A ‘Drive-By’ Bar Mitzvah for Lisa Kudrow’s Son

Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen May 15, 2014

Getty Images

Major faux pas, Lisa Kudrow.

The former “Friends” actress, who stars in the new Seth Rogen/Zac Efron comedy “Neighbours,” got into an awkward spot with Conan O’Brien, after he found out that she “mispaced” his invitation to her son’s bar mitzvah.

“You and I have been friends for a long time and then I happen to find out that your son was bar mitzvahed and I wasn’t invited,” the host complained during an appearance by Kudrow on Conan.

But have no fear Conan — you weren’t the only one. No one was invited. Not even his mother. It was, as she called it, a “drive-by bar mitzvah,” courtesy of Chabad.

What is a drive-by bar mitzvah, you may ask? Well, it starts with a 15-year-old boy hanging out at the mall. Kudrow explained that her son was approached by men from Chabad, who asked if he was Jewish (you know the ones). When he explained that he was half Jewish (on his mother’s side), they asked if he had been bar mitzvahed. He said no. They offered to do it right then and there. He agreed. Presto, drive-by bar mitzvah!

According to the interview, the men put tefilin and a yarmulke on Kudrow’s son, had him recite a prayer and sent him home with a picture for his mother (and proof, I expect).

Mazel tov!

Watch the whole clip below:

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO