Something From Tiffany's Is a Christmas Movie With a Jewish Protagonist, and It's About Time

09.12.2022 - 19:21 / glamour.com

are everywhere right now, but Prime Video's latest for the genre, Something From Tiffany's, has something I've never seen before: When Ethan (Kendrick Sampson) wishes Rachel (Zoey Deutch) a “Merry Christmas,” she responds: “I'm Jewish, by the way!” Without skipping a beat, Ethan immediately wishes her a Happy Hanukkah. Rachel smiles and eventually walks away, but not before shouting out a cheerful goodbye. It's a line that I've said (and thought about saying more) during every holiday season when someone inevitably wishes me, a Jew, Merry Christmas.

I have nothing against Christmas—I love the holiday, the music, the movies, and the decorations. I just don't celebrate it.

I . And over the last few years, when anti-Semitism in the United States is at an all-time high, it means more than ever when someone doesn't assume I celebrate Christmas, or—if they know I'm Jewish—actually says, “Happy Hanukkah.” But let's get back to the movie.

Although Rachel is Jewish (as well as the actor that plays her, ), the line, “I'm Jewish, by the way!,” is basically the extent of her Jewish identity in the film. Sure, she wears a Zabar's T-shirt in one scene (the famous specialty market in New York with Jewish roots and known for its signature Jewish food) and an “Oy to the World” ugly Hanukkah sweater in another, but that's it.

(Well, other than Rachel's boyfriend, Gary, saying, “We have Chrismukkah presents to open!”)Zoey Deutch plays Rachel Meyer in Prime Video's Something from Tiffany's, from Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine. Although I would have preferred a menorah with greater prominence at Rachel and Gary's place (I think I might have spotted a very modern one), that's me being picky. Because while plenty of TV