Unlike athletes, there is no dearth of MVP Jewish actors—specifically, actresses. Natalie Portman. Scarlett Johansson. Must I go on? Barbra Streisand. Rachel Weisz. The late, great Betty Joan Perske, better known as Lauren Bacall. But still, this Jewish woman can’t help but squeal with excitement at the rumor that the superstar of the moment, Sydney Sweeney, is considering converting to Judaism, potentially the most exciting pickup since Ruth.
The famously bodacious Sweeney, 29, has been dating music executive Scooter Braun, 45, who is Jewish, for a little over a year. They met at the Bezos’ wedding in Venice. Since then, they’ve danced at a country music festival, snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, and jet-skied in the Mediterranean off David Geffen’s superyacht. They’ve been to NBA Finals games and the Armani Beauty Dinner at the Venice Film Festival. Most monumentally, earlier this month, they celebrated Rosh Hashanah at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, Connecticut, sparking furious speculation over whether Sweeney and Braun will get engaged anytime soon, and whether she will join the tribe, and when.
When I interviewed Braun a few months ago, he was bashful about his relationship with Sweeney—“I’ve met an extraordinary woman,” he said—but not about his faith. He’s a proud Jew who is interested in Kabbalah, takes his charitable cues from the Torah, and is outspoken about Israel; he organized an exhibition to commemorate the October 7, 2023 attack on the Nova music festival.
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