Harvey Keitel stars in and is executive producer of Holocaust film The Grey Zone, which is now out on DVD (see page 38). Does this mean that Keitel is himself Yiddishe?
For
It seems there is a definite possibility that he is one of ours. This is based on the fact that he was born in Brooklyn, a fairly Jewish part of New York, that his parents were called Miriam and Harry, that they were descended from Polish immigrants, and that his father worked as a hatmaker (doubtless producing Homburgs). If you think that there is a pattern emerging here, you would be right. If there was any doubt about Keitel’s Jewish credentials, his second marriage to Israel-born actress Daphna Kastner would seem to erase them. They were wed in a Jewish ceremony… in Israel… at the Western Wall Synagogue.
Against
Trickier, this. His first wife, Lorraine Bracco, does not seem to have anything particularly Jewish about her. Also, Keitel’s first choice of career in the US Marine Corps was not particularly haimishe (it involved spending time at sea, and not on a cruise). Oh, and he has played quite a few Italian-American characters and even appeared in The Last Temptation of Christ, er, as a Jew. Look we’re struggling here, OK?
Verdict
You don’t get married at the Western Wall and score any less than 90 per cent.
So we say he is 91% Jewish
