(Jewish Group) David Duchovny takes a deep dive into his Jewish heritage on 'Finding Your Roots'
The truth about David Duchovny’s very Yiddish background is out there.
On Tuesday, the X-Files actor sat down to learn more about his ancestry on the PBS program Finding Your Roots. While Duchovny’s Jewish history is no secret, the show took a deep dive into parts of his genealogy that were surprising even to the Californication star.
According to the show, Duchovny’s father has “Eastern European Jews on every branch of his family tree,” but the actor said his father had a strained relationship with Judaism and did not have a bar mitzvah. He described a childhood home that had a Christmas tree, although the family would celebrate both Christian and Jewish holidays — “whatever was the most fun.”
In a 2021 article for The Atlantic, Duchovny mistakenly wrote that his grandfather Moshe had written for the then-Yiddish language newspaper the Forward. Moshe, who was born in a part of what is now Ukraine and later became a journalist in New York, had in fact written for a different Yiddish outlet, Tog Morgn Zhurnal. He was prominent enough that the Forward printed an obituary after his death in 1960, when Duchovny was an infant.
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You can watch: https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/watch/episodes/chosen
Henry Louis Gates helps actors David Duchovny and Richard Kind trace their roots from Jewish communities in Eastern Europe to the United States—telling stories of triumph and tragedy that laid the groundwork for his guest’s success.
It was a good episode. It was sad, IMO, that Duchovny said he doesn't identify as a Jew or even Jewish. He is 50% Ashkenazi Jew! It is even sadder when we have so many claiming to be Jews who ARE NOT Jews. Anyway, it was a good show and had some really revealing history that I am 100% certain a vast majority of people have no fucking clue....you'll know it when you see it (hint: it is also in the article).