Mayim Bialik: "It's never going to be trendy to be observant or religious in Hollywood circles"

[medeacaesura]

. @missmayim: Hollywood is not friendly to people of faith | http://t.co/mNwdiC0D4I via @Fox411 pic.twitter.com/SrSCdbvWQ0
- Fox News (@FoxNews) August 22, 2015

On people finding it hard to reconcile the fact that she has a neuroscience degree with her being religious: "Being a scientist and a person of faith, people want to know how that is. It

Comments

[h0tfuss]

I get annoyed that she refers to herself as Orthodox "with exceptions" instead of admitting that her actions and beliefs are of a less strict flavor. I know a lot of Jews who do that (I'm Jewish myself) and it's really just so they can win arguments and feel superior. If she really was Orthodox, she probably wouldn't have an acting career. She probably wouldn't work at all. The expectations are pretty clear on gender roles.

[bossm]

Not everyone needs to be Orthodox.

[medeacaesura]

but she IDs as orthodox, prob modern orthodox and not haredi in which case she cannot have an acting career

[decadenet]

she actually identifies as "conservadox" and according to google thats: the term sometimes used to describe Jews whose beliefs and practices place them on the religious continuum somewhere between Conservative Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism

[bossm]

I agree. She should decide what she wants to be or to do.

[h0tfuss]

She claims she is, so she kind of does have to be.

[medeacaesura]

she seems observant by modern orthodox standards.....

[kunklebunkle]

So she likes to pick and choose what's most convenient for her? LOL of course she would.

[zeysech]

really? That's interesting because a lot of the actresses in early bollywood were Jewish, because they were "allowed" to work.

[medeacaesura]

oh yeah but idk if those were orthodox jewish/haredi? most were baghdadi jews, not sure if they were orthodox as well.
and why they were "allowed" was because hindu/muslim/parsi/christian communities still viewed the film industry with suspicion and thought it was not the place for "their" women.

[zeysech]

You're probably right, I don't remember reading whether they were orthodox. It was kind of ridiculous, even the hindu and muslim actresses that were there often had to retire after they got married.

[frelling_tralk]

I've sometimes wondered how it works for her to kiss Jim on TBBT tbh. I mean it's her choice of course, but it does seem odd that she's fine with acting out reasonably intimate scenes with a co-worker if she is Orthodox, even sometimes slightly kinkier scenes when her character is getting turned on by spankings, or talking about how horny and desperate she is as a running gag

[lovepollution]

She sort of touched on it here:

I don’t identify with Conservative Judaism, meaning there are things that I want to do that are more than that, but I’m not yet able to say that I’m Modern Orthodox, largely because of my work constraints. I think in most respects, I identify with Modern Orthodoxy. I identify with living a life that is consistent with Jewish law, and all that stuff in the modern world. However, for example, I had to kiss Jim Parsons on television and that’s one of the things that makes me uncomfortable saying I’m Modern Orthodox when I publicly do things that would not be.

[dreamoftheday]

this makes sense to me...I think it's fair that she doesn't necessarily feel she falls into one or the other, but rather in between the two

[democralypse]

being orthodox is really broad with a lot of subsects. there's nothing about being orthodox that would prevent an acting career

[nicholasdee]

I have heard her call herself "conservadox" which I think is pretty fair. She probably leans a little more towards conservative, but not all orthodox women are chassidic or haredi. There are plenty of modern orthodox women who work and you wouldn't know except for the fact that they maybe wear a headcovering and always wear skirts.