This t-shirt will let you pretend to be friends with Jake Gyllenhaal
Gold chain and man bun not included. Image by Courtesy of Russ and Daughters
By Irene Katz Connelly August 20, 2020
Ever wanted to pretend that you bunked up with Jake Gyllenhaal at Jewish summer camp? Now there’s a t-shirt for that.
Back in April, when people thought fun social media challenges would be enough to get us through a global pandemic, our friend Jake took a dare from his “Spiderman: Far From Home” co-star Tom Holland: donning a t-shirt and doing a handstand at the same time. Almost as difficult as spelling the name “Gyllenhaal” correctly, the challenge seemed like a transparent attempt to show off one’s golden back muscles and quarantine-chic man bun.
The hot yoga instructor energy that Jake Gyllenhaal exudes… pic.twitter.com/9KmfXSWGNx
— Jordyn Volk (@jordynvolk) April 2, 2020
But Jake was showing off something else: a well-worn t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of legendary Lower East Side Deli Russ and Daughters that looked like it was tie-dyed during an immersive Hebrew learning experience in the Catskills and then worn to innumerable Kabbalat Shabbat bonfires.
“Don’t forget to support your businesses,” he quipped at the end of the video.
As the saying goes, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a celebrity who espouses a cause on the internet must be in want of a fundraising campaign to spearhead. So it’s no surprise that Russ and Daughters has drafted the actor to promote a limited run of t-shirts based on his. Proceeds will go to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, an organization currently advocating for federal funding to help small restaurants weather the pandemic.
Hand-dyed the color of lox (Gyllenhaal prefers gaspé nova, Russ and Daughters owner Niki Russ Federman told “GQ”), the t-shirts are available on the deli’s website for $40 a pop. Fantasies of friendship with Jake don’t come cheap — but then again, neither does a thriving post-pandemic gastronomic scene.
Irene Katz Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @katz_conn.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
