While 2025 may not have felt like a great year to be Jewish for myriad reasons, it’s been a great year for Jewish TV. I can’t remember the last time I’ve loved this many shows with nuanced, relatable Jewish protagonists and characters — swoon-worthy Jewish doctors, a dedicated reality show contestant, and a wise and introspective French rabbi, among them. So as the year draws to a close, let’s take a walk down memory lane and revisit the best Jewish TV of 2025.
The best Jewish show of the year: ‘Long Story Short’ (Netflix)
Of course, “Long Story Short,” from the Jewish creator of “BoJack Horseman,” needs to be at the top of this list. Despite early trepidation about its Jewish mother representation, it felt like the most real and informed Jewish show I’ve seen in a while, one honed in on what it means to be an American Jew in various contexts. There’s Naomi Schwooper, the family matriarch, voiced by the wonderful Lisa Edelstein, who sees only one right way to be Jewish — that is, “progressive egalitarian Conservative Judaism with an emphasis on ritual and community over faith and blind practice,” and the family patriarch, Paul, played by none other than Paul Reiser. There’s also Max Greenfield’s Yoshi, who turns to Orthodox Judaism to fill a hole in his life; Abbi Jacobson’s Shira and Nicole Byer’s Kendra, who are raising their kids Jewish; and Ben Feldman’s Avi, who has given up on raising his daughter Jewish, only to have her ask for a bat mitzvah. What makes this show so great is its level of specificity — the jokes and tropes all feel lived in and fully fleshed out. I truly couldn’t be more excited for season 2.
The most heartwrenching Jewish TV moment: The Shema on ‘The Pitt’ (HBO Max)
via Warrick Page/MAX
The hottest Jewish doctor on TV: Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, played by the incredible Noah Wyle, was one of the best TV protagonists we got this year, period. He was world-weary but likeable, empathetic but also haunted by his own demons from working the ER during the pandemic. In one of the most powerful moments of the season, in the middle of a truly nightmarish shift, Dr. Robby finds himself on the ground, reaching for the Jewish star necklace underneath his scrubs and reciting the Shema, a common Jewish prayer that proclaims faith in God. It was such a touching moment of how we reach for Jewish ritual in the darkest of times, no matter how far away we might think we are from religion. What makes it even more special is how it was informed by Wyle’s own family background. We were definitely all kvelling when he won an Emmy for the role.
Second hottest TV doctor: Dr. Jake Heller of ‘Doc’ (Fox/Hulu/Netflix)
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Jon-Michael Ecker’s Dr. Jake Heller wears his chai necklace proudly, and in the fall finale of the second season of “Doc,” he finds comfort in Jewish ritual in a fairly meticulous episode featuring a Reform Jewish funeral. There was rugelach at the shiva, a torn black ribbon (a Jewish symbol of mourning known as kriah), a recitation of the Mourner’s Kaddish, a plain pine box and a heartfelt discussion about Jewish burial rituals between Dr. Heller and his young daughter.
The hottest TV rabbi: Rabbi Lea Schmoll of ‘Reformed’ (HBO Max)
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I know, I know. In a year where we got another season of certified Hot Netflix Rabbi Noah Roklov, played by Adam Brody (in “Nobody Wants This”), how dare I give this title to anyone else? Well, the fact of the matter is that Rabbi Lea Scholl (played by the magnetic Elsa Guedj) was my favorite rabbi on TV this year. Based very loosely on the story of Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, the show follows the young French rabbi as she starts practicing in the city of her birth, Strasbourg, trying to answer questions about Jewish marriage, ritual circumcison and burial. Schmoll’s secular therapist father doesn’t understand how his daughter became, well, so Jewish, but it’s clear that Lea has a profound love for Jewish texts and rituals.
Observant, introspective and searching, I felt so much for the French rabbi, and of all the shows we’ve gotten about Judaism this year, this one felt like the most sincere love letter to it as a religion.
Best International Jewish TV Show: ‘No One Saw Us Leave’ (Netflix)
Leo and Valeria at their wedding.
The Mexican Jewish community is big and colorful and has gotten quite a bit of TV representation, from the delightful “House of Flowers” to “Unstoppable.” But unlike those chaotic comedies, “No One Saw Us Leave,” which hit Netflix this year, tells the true story of a kidnapping in the heart of the community that changed one family forever. Both Valeria Goldberg (played by Tessa Ia), the mother of the kidnapped children, and Leo Saltzman (Emiliano Zurita), her husband and the kidnapper, are Jewish, so we get complex Jewish heroes and villains. I also loved the way Hebrew music and ritual made their way into the show.
Best Hamotzi: ‘Nobody Wants This’ (Netflix)
via Hopper Stone/Netflix
I have to give it to “Nobody Wants This” — having Jewish actors Adam Brody, Jackie Tohn and Tovah Feldshuh sing Hamotzi, the Jewish blessing over bread during a Shabbat scene in the latest season of “Nobody Wants This” brought me lots of joy. Tohn told us that Tovah Feldshuh made sure everyone got the tune right, noting, “The matriarch had to bring the proper Hamotzi melody to us.”
Best Jewish baker: Melissa Alt from ‘Is It Cake? Holiday.’ (Netflix)
Melissa Alt decorating her olive oil and jelly donut flavored cake wearing a Hanukkah sweater. (via Netflix)
Seeing Melissa Alt bake Hanukkah-themed cakes while wearing a Hanukkah sweater in the latest season of “Is It Cake? Holiday,” one of my kids’ favorite shows, filled me with Jewish pride. As the baker from Teaneck told Kveller, “When I knew I was going to be on ‘Is It Cake? Holiday,’ I really wanted to try and incorporate as much of Hanukkah into it as I could, because that’s really what I’m representing, since I don’t celebrate Christmas.”
Best surprising Jewish symbol: a hamsa in ‘The Last of Us’ (HBO Max)
via HBO Max
As someone who has played “The Last of Us” games, I knew that season 2 featured a potentially Jewish character, Dina. Yet Dina’s religion or background doesn’t really get addressed in the series, until one episode in which we see her give Ellie a hamsa bracelet, the same one Dina wears in the game. (A hamsa is an amulet popular with Sephardic Jews, among others of Middle Eastern and North African descent.) Does that mean that Dina in the show is Jewish? We’re still not sure, but it was a really nice little detail for Jewish “Last of Us” fans.
Best take on the Jews in Hollywood trope: ‘The Studio’ (Apple TV+)
via Apple TV+
In “The Studio,” co-created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, we see a modern vision of Hollywood, full of bumbling, out-of-touch studio execs with both a profound love for movies and a keen interest in the bottom line. And of course, one can’t make a show about Hollywood execs without some Jewish characters, including Rogen’s Matt Remick and Ike Barinholtz’s Sal Saperstein. There’s also David Krumholtz’s Jewish talent rep Mitch Weitz, who keeps bringing up (in the most awkward ways!) that Sal and Matt are Jewish. Overall, the show doesn’t show a big Jewish cabal; instead, it’s just some bumbling people doing their best to keep the movie industry afloat, one smash hit or artsy flick at a time.
Best Jewish Seth Rogen character: Will Zysman of ‘Platonic’ (Apple TV+)
via Apple TV+
I’m not going to lie, I love Matt Remmick, but my favorite Jewish Seth Rogen character this year has to be equally bumbling but oh-so-much more fashionable and perennially trying to be young Will Zysman. “Platonic” is “When Harry Met Sally…” where sex doesn’t get in the way between two very funny college best friends in their forties. Will is brewing beer, and Rose Byrne’s Sylvia is a stay-at-home mom, and yet, they still find such joy in one another. The new season features terrifying golf accidents and career crises, but it’s just as fun as the first.
Best Jewish Max Greenfield: Dr. Lev Levenson of ‘Running Point’ (Netflix)
via Kat Marcinowski/Netflix
Max Greenfield’s character’s name in this basketball comedy may be a fun take on Andie Anderson, Kate Hudson’s character in “How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” but Lev Levenson just isn’t a guy you want to lose. (I’m sorry, I had to.) The charming Jewish doctor (a pediatrician, aww) is genuinely devoted to Kate Hudson’s Isla Gordon and calls her his “bashert.” He’s the kind of genuinely nice Jewish boy we want to see more of.
Best Jewish Rhea Perlman: Dottie of ‘Too Much’ (Netflix)
Perlman plays a stereotypical (but still somehow delightful?) Jewish mom in “The Studio” this year, but her best Jewish role is that of Dottie in “Too Much,” a character based on creator Lena Dunham’s own Jewish grandmother; she’s colorful, sassy and so very stylish. I adored every moment of her onscreen and love the Jewish-mom representation in the show, which is based on Dunham’s real love story with her husband, musician Luis Felber.
The best Israeli show to make a stateside premiere: ‘Kugel’ (Izzy)
“Kugel,” the prequel to the Israeli mega hit “Shtisel,” resides in a completely different world, both visually and literally. It’s set in Antwerp, where the Haredi community is quite different from the Jerusalem one the original show portrays. It’s also set in a more fairytale-like world. At its heart is, well, the scoundrel with a heart of gold, Nuchem Shtisel, played by iconic Israeli actor Sasson Gabai, dealing with a separation from his wife, falling for the widow of a kugel shop owner and running away from his own schemes. And then there’s this beautiful love between Shtisel and his daughter, Libby, played by Hadas Yaron, a story-writing, story-loving romantic who is trying to find her bashert.
Best interfaith representation: ‘Boston Blue’ (Paramount+)
via CBS Broadcasting
The best Jewish plotlines are often based on deeply personal experiences. That’s the case with “Boston Blue,” a spinoff of “Blue Bloods” that features weekly Shabbat dinners with a family that looks a lot like that of the show’s Black and Jewish co-creator, Brandon Sonnier. I loved the blended, mostly Jewish family that it portrays, helmed by the patriarch Rev. Edwin Peters (Ernie Hudson), who embraces his daughter and grandchildren’s Jewish faith and traditions. There’s his daughter, District Attorney Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben), who converted for her late Jewish husband; Sarah (Maggie Lawson), her stepdaughter; Jonah (Marcus Scribner), her youngest son; and Mae’s daughter from a previous marriage, Det. Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green). Lena is the partner of another detective, Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg), and she has quite a moving later-in-life conversion plotline in this season, which was inspired by Sonnier’s own path to Judaism.
Honorable mentions:
Best Holocaust TV: “The Jewish Council” (The Network)
The best Israeli show to make it to Netflix: “Seven Figures”
Best Israeli TV about Oct. 7: “One Day in October” (HBO Max)
The best show for people who love “Adolescence:” “Bad Boy” (Netflix)
Best TV Yom Kippur vibes: the “Severance” finale (Apple TV+)
