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Meet the real-life rabbi in the synagogue scene of ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’
(JTA) — Rabbi Michael Wolk was nervous when he stepped foot onto his synagogue’s bimah in May 2021 — but not because his congregation was returning to in-person prayer after a pandemic pause.
The jitters were because he was about to debut as an actor, in a role for which he hadn’t auditioned: as the rabbi in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” which debuted in theaters on Friday.
Wolk was initially brought on as a consultant for the synagogue scene in the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic coming-of-age novel, published in 1970 — more than a decade before he was born. He was elevated to on-screen talent when the original actor for the role of Rabbi Kellerman left the project.
“They called me that night and said he doesn’t feel that he can do it — would I be willing to play the rabbi?” Wolk told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He said yes.
The story centers on a sixth-grader, Margaret (played by Abby Ryder Fortson), who has a Christian mother and Jewish father who have raised her in neither tradition. As part of Margaret’s grappling with her anxiety about growing up, she embarks on an effort to explore religion and visits a synagogue with her grandmother Sylvia, portrayed by Kathy Bates, who is pushing her to identify with Judaism.
Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret Simon in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” with Kathy Bates as Sylvia Simon, her Jewish grandmother. (Dana Hawley/LionsGate Publicity)
In the story, Margaret and her family live in New Jersey, but the filming took place in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Wolk has been the rabbi of Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue, since 2020. (That year, the synagogue petitioned to have its name removed from a local memorial to Judah Benjamin, the Confederacy’s most prominent Jew.) A Long Island native, he came to the synagogue from a pulpit in Louisville, Kentucky.
The film’s producers asked Wolk to prepare what he referred to as a “sermonette” and to stand in the prayer leader’s traditional spot on the bimah in Temple Israel’s sanctuary, surrounded by stained glass. Some of his congregants sat in the pews as extras, which Wolk recalled as a breakthrough moment for Temple Israel, coming a year into the pandemic.
“It was my first time being in the room, being on the bimah with the people in the congregation,” he said. “Even little things like that moment of people responding ‘Shabbat shalom’ when I said it to them, there was something very moving about that.”
But the moment was hardly a typical Shabbat service. For one thing, it was a weekday. For another, Wolk was wearing a black robe, commonly worn by Conservative rabbis and cantors in the mid-20th century but not in fashion today. And his sermon was interrupted repeatedly.
Margaret, the main character in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” prays by herself as she searches for meaning in her life. (Screenshot from YouTube)
“It did not feel like I was leading a service at any given time because they would have me say ‘Shabbat shalom’ 100 times and have the people and the extras in the room respond ‘Shabbat Shalom’ over and over again,” Wolk said.
The synagogue scene, which is just a few minutes long, took 14 hours to film.
Besides the rabbi’s attire, there are a few differences between the American Jewish world of “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” in the 1960s and 1970s and the one today. The film has a female cantor, which wouldn’t have been the case at the time the movie takes place. While the book and movie don’t specify which movement of Judaism the synagogue Margaret visits belongs to, women weren’t ordained in the Reform movement until 1972 and in the Conservative movement until 1985.
“I did point that out and they were interested in representation,” Wolk said. “And that doesn’t bother me that much, but I know that it’s historically inaccurate.”
There are some other continuity issues with the scene: The actors used the prayer books in Temple Israel’s sanctuary, which were only published in the last decade. While the congregation is well over a century old, its current building wasn’t constructed until 1992. And, Wolk confessed, he is wearing an Apple watch, though it is obscured by his robe.
But also, he said, norms around interfaith families like Margaret’s have changed over the decades. In the United States, Jews who married before 1970 married non-Jews 17% of the time, according to a 2013 population study; now, that number is well over 50%. But contrary to what some feared, many of those interfaith couples are raising their children at least in part with Judaism. Their synagogues have adjusted accordingly.
“At the point when the book was written, there was no expectation that an interfaith family would want to participate in the religious life and Jewish life of a synagogue,” Wolk said. “And we know that’s not true right now. We have any number of interfaith families who are active and involved in Temple Israel.”
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Online Watchdog Group Exposes Viral Antisemitic, Arabic-Language Conspiracy Theory ‘Tired Islam’
A keyboard. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
An independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to combating the spread of online antisemitism said on Monday it has identified a trending Arabic-language conspiracy theory on social media known as “Tired Islam,” which falsely accuses Jews of plotting against Arab and Muslim society.
CyberWell – a trusted partner of Meta (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads), TikTok, and YouTube – explained that the fabricated narrative claims a Jewish or “Zionist” author named Jacob Dunne published a book titled “The Tired Islam,” which outlines a secret Jewish plan to destroy Arab and Muslim society. No such book exists in the US Library of Congress or elsewhere, according to CyberWell.
CyberWell founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor said the trendy conspiracy theory “revives century-old religious antisemitism, tailored to go viral on today’s platforms” and “pushes the same antisemitic tropes that have historically led to mass violence against Jews, now wrapped in a pseudointellectual setting to appear credible and urgent.” She also described it as “a modern-day digital replica” of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” the longstanding antisemitic text from the early 20th century that describes a fabricated plot by Jews for world domination. The “Tired Islam” narrative is often described as a continuation of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” according to CyberWell.
Videos on social media that promote the “Tired Islam” conspiracy often feature a series of fake “excerpts” from a fictional chapter titled “The End of the Arabs,” in the non-existent book. The “excerpts” include false claims about the alleged ways Jews want to demolish Muslim society, which include promoting feminism, attacking mosques, corroding family values, and using technology to control Muslim youth. The videos also display fake publication details for the book and falsely claim it is in the Library of Congress, which CyberWell has confirmed is not true. The videos often urge social media users to share the clip as a religious and moral obligation.
“Digital platforms are facing a moment of reckoning due to the continued poisoning and abuse of the information economy,” said Cohen Montemayor. “Antisemitic actors are using the virality of misinformation to inject age-old conspiracies into religious and political discourse. The fact that this narrative is being promoted as a ‘religious’ imperative makes it especially difficult to moderate and even more dangerous. We are watching, in real time, the formation of a new ‘Protocols’; but unlike 1903, this time the digital platforms governing content through Trust & Safety can still stop it before it spreads beyond control.”
CyberWell monitors social media in English and Arabic for posts that promote antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and violence against Jews and their allies based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Its analysts review and report hateful content to platform moderators.
The nonprofit organization said social media platforms are “consistently failing to intervene” and take action against the “Tired Islam” conspiracy theory despite its “clear violations” of hateful conduct policies and promotion of classic antisemitic tropes, conspiracies, and stereotypes about Jews. CyberWell said that in multiple cases, social media platforms concluded that content online tied to the “Tired Islam” theory does not violate the platform’s community standards. The organization also noted, however, that these platforms do not even have a consistent policy pertaining to the quoting of anonymous or forged texts.
“The ‘Tired Islam’ trend dehumanizes Jews and positions them as a collective enemy of Islam. Left unchecked, this will radicalize communities, incite division, and fuel religious hatred across borders,” said Cohen Montemayor. “Narratives like this could easily escalate into real-world violence, particularly if audiences are led to believe that their core belief systems and family values are under direct attack by a specific minority group. Comparable dynamics were observed in the lead-up to the Charlie Hebdo attack in France, where portrayals of perceived assaults on Islam contributed to radical extremist violence and terrorism.”
It has been 10 years since the Islamist terrorist attack at the Paris office of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. On Jan. 7, 2015, al Qaeda-linked gunmen and brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the Charlie Hebdo office and killed 12 people, including eight editorial staff members. A Muslim police officer guarding the offices was also shot and killed at point-blank range by the terrorists. Over the next two days, Amedy Coulibaly, who was tied to the Kouachi brothers, killed five people, including at a kosher supermarket, and claimed to be acting on behalf of the Islamic State group. All three gunmen were killed in police raids on Jan. 9.
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Legal Union Pays Six-Figure Settlement Over Antisemitism Accusations
Illustrative: A pro-Hamas demonstrator uses a bullhorn during a protest at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on March 11, 2025. Photo: Daniel Cole via Reuters Connect
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, one of America’s leading Jewish civil rights groups, notched a major court victory on Thursday which secured a six-figure settlement for a cohort of plaintiffs who alleged that their union fostered a hostile environment against Jewish and Zionist members during an outbreak of pro-Hamas sentiment set off by the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
Per the terms of the agreement, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA), the union for New York public defenders, will shell out $315,000 in damages while admitting culpability in the events which precipitated legal action. The ALAA also agreed to institute new training courses on the rights of union members and accept a neutral third party’s oversight of other organizational procedures.
“We are seeing an increasing trend in labor union antisemitism, much as we have seen a similar increase on college campuses. In both cases, there is bitter irony,” Brandeis Center chairman and founder Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “Colleges are supposed to be islands of reason and tolerance. Labor unions are supposed to be advocates for social justice and workplace equality. To find the oldest hatred in such places is deeply antithetical to their mission.”
He added, “This settlement is a landmark in the fight against antisemitism in this sector. I am gratified by this outcome and resolved to support Jewish workers at any union around the country that is seeing this problem arise. Based on what we’re hearing around the country, there will be more of these cases coming.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the ALAA allegedly became a “cornucopia of classic modern antisemitism” in late 2023. Just weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, it passed a virulently anti-Israel resolution which made only a passing reference to Hamas’s atrocities and launched a smear campaign against Jewish members who opposed it. Following that, the union facilitated the filing of disciplinary, “formal charges” against Jewish and Zionist members, attempting to expel them from its ranks.
Antisemitic conduct in the ALAA took on other forms, the complaint alleged. Members commended Hamas’s violence, chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and denied that the terrorist group had murdered women and children. In one incident, someone allegedly asserted that Zionist beliefs would prevent Jewish attorneys from “zealously” defending Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs and lead them to conspire against them and sabotage their cases.
More Jewish professionals are experiencing workplace discrimination, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.
According to a study released in May by the StandWithUs Data & Analytics Department, antisemitism in academic medical centers located on college campuses is fostering noxious environments which deprive Jewish health-care professionals of their civil right to work in spaces free from discrimination and hate.
Titled “Antisemitism in American Healthcare: The Role of Workplace Environment,” the study includes survey data showing that 62.8 percent of Jewish health-care professionals employed by campus-based medical centers reported experiencing antisemitism, a far higher rate than those working in private practice and community hospitals. Fueling the rise in hate, it added, were repeated failures of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives to educate workers about antisemitism, increasing the likelihood of antisemitic activity.
“Academia today is increasingly cultivating an environment which is hostile to Jews, as well as members of other religious and ethnic groups,” StandWithUs director of data and analytics and study co-author Alexandra Fishman said in a statement. “Academic institutions should be upholding the integrity of scholarship, prioritizing civil discourse, rather than allowing bias or personal agendas to guide academic culture.”
Another study by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that 42 percent of Jewish faculty feel that the top US professional associations for academics, including the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), alienate Jews intentionally if they publicly align with Zionism.
According to the data, 25 percent resort to concealing their Jewishness due to the hostile environment, and another 45 percent say their colleagues lectured them on what does and what does not constitute antisemitism. The report also “reveals alarming patterns of marginalization, leadership failures, and systematic exclusion of Jewish members from their professional communities and academic homes,” the ADL said in a statement.
Some academic bodies, such as the American Philosophical Association and the American Political Science Association, were conferred high ratings based on Jewish faculty not reporting any “major incidents,” while others, including the American Anthropological Association and several others, were labeled as “major concerns” requiring significant remedial action.
“Antisemitic biases in professional academic associations are widespread and reveal a problem that goes far beyond traditional scholarly circles,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “When antisemitism and biased anti-Israel narratives are normalized within these influential spaces, they seep into curricula, research, and public discourse, quietly but profoundly shaping how students and future professionals interpret the world.”
He added, “By assessing these associations and how they are responding, we are delineating a path forward to ensure that academic spaces remain intellectually rigorous, inclusive and free of antisemitism, and accountable to the public they serve.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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German Auction House Cancels Sale of Holocaust Artifacts Following Outrage
People with Israeli flags attend the International March of the Living at the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp, in Brzezinka near Oswiecim, Poland, May 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
An auction house in Germany canceled a sale of hundreds of Holocaust artifacts – including letters written by German concentration camp prisoners to their loved ones — that was scheduled to take place on Monday following intense backlash from an association of Holocaust survivors and government officials in Poland and Germany.
Radoslaw Sikorski, the deputy prime minister of Poland, announced on Sunday that the “offensive” auction was canceled after he and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul “agreed that such a scandal must be prevented.” Sikorski called for the Holocaust artifacts to be instead given to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.
“The memory of Holocaust victims is not a commodity and cannot be the subject of commercial trade,” he said in a post on X. “Respect for victims requires the dignity of silence, not the din of commerce.”
The Auktionhaus Felzmann auction house in the city of Neuss planned to sell on Monday a lot titled “The System of Terror Vol II 1933-1945.” It included more than 600 items such as Gestapo index cards and other documents that belonged to perpetrators of the genocide against European Jewry. Also up for sale were personal documents “relating to the persecution and humiliation of individuals” that contained the real names of Holocaust victims, according to the International Auschwitz Committee, which unites organizations, foundations, and Holocaust survivors from 19 countries. The items have since been removed from the Auktionhaus Felzmann website.
Over the weekend, Christoph Heubner, executive vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, called on the auction house to “show some human decency” and cancel the auction.
“For victims of Nazi persecution and survivors of the Holocaust, this auction is a cynical and shameless piece of marketing,” said Heubner. “It leaves them outraged and stunned. Their history and the suffering of all those who were persecuted and murdered by the Nazis are being abused and exploited for commercial gain.”
Heubner added that personal documents relating to the Holocaust and the persecution of Jews belong to the families of victims. Those items “should be displayed in museums or in exhibitions at memorial sites and not be reduced to profit-making articles in a commercial context,” he noted.