Allison Josephs’s Remarks at 3rd Jewish Media Awards

Good evening and welcome to JITC’s 3rd Jewish Media Awards: the greatest night in Jewish representation. Welcome esteemed honorees, presenters, studio execs from WB, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Fox and Netflix. Welcome members of the Television Academy, the WGS, SAG-aFTRA and the DGA.

This is our third time putting on Jewish Media Awards, and the number three has a beautiful significance in jewish tradition. When something is done three times it’s called a “chazaka,” which comes from the word chazak, meaning “strong.” Doing an action three consecutive times transitions it from a random occurrence into a fixed reality. This idea stems from a verse in Ecclesiastes which states,“a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Since we last gathered in this iconic hall, we have, thank God, gone from strength to strength. We’ve conducted the most extensive study on Jewish representation in 25 years with USC prestigious Norman Lear center. We have presented this research across the various entertainment guilds, at Sundance, at the Television Academy, and have begun studio trainings. We are now Jewish subject matter experts at multiple studios. This past year, we launched the Jewish Roots Screenwriters Collective, teaching working screenwriters Jewish values based on our rich, ancient texts as a way to develop inspiration for stories, instead of relying on the tired tropes we’ve seen all too often. And we’re thrilled to announce that the film fund that sponsored it – Judea Pictures – has signed on to develop two amazing TV projects that came out of the program. Last but not least and hot off the press – we’re also collaborating with the Jewish Book Council to launch the Jewish IP List, a curated development list of Jewish books for potential adaptation. It is all of these accomplishments and the six studio sponsorships for this event (check out the last page of the Playbill!) that show that we truly are establishing a track record.

None of this would have happened had I not accidentally tagged the wrong group on Instagram in 2021. JITC was originally Jew in the City – a social media movement and nonprofit I founded in 2007 to improve public perceptions of Jews. Jew in the City was creating positive change, but our growth felt limited.

Then in 2021, I learned about the Muslim PAC Hollywood Bureau. I was amazed and a little bit jealous at how the Muslim community had organized to advocate for better representation when I thought Jews ran Hollywood! I went onto Instagram to tell our fans that someone should build something like this for Jews, but when I tried to tag MPAC Hollywood Bureau, I accidentally tagged NAACP Hollywood Bureau. I then googled Asian Hollywood Bureau and discovered a group called CAPE. I suddenly understood that every minority group – but Jews – had been organizing for better representation for decades and all these groups had four letters. Which was very convenient – because JITC – in Hollywood- became Jewish Institute for Television & Cinema.

So how did we accomplish so much in so little time with no name, no money and not many connections? First off, we have an amazing team and we don’t take no for an answer. We leap into action despite being fully aware of the absurdity of our big dreams. When I heard about the plumber on the FlyDubai flight a few weeks ago, who thought he could fly a crashing plane because he watched a television show about it – see representation does matter! – I instantly related.

Many people may wonder why we are the ones who stepped up to fly this plane – and sometimes we wonder that ourselves. But our leaders in Jewish history all came from humble beginnings. It was the lowly shepherd David who defeated the giant Goliath, an orphan Esther who stood up to the Persian Empire to save her people, and a motley crew of Maccabees who defeated the mighty Greek army.

And if you’re not the type to relate to Torah stories – this room is a diverse one (more on that soon) – look no further than modern Jewish history and a desperate crew of Holocaust survivors and a million Jewish refugees from the Arab expulsion who fought enemies from every direction and survived and survived and survived and survived.

We have succeeded not because we believed that we are so great, but because we were willing to take risks for the Jewish people and trust that God would figure out the rest.

Now back to the diversity of this room. We have Hollywood to chasidim and everything in between here tonight. In our post October 7th world we can’t have it any other way. We must find ways to gather under one roof outside of gas chambers. While the Jewish Media Awards honor those standing up for the three facets of Jewish identity – heritage, land and people – we added an extra award this year for Jewish unity.

Tonight, we find ourselves in a different place than at the last jewish media awards. Our hostages are, thank god, finally freed – we are honored to have one – Eliya Cohen – here with us tonight! The war has subsided in Israel. But hatred of Jews continues to rise. This is alarming, and we are running out of time. We do not claim to have answers that will rid all media of antisemitism, but the slice we have taken on is significant. And as you will see here tonight, we are making extraordinary progress in television and film.

We have trustworthy partners in the industry who are listening and learning. Media Awards were started by our peer organization to thank the industry for a job well done. We are here to do that too. We are also here to educate what Jewish representation could look like if our path and work continue to bear fruit, and our presenters will be sharing highlights of our research tonight. We have spent our lives watching stories from Hollywood. Tonight, we have curated a Jewish story with and for Hollywood of what it looks like when Jews are shown on the screen with pride and confidence in their identity. It is a love letter to the Jewish people, to remind us what makes us so special.

Before we get to the honorees, we have a short video to share that speaks to the themes of the evening. We remade the iconic Like a Girl campaign from Always. It went viral, won a Gold Telly Award, and became the introduction to every training we do. This is our vision for what Jewish representation in TV and film can become.

Photo credit: Kruter Photography

If you found this content meaningful and want to help further our mission through our Keter, Makom, and Tikun branches, please consider becoming a Change Maker today.

Allison Josephs

Allison Josephs is the founder and executive director of Jew in the City has been involved in the field of Jewish Outreach for over twenty years and is the Partner in Torah mentor to actress Mayim Bialik. She was named one of NJOP’s Top Ten Jewish Influencers and one of the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36. Allison has been quoted or written about in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, People Magazine, NYPost, Daily News, TMZ, The Daily Beast, and Hollywood Reporter. She has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including CBS, ABC, Fox5, TLC, Associate Press TV, and NPR; her articles have appeared in publications including The Washington Post, JTA, Jewish Week, Jerusalem Post, The Forward, and Kveller. Pearson Education, the largest textbook company in the world, produced a video segment on Allison’s life for the Judaism chapter of their textbook. She is a sought-after international lecturer whose corporate clients include Con-Edison and NYU Langone and hosts a weekly podcast on the Nachum Segal Network. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in Philosophy and lives with her husband and four children minutes from the George Washington Bridge.