Jewish-American comedian, actor and writer Seth Rogen and his father Mark, were honored for their contribution to Jewish society during an event organized by the Jewish social-justice organization on Monday.
According to The New York Post, the two were presented the the Generation to Generation Activism Award by the Workers Circle (an American Jewish NGO that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education) at a gala event in Manhattan, New York.
“It’s a lot of nachas,” Rogen said after receiving the award, using the Yiddish word for pride.
Rogen also went on to tell a story involving his father, a long-time activist, that inspired his to strive for justice.
When Rogen was a child, his apparently father made the news in his native Vancouver for interrupting a Hanukkah lighting ceremony when he called out the 'injustices' of Bill Vander Zalm, then-premier of British Columbia who later resigned in 1991 due to a real-estate corruption scandal he was involved in.
His father did so even though his wife Sandy, whom he met at an Israeli Kibbutz in the 1970's, told him that she would pretend not to know him if he went through with the plan.
“If you believe in something,” Seth said, “you should stand up for it, and yell about it, and scream about it, even if it will make you look so nuts that your own wife pretends not to know who you are.”
Seth, who grew up in a Jewish household in Vancouver, British Columbia, has starred in and written various comedy blockbusters such as "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express" and "The Interview". His Jewish background has often been a strong influence in his comedy.
In his next film "An American Pickle", set for release next year, Rogen will play Herschel Greenbaum, a Yiddish-speaking immigrant to the U.S. in the early 1900s, who falls into a pickle barrel and emerges in modern-day Brooklyn.
"That’s what’s funny about being Jewish. Even if you’re not religious, you’re Jewish: You can opt-out of it," Rogen said.