Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

No Jewish Royal Baby — Gad Elmaleh’s Son Baptized

Back in December, I gushed that Jews finally had their own royal baby frenzy — Moroccan-born French Jewish comedian Gad Elmaleh and Charlotte Casiraghi had just had a baby boy.

“Grace Kelly’s granddaughter just had a Jewish baby. Win,” I wrote.

Boy, was I wrong.

When my family heard that Elmaleh was marrying Casiraghi, they were torn between pride that “un gars de chez nous” (literally: our guy) was infiltrating the royal family of Monaco, and concern about what this would mean for his Jewish faith.

“Watch, he’ll convert within a year,” my grandmother warned.

“No way, Mamie,” I answered. “He’ll lose all his Jewish fans if he does that.”

And then this. According to French gossip magazine “Voici,” Elmaleh and Carsiraghi (who is fifth in line to the throne) celebrated the baptism of their son, Raphael, in the royal chapel of Monaco last Sunday.

Not quite a conversion… but still.

Now, for some background: Gad Elmaleh is to Moroccan Jews what Woody Allen and Jerry Seinfeld are to Ashkenazi Jews. This is a big deal. His portrayals of Moroccan Jews living in French-speaking countries have caused many a night of stomach-holding, ab-building, raucus laughter in my living room. He just gets us.

For Montreal Sephardis, it’s a double blow — Elmaleh got his comedy start there after attending high school in the city. It’s a close-knit community (I went to school with his cousin).

Still no news as to whether baby Raphael will be circumcized. I haven’t called my grandmother yet, but I know what she’ll say. Ok, Mamie, you told me so.

A message from our CEO & publisher 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.