April 29, 2016
UW professor helps TV star Lea Michele discover her Sephardic heritage
Actress Lea Michele is surprised to learn about her family roots from Devin Naar, UW assistant professor of International Studies and chair of the Sephardic Studies Program in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies. The photo is from the May 1 season-ending episode of the TLC channel’s show “Who Do You Think You Are?”TLC
The upcoming season finale of TLC’s popular program “Who Do You Think You Are,” airing May 1, will feature UW assistant professor Devin Naar helping television star Lea Michele (“Glee,” “Scream Queens”) learn about her Sephardic Jewish ancestry.
“Most Americans probably have never heard of Sephardic Jews,” said Naar, who chairs the UW’s Sephardic Studies Program, located in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, part of the UW’s Jackson School of International Studies.
“So for such a prominent celebrity to speak so publicly and intimately about her connection to this often invisible history and culture will be a turning point.”
Michele gained fame in the Broadway musical “Spring Awakening.” She was born Lea Michele Sarfati, to a Sephardic Jewish father and Italian Catholic mother. Though public sources refer to Michele’s father as a Sephardic Jew whose family came from Spain and Turkey, the episode will reveal that part of her family also came from today’s Greece.
Naar was able to find documents on Michele’s ancestors in archives in New York and Moscow — a challenging task given the devastation experienced by the Jewish communities of Greece during World War II, including the seizure of Jewish community records.
For Naar, it was an extra treat to discover that he and the celebrity share a similar family trajectory. Both their ancestors came from Salonica, migrated to New York, joined an organization called the Sephardic Brotherhood of America, and then settled in New Jersey.
The episode, scheduled to air on TLC at 9 p.m. EST on May 1, end the current season, during which the show has also profiled celebrities Scott Foley, Molly Ringwald, Chris Noth, Aisha Tyler and Katey Sagal.
“It’s really exciting,” Naar said. “The episode will familiarize Americans with the very existence of Sephardic Jews and hopefully pique their curiosity and inspire them to learn more.”
- Read more about the episode: http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/sephardic-studies/sephardic-studies-professor-tv-series/
- Learn more about Naar and how he learned the nearly-lost Ladino language to be able to read his own family’s history: http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/01/16/a-familys-lost-story-found-and-the-sephardic-studies-initiative/
- Learn more about the Sephardic Studies Program: http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/sephardic-studies/
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To learn more, contact Naar at denaar@uw.edu.
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • Devin Naar • Jackson School of International Studies • Sephardic Studies Program • Stroum Center for Jewish Studies
