A young Muslim woman moved in with a 96-year-old Jewish actress – and it was bashert

Negin Nader Bazrafkan and Rebecca Schull. Courtesy of Negin Nader Bazrafkan

By Hannah Feuer November 12, 2025

For Negin Nader Bazrafkan, Yiddish lessons have been an unexpected perk of moving into her Upper West Side apartment.

Her roommate — and unofficial Yiddish teacher — is 96-year-old Rebecca Schull, a retired actress best known for her roles as Fay Cochran on the sitcom Wings and as protagonist Mike Ross’ grandmother on Suits. From Schull, Bazrafkan has learned words like chutzpah, schmuck, simcha, klutz, schmutz, and faynshmeker. Her favorite is tuches, slang for buttocks, a word that makes them both laugh and their cheeks flush.

The unlikely roommates’ 61-year age gap might raise eyebrows on its own. But for some of Bazrafkan’s friends, it’s the fact that she’s Muslim and Schull is Jewish that stands out most.

“A lot of people ask me, ‘Isn’t it hard, after October 7, to live with a Jewish person with Israeli roots?’” she said. “And I tell them, ‘No, it’s really not hard at all.’”

In fact, Bazrafkan, 35, had hoped to live with an older Jewish woman. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, her parents fled Shiraz, Iran — a city once home to a significant Jewish community — and resettled in Denmark, where she grew up. Her mother often reminisced about her childhood Jewish friends and encouraged her daughter to connect with people from different backgrounds.

So when Bazrafkan moved to New York City in January 2023, she made it a priority to experience Jewish culture firsthand. While pursuing a Master of Laws at Fordham University, she was a fellow at the American Jewish Committee and worked at Fordham’s Center for Jewish Studies; often, she was the only Muslim in the room.

“I could stay in my own lane. I could have Muslim friends, European friends and all of that, but I already have that,” she said.

About two years ago, Bazrafkan posted online that she was looking for a room on the Upper West Side, preferably with an older Jewish roommate. The New York Foundation for Senior Citizens matched her with Schull, who had a spare bedroom in her two-bedroom apartment with views of the Hudson River.

It was also an ideal fit for Schull, who didn’t want to live alone after her husband, Gene, died in 2008.

The two women clicked immediately.

“It’s like destiny,” Bazrafkan said. “That’s what I felt.”

Schull and Bazrafkan welcomed me into their apartment where they served baklava, toast, jam and assorted fruit — in the same living room, Schull noted, where her grandson had his bris. “This apartment has a lot of history,” Schull said.

The two quickly outgrew the label of roommates, forming a bond they describe more like that of an adoptive mother and daughter. They walk together in nearby Straus Park and bond over old movies like Ninotchka, a 1939 romantic comedy about a Soviet diplomat played by Greta Garbo who is sent to Paris. Bazrafkan cooks for Schull and files her fan mail; in exchange, Schull braids Bazrafkan’s waist-length ombré hair.

“It’s nice to be with somebody who’s not on their phone, watching reels, or worrying about a Tinder date,” Bazrafkan said. “People nowadays — they don’t even read a book anymore!”

Schull’s daughter Elly Meeks also described Bazrafkan as a member of the family.

“She has a joie de vivre [joy for living], an openness, an incredible caring, compassionate nature,” Meeks said. “It’s beyond a blessing.”

Bazrafkan has also brought touches of Persian Jewish culture, teaching Schull about Queen Esther’s Persian roots and cooking gondi — a Persian Jewish chicken soup with chickpea flour dumplings — for a Passover Seder they hosted last spring.

“We do it by the book,” Bazrafkan said.

“Well, sort of,” Schull said and laughed. “We took a stab at the Haggadah.”

Bazrafkan’s curiosity about Jewish heritage extends to Israel. Schull told her about her family’s deep commitment to Zionism: Her mother grew up in what was then Palestine, and her father was the first executive director of what’s now the American Technion Society — a nonprofit that fundraises for an Israeli university and was co-founded by Albert Einstein, whose signed portrait hangs in Schull’s apartment.

A small Israeli flag sits on a cabinet, and the walls are lined with paintings of Jerusalem by Schull’s uncle, Israeli artist Nachum Gutman.

None of that bothers Bazrafkan, who said she believes deeply in coexistence and is holding out hope for a two-state solution. Living with Schull, she said, has helped her process the Israel-Hamas war and tensions surrounding the New York City mayoral election — because it keeps her from growing overly pessimistic.

“In these times of war, there’s something healing about it,” Bazrafkan said. “I think I would feel worse if I didn’t live with Rebecca.”

If a pair of roommates can bridge decades and faiths, she added, perhaps it’s a small sign of hope for the world.