlighted statements that Carlson had made during a Saturday interview with The American Conservative, the longtime paleo-conservative publication founded by perennial presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.
CAM described how in the interview, “Carlson described pro-Israel supporters as believing they are ‘specially chosen by God’ while viewing others as ‘sub-human.’ Such language echoes long-standing antisemitic stereotypes portraying Jews as inherently supremacist or morally corrupt. Carlson presented these claims as proof of Israel’s alleged ability to manipulate American public opinion. In doing so, he framed Jewish identity and support for Israel as tools of coercive power rather than political belief.”
Earlier this month, Carlson appeared at the Doha Forum in Qatar and announced his plans to purchase a home in the Arab monarchy which has long sponsored the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian terrorist wing Hamas. His brother Buckley Carlson also suggested that the recent Islamist terrorist attack in Bondi, Australia which left 15 Jewish people murdered, was a false flag incident.
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Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Vows to Divest From Israel Bonds if Elected
Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback. Photo: Screenshot
James Fishback, a Florida gubernatorial candidate in the 2026 Republican primary, has pledged to direct all state government entities to “divest” from bonds issued by the Israeli government on his first day in office, a move that could pose a range of economic hurdles in Florida and has previously been lambasted by critics for singling out the Jewish state for political punishment.
In a campaign statement over the weekend, Fishback, chief executive of the investment firm Azoria, said that Florida state agencies and taxpayer-funded colleges have invested approximately $385 million in Israel Bonds over the past two years. He argued that public funds should never be invested abroad and vowed to redirect the money toward a statewide housing assistance initiative if elected.
“That money should have been invested in our communities. Instead, it was foolishly sent abroad to a foreign government,” the statement read.
Despite Fishback’s suggestion that Floridian money was “sent abroad,” however, Israel Bonds are investments, not aid. According to the Israel Bonds website, they are loans that investors make to the State of Israel, which are expected to be paid back in full, with interest.
Israel Bonds have historically yielded a positive return for Florida taxpayers. State and municipal funds across the US have invested in such bonds for years because they are considered low risk, consistent performers, and maintain creditworthiness among democracies with advanced economies. Observers have argued these bonds are valuable because they are predictable interest income and diversify public portfolios.
Fishback’s proposal echoes elements of the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel economically and has been condemned by lawmakers in Florida and across the US as discriminatory and counterproductive. Florida currently has anti-BDS laws on the books and has repeatedly affirmed its strong political, economic, and security ties with Israel.
Fishback’s antagonistic stance toward Israel represents a stark contrast to sitting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has repeatedly signaled support for Israel and condemned anti-Israel movements as a symptom of antisemitism. Florida has been among Israel’s strongest allies at the state level, with successive governors expanding trade ties, supporting Israeli innovation, and opposing international efforts to isolate the country. Any attempt to reverse that policy would likely face legal challenges as well as resistance from lawmakers in both parties.
Last month, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton purchased $5 million in Israel Bonds, bringing its total investment up to $8.2 million and making it the largest university investor in the US.
Under Fishback’s proposal, the divested funds would be used to create a $385 million down-payment assistance program called “Rise and Shine,” offering $10,000 grants to married Florida couples. The candidate also outlined a broader housing agenda, including restrictions on institutional and foreign ownership of single-family homes and calls to eliminate property taxes and reduce insurance premiums.
Fishback, a successful investor, entered the gubernatorial race on a slate of populist agenda items. He has raised eyebrows in recent weeks by flirting with members of the antisemitic Groyper movement and signaling acceptance of its leader, Nick Fuentes.
During a December appearance on Rift TV, a podcast hosted by antisemitic social media pundit Elijah Schaffer, Fishback said that he finds “the audience of young men who follow and watch Nick Fuentes to actually be incredibly informed and insightful.”
Observers have noted that Fishback’s attempts to entice younger, more online portions of right-wing audiences are a microcosm of the growing rupture between Gen Z and older conservatives on the topic of Israel. Recent polls have indicated a collapse of support for Israel among young Republicans, with this portion of the party expressing more skepticism of providing military aid to the Jewish state. Large swaths of GOP voters under 30 have more broadly voiced vocal criticism of US support for Israel and the supposed influence of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group, in US politics.
Recent surveys have also shown a substantial rise of antisemitic views among younger cohorts of the Republican Party.
Fishback’s candidacy remains a longshot, however. A recent poll from The American Promise showed US Rep. Byron Donalds leading the field with 38 percent support among likely Republican voters. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins trailed far behind at 9 percent, while Fishback registered just 2 percent and former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner garnered 1 percent. Nearly half of respondents, 49 percent, said they remained undecided.
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Mikveh unearthed beneath Western Wall plaza shows evidence of Temple’s destruction
Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000‑year‑old Jewish ritual bath beneath the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem that bears ash and destruction debris from the Roman conquest of the city in 70 C.E., officials said.
The find, announced Monday by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, lies just west of where pilgrims once entered the Temple Mount, offering a rare physical link to everyday life in late Second Temple Jerusalem.
The mikveh, hewn into the bedrock, measures approximately 10 feet long; 4 feet, 5 inches wide; and 6 feet, 1 inch high, with four steps leading into the bath. It was found sealed beneath a destruction layer dated to the year 70 C.E., filled with ash, pottery shards and stone vessels.
“Jerusalem should be remembered as a Temple city,” Ari Levy, the excavation director for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in the announcement. “As such, many aspects of daily life were adapted to this reality, and this is reflected especially in the meticulous observance of the laws of ritual impurity and purity by the city’s residents and leaders.” Levy noted that stone vessels, which do not contract ritual impurity under Jewish law, were common in the area.
Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu said the discovery “strengthens our understanding of how deeply intertwined religious life and daily life were in Jerusalem during the Temple period” and underlined the importance of continuing archaeological research in the city.
Mordechai (Suli) Eliav, director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, described the mikveh and its contents as a vivid historical testament: “The exposure of a Second Temple period ritual bath beneath the Western Wall Plaza, with ashes from the destruction at its base, testifies like a thousand witnesses to the ability of the people of Israel to move from impurity to purity, from destruction to renewal.”
Researchers say the mikveh likely served both local residents and the many pilgrims who visited the Temple in the years leading up to the Roman siege.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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