Hollywood star Michael Douglas ‘deeply touched’ by son’s engagement with Judaism
The film star decided to give his son a barmitzvah after he showed an interest in becoming more involved in his faith
Hollywood movie star Michael Douglas has told how he was “deeply touched” after his own scepticism about Jewish rituals was countered by his young son.
Douglas, who identifies as a secular Jew, recalled how his son Dylan – who was then aged 11 – told his father and mother, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, that he wanted a bar mitzvah.
“We thought: ‘Yeah, sure, this is about the presents,’” Douglas told a Jerusalem Post audience in New York on Sunday. “But [Dylan] said: ‘No, when they light the candles on Friday, my soul feels alive and I feel something. When I’m with the group, I feel a togetherness.’”
The A-list actor said he and his wife were “deeply touched” by this and decided to give Dylan a bar mitzvah at the local synagogue, before all taking a family trip to Israel. He went on to talk about his own father, Kirk, had a bar mitzvah aged 83, and how Dylan’s bar mitzvah helped him re-engage with his own Jewish heritage.
“I almost broke down,” he told the audience, “because I realised that for my entire life, I believed that I was not Jewish. I was consistently told by Jews: ‘You’re not Jewish. Your mother’s not Jewish’. But I wanted to be a part of this tribe. I love the values. I really do.”
Spartacus star Kirk, 99, was raised in an Orthodox Belarussian-born family that immigrated to the United States, but later began to “assimilate” and “was not as closely tied to his faith,” said the Fatal Attraction star, who last year won the $1 million Genesis Prize for his commitment to the Jewish people and to Israel.
“I get such ‘nachas’ [pride] knowing that Dylan wore the same prayer shawl that Kirk had. I know what that meant to my father,” he added.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
