Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Robin Williams and the Old Jewish Tailor

Getty Images

The world is mourning Robin Williams, a comedic powerhouse, Hollywood legend, and honestly, a childhood best friend. He was our very own blend of gentle and maniacal, it shouldn’t have worked, but it did. And for the first time in my life, the death of a celebrity has had such a visceral and wrenching effect on me that I am genuinely heartbroken over his loss.

Robin was there when I fell in love with the Genie from Agrabah, he shared in my Soviet immigrant experience as Vladimir Ivanoff in “Moscow on the Hudson” and he was there in “Nine Months” on the long plane ride from Tel Aviv to my new life in New York.

It’s been heartwarming to see how everyone has shared their love and grief for this man so publicly. Clearly he left no heart untouched in his journey to make us laugh. One of the most touching tributes was from comedian Norm McDonald, who told the story of the first time he met Robin.

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.