Sarah Silverman Mocks Hasids in Post-Yom Kippur ‘SNL’

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Sarah Silverman, the sharp-tongued Jewish comic, did not wait long after the end of Yom Kippur to start sinning again.
Appearing on Saturday Night Live, just hours after the holiest of Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur (also known as the Day of Atonement), was over, she cracked her first joke at the expense of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
It started out cute, but Silverman being Silverman couldn’t resist taking a pot shot at her fellow Jews, who wear long black coats in public for religious reasons of modesty.
“Tonight is the end of the holiday of Yom Kippur,” said Silverman toward the beginning of her opening monologue, “and I just want to take this opportunity to say to all the Hasidic Jews out there: I promise you God will not mind if you wear a nice cotton blend in the summer. You are being ridiculous.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

