Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Pamela Adlon discovers her great-great-grandfather was a rabbi on ‘Finding Your Roots’

(JTA) – Pamela Adlon describes learning that her great-great-grandfather was a famous rabbi as “mind blowing” in an upcoming episode of the celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots.” 

In an exclusive clip from Tuesday night’s episode that is debuting on the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, host Henry Louis Gates Jr. asks Adlon to read the translation of the Hebrew inscription on her great-great-grandfather’s tombstone. 

“Good,” she says. “I was having PTSD of Hebrew school and I thought you were going to make me read the Hebrew on the stone.”

When she learns about her great-great-grandfather’s occupation, she yells “Yes!”

“The amount of time I spent in temple — if somebody had just said to me, ‘your great-great-grandfather was a rabbi,’ I would’ve been like ‘Oh wait, let me catch up to this sermon right now,’” she says.

The actress and comedian Adlon, 55, is known for her roles in Louis C.K.’s sitcom “Louis” and “Better Things” on FX, the latter of which she co-created. She is also famous for voicing the character of Bobby Hill on the animated series “King of the Hill” and has appeared in several movies.

Adlon’s father, writer-producer Don Segall, was born to a Jewish family of Russian and Ukrainian descent and her mother, originally an Anglican, converted to Judaism.

On “Finding Your Roots,” the historian Gates gives celebrities a “book of life” about their families and ancestral lineage. Past Jewish guests of the show include Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johansson and Paul Rudd.

Also on Tuesday night’s episode, which airs at 8 p.m. ET on PBS, is Kathryn Hahn — who is not Jewish but is known for her several Jewish acting roles.


The post Pamela Adlon discovers her great-great-grandfather was a rabbi on ‘Finding Your Roots’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.