How “Friends” Executive Producer Reconnected to Judaism Through Chabad

By the late 1990s, Kevin Bright had everything most people dream of. As an executive producer of Friends, he was shaping one of the most iconic shows in television history. But while millions connected to the six friends on screen, Kevin felt disconnected from something he once knew intimately: his own Jewish life.

As a child growing up in Stuyvesant Town on Manhattan’s East Side, his parents chose a yeshiva education for him at East Side Hebrew Institute because his best friend was Orthodox and the friend’s mom recommended Kevin’s parents send him to school with her son. But the school environment and his home environment didn’t quite align. “You need to have the tone in the house that is compatible to the school you’re going to. And I did not have that tone in my house,” he said. “I’d go to yeshiva and then I’d go home and my mom would be making bacon.”

He remained in yeshiva through eighth grade, then moved on to Seward Park High School, where he met non-Jewish classmates for the first time and stepped into a broader world. Over time, Jewish observance faded almost completely. “After yeshiva, there was no religious aspect of my life,” he said. “I did not keep Shabbat. I probably did not go to shul on Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah. I think it was that way for almost, I would say about 30, 40 years.”

Decades later, in the middle of Friends’ unprecedented success, Judaism walked back into his life on a day most Jews know by heart: Yom Kippur. His parents were visiting him in California, and he knew they would want to attend services. He told his assistant to call the local Reform synagogue for tickets. But as he drove his parents down the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, the GPS led him straight past it. Only then did he realize where he was actually headed.

“I realized, I’m not going to the Reform synagogue,” he said. “I’m going to Chabad. Now I’m very nervous. I just think it’s going to be so religious and so long.”

As a pleasant and welcome surprise, what Kevin expected to be an intimidating, strict environment filled with judgemental people turned out to be the opposite. “From the moment we walked in, there was a warmth and welcoming that really took me aback,” Kevin said.

That day he met Rabbi Levi Cunin, the Chabad shliach in Malibu. “Even though obviously our perspectives and backgrounds were very, very, very different, we just hit it off immediately,” Kevin said. “There are no accidents. There is no coincidence. It was meant to be.”  From there, a real friendship — and a real spiritual life — began to grow.

That instant ease surprised him. It challenged assumptions he’d carried for years about whether an unaffiliated Jew working at the heart of Hollywood could ever feel at home in a religious Jewish space. “Many people would think, how can you have a relationship with an Orthodox rabbi? What do you have in common?” Kevin said. “And my answer would be: everything.”

That friendship is now part of the normal rhythm of his life. “I see him usually once a week,” Kevin shared. “We wrap tefillin and we learn for an hour or two every time he comes to the house. So that’s now a weekly thing in my life.”

The relationship revived something he hadn’t even realized he’d been missing. “I think the biggest change was it reintroduced me to my Jewish fellows as community,” he reflected. “That community was very supportive of me. And not because I was the producer of Friends, but because I was a member of the shul. And I realized that was something I missed for a long time.”

As he grew older, the spiritual questions felt more urgent. “I think in growing up, we all get to a point where we realize there’s something bigger than us,” he said. “Whether that ‘bigger’ comes from a dedication to a nonprofit or a cause or to God — that’s what came back into my life. And that’s what the spirituality of learning again and going to shul again. It really reconnected me to that part of myself.”

He also sees how fraught the current moment has become, especially since October 7, for Jews trying to live visibly and proudly.

“What Jews are trying to do is bring light to the world,” Kevin said. “And that, unfortunately, now is totally suppressed by what’s going on in Israel. It’s a shame that now the people who are bringing light to the world are a little reticent to bring light to the world because they’re afraid of what the world is going to do to them.”

So he focuses on what he can do. “Whatever happens in Israel, I can’t control,” he said. “But I can control what I bring to the world. And I hope that’s light.” With the birth of his first granddaughter, that mission has sharpened into something even more personal. “I’m trying to create a better world for her.”

That clarity — that commitment to bringing light — reframes his entire journey. A world-famous producer walked into a shul he never planned to visit and found a Judaism warmer and more welcoming than he ever expected. At a moment when Jews need light more than ever, Kevin found his way back to the place — and the people — where his own could begin again. Turns out the best plot twist of all is the one Kevin himself taught us long ago: the right friends change everything.

Did you know Kevin also runs a maple-syrup company? After Kevin and his wife took over her family’s farm in Saratoga Springs, NY, they partnered with a local Chabad rabbi for kosher supervision. Their Twin Leaf Farms line — featuring kosher-certified maple syrup and maple popcorn — makes for a sweet and thoughtful holiday gift.

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