The Hebrew Hammer is back, and he’s taking on Hitler
Upcoming film by Adam Goldberg and Jon Kesselman is already upsetting neo-Nazis — and seeks public support to keep it up
Yaakov Schwartz is The Times of Israel's deputy Jewish World editor
Adam Goldberg might not be the exact salvation the Jewish people have been praying for the last couple of millennia, but in these days of rampant hurricanes, earthquakes and political upheaval, what, you’re gonna send him away?
Goldberg is, of course, the actor behind the Hebrew Hammer, a.k.a. Mordecai Jefferson Carver — that slightly offensive hero of the early aughts that had Members of the Tribe kvelling with nachas one moment (“Look, it’s a Jew on screen, and he has a gun!”) and scratching their heads the next, wondering, “Should we be saying this stuff out loud?”
Along with the 2003 film’s writer and director, Jonathan Kesselman, Goldberg is doubling down on the over-the-top Jew humor to bring the Hammer out of retirement in (no, not Boca Raton, that would be dealing in cheap stereotypes) Albuquerque, New Mexico, to fight — well, Hitler.
It is something that the duo has been planning for a while, Goldberg said in an interview with Syfy Wire webzine, but was ultimately catalyzed by the latest presidential election. (Say what you will about President Donald Trump, he has motivated a lot of people to get the lead out creatively.)
“It’s like ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ meets ‘Shoah,’” says Goldberg of the film’s general narrative arc, which may involve a time-traveling sukkah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=339&v=rftR6bBU5ug
And in case you were wondering if the movie will offend anyone, Goldberg adds that it already has — the Nazis. While one would assume that taking on Hitler would be something everyone could get on board with, Goldberg’s Twitter feed seems to imply otherwise.
The actor says that a number of online trolls have also taken to hurling anti-Semitic abuse in reaction to Goldberg and Kesselman’s decision to crowd source financing through a new crowd investment platform that allows anyone to buy a stake in the film.
Goldberg isn’t quite sure of the logic behind the detractors, saying they seem to want to have their anti-Semitism both ways — Jewish people are asking for handouts, but also own the media. And, he says, if any anti-Semites don’t like the Jewish-run media, they are always welcome to purchase a share of their own.
“That’s what I keep tweeting, is like, you know, tired of the worldwide Jewish media conspiracy? Well, join us,” he told Syfy Wire. “You know, don’t you want to co-own the media? Well, okay. And I always think it’s funny, too, because it’s like either you’re like a loser who’s crowd sourcing and begging for shekels, or you own the media. But apparently there’s no in-between for Jewish people.”
Fellow Jews are not likely to begrudge the fundraising effort. It’s hard not to love the dirty-talking (“I want to have lots of children by you,” the Hammer whispers into his lover’s ear in a moment of passion) defender of all who have been wished a “merry Chanooyikah day seven.”
