Yes, Israel may have been shut out from the nominations this year, but the Jews did not fare as poorly, to say the least. Last year’s Oscars were pretty Jewlicious, and Jews were even mentioned in the opening monologue:

Here are some of this year’s Jewish Oscar contenders. Well, the major ones anyway:

Natalie Portman – nominated for her role in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which featured a steamy sex scene between her and co-star and fellow Jewess, the newly single Mila Kunis. Portman is engaged and pregnant with the baby of some French dancer guy she met on the set of the movie. Here are 100 photos of Natalie Portman laughing. Enjoy.

Darren Aronofsky – nominated for best Director for Black Swan. That’s pretty hot right? Well, ladies, freshly separated from his wife Rachel Weisz, Aronofsky is successful, straight and single! Mazel Tov on the 5 Oscar nominations!

Jesse Eisenberg – Received his first Oscar nomination ever for his portrayal of another Jew, facebook founder and recent victim of spoofing (NOT hacking) Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.

Aaron Sorkin – The writer behind The West Wing got the an Oscar nod for his work on The Social Network script.

James Franco – Don’t be fooled by that last name, reminiscent of a certain Spanish dictator. Franco’s Mom is Jewish and he’s been nominated for his role in the movie 127 Hours where he played some guy stuck on a mountain. No. Not Moses.

Joel and Ethan Coen – This screen writing/producer duo got 10 Oscar nominations for their latest movie True Grit, a murder mystery set in the Wild West.

David Seidler – One of the 12 nominations for The King’s Speech went to this Limey Jew screenwriter.

Debra Granik – This native of Cambridge, MA and graduate of Brandeis received an Oscar nomination in the adapted screenplay category for Redneck rampage flick Winter’s Bone.

So there you have it. The members of the Hollywood Jewish Media conspiracy. Yay Jews!

Actually, I don’t really care. I mean are these good Jews? What is a good Jew? The only reason these people are listed here is for their professional achievements in the film industry. The fact that they are Jewish just feeds into that whole thing we do where we take irrational pride in the accomplishments of our fellow tribe members. Given the diverse, some would say fractured nature of Jewish identity these days, can we still be considered a tribe? Or do we really still need reassurances that our position in American society is secure? As if a fellow Jew bedding down with the daughter of a former President isn’t enough reassurance? Whatever. Maybe it’s just celebrity envy. Call me Star (of David) Fucker!

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

4 Comments

  • Sometimes i play a game with myself read a post without looking at who wrote it until after. When it’s you, I scroll up and respond with “yuuuup..” 🙂

    See you really really soon!

  • israel has a nom…for doc short…about a multinational school in tel aviv…called strangers no more…and its getting lots of buzz