WATCH: ‘West Wing’ and ‘Mean Girls’ Stars Join With Hillel To Get Out The Jewish Vote
Lisa Edelstein and Josh Malina want you to vote Image by youtube
When a Jew turns 12 or 13, according to tradition, she has a bat mitzvah.
When a Jew turns 18, according to a new video from Hillel, she has a MitzVote.
In the niftiest thing to come out of Hillel since the matzo sandwich, the Jewish campus organization paired with celebs to make a non-partisan video urging 18-20 year old Jews to vote in the upcoming midterm election. Lisa Edelstein (of “House” and “The West Wing”) and Josh Malina (of “The West Wing” and “The Big Bang Theory”) star in the video, a cheeky send-up of b’nei mitzvah party videos made by loved ones, as parents of a brand new 18-year-old who’ll celebrate her “MitzVote” in November.
Alongside a chilled out female rabbi and an enthusiastic URJ summer camp counselor, the video features cameos by beloved HQ Trivia host Scott Rogowsky and “Mean Girls” and “The Goldbergs” star Tim Meadows. But the best line comes from the fictional “MitzVote” celebrant’s grandparents:
Grandpa: Your great-grandfather didn’t vote in the 1933 elections. Grandma: In Germany! Grandpa: Big mistake.
So vote! Or curse your descendants with intergenerational guilt forever. According to the Hillel MitzVote site, only 15% of 18-20 year olds voted in the 2014 midterm elections. So if you’re a Jewish American and you’re eligible to vote for the first time, see you out there. And happy MitzVote.
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
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.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
