Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

WATCH: ‘West Wing’ and ‘Mean Girls’ Stars Join With Hillel To Get Out The Jewish Vote

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

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.