Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

9 Jewish Things About Star Wars

It’s May the 4th, or, more precisely, May the 4th Be With You! While some of you intend to celebrate this most important of holidays with some “Star Wars” marathon-ing (the original trilogy, yes?)or with a critical analysis of the trailers for the upcoming and much anticipated new movie, here are 9 (5 + 4, get it?!) Jewish things you may not know about “Star Wars”:

1) There are some random Hebrew letters on Darth Vader’s armor. Do we know what they are? Yes, I guess. Do they say anything? As a native Hebrew speaker, I have to say no. Especially since they’re, well, upside down. But call me a skeptic, here’s an in-depth analysis from a true Star Wars believer.

2) Harrison Ford is half Jewish. Ford’s maternal grandparents, Harry Nidelman and Anna Lifschutz, were Jewish immigrants from Minsk, Belarus. In a television interview shown in August 2000, when asked about what influence his Irish Catholic and Russian Jewish ancestry may have had on his life as a person and as an artist, Ford humorously stated “As a man I’ve always felt Irish, as an actor I’ve always felt Jewish.” Amen to that.

3) J.J Abrams is 100% Jewish. I mean come on, Jeffrey Jacob Abrams? How could he not be? In 2009, he told the that he is “very proud of his heritage”, and that while his family is interfaith (Abrams’ wife is Irish Catholic), he takes his children to Holiday services. Got any questions for our #Seesaw column, J.J?

4) Princess Leia is one of us. Carrie Fisher was raised Protestant, but her father was Jewish and she does go to Orthodox services, even if she self-identifies as “agnostic.” Despite all that, she is still the Jewish princess of our dreams.

Image by Vanity Fair

5) The first exclusive pics from the Star Wars set? Courtesy of your favorite Jewish photographer Annie Leibowitz for Vanity Fair, with first looks of Adam Driver, Lupita Nyongo and Gwendolyn Christie’s characters. Take a look at them here , they are absolutely gorgeous.

6) Is Watto, the unfortunate creation from “Star Wars, Episode I,” an anti-Semitic caricature? This is actually a real theory circulating on the interwebs. I can’t speak as to it’s validity, but what do you think, are Jews really behind inter-galactic slave trade?

7) “Spaceballs,” the greatest (Jewish) Star Wars parody of all times, directed by Mel Brooks, is a classic ’80s spoof of American Jewish assimilated and “J.A.P.” culture.

8) But, in case you want more wonderfully Jewish “Star Wars” parodies, read this incredible and hilarious comic by former cartoonist in-residence, Eli Valley.

9) The uniforms of high ranking Empire officers kind of look like Nazi uniforms. So are the Stormtroopers like Nazi WWII Sturmabteilung? Then logically, the Rebel Alliance is like the partisans. If that’s true, isn’t Luke Skywalker really a Jew? Just saying.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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.