A ‘Drive-By’ Bar Mitzvah for Lisa Kudrow’s Son

Image by Getty Images
Getty Images
Major faux pas, Lisa Kudrow.
The former “Friends” actress, who stars in the new Seth Rogen/Zac Efron comedy “Neighbours,” got into an awkward spot with Conan O’Brien, after he found out that she “mispaced” his invitation to her son’s bar mitzvah.
“You and I have been friends for a long time and then I happen to find out that your son was bar mitzvahed and I wasn’t invited,” the host complained during an appearance by Kudrow on Conan.
But have no fear Conan — you weren’t the only one. No one was invited. Not even his mother. It was, as she called it, a “drive-by bar mitzvah,” courtesy of Chabad.
What is a drive-by bar mitzvah, you may ask? Well, it starts with a 15-year-old boy hanging out at the mall. Kudrow explained that her son was approached by men from Chabad, who asked if he was Jewish (you know the ones). When he explained that he was half Jewish (on his mother’s side), they asked if he had been bar mitzvahed. He said no. They offered to do it right then and there. He agreed. Presto, drive-by bar mitzvah!
According to the interview, the men put tefilin and a yarmulke on Kudrow’s son, had him recite a prayer and sent him home with a picture for his mother (and proof, I expect).
Mazel tov!
Watch the whole clip below:
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
News Why Zohran Mamdani believes he’ll win over Jewish voters, as Israel critic surges to second behind Cuomo in NYC mayoral race
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A Jewish nonprofit may have accidentally caused Michigan to drop charges against pro-Palestinian activists
-
Culture For Christian nationalists, Trump’s pope picture isn’t a joke
-
Opinion Is Israel really going to reoccupy Gaza? Ask Trump
-
Yiddish World A photo of my bubbe when Jewish stores still had Yiddish signs
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.