Rogan went to Jewish day school as a child and his parents met on a kibbutz in Israel.
By World Israel News Staff
Actor Seth Rogan and his father Mark were handed the “Generation to Generation Activism” award at this year’s Workmen’s Circle Annual Benefit gala.
The Workmen’s Circle calls itself a social justice organization that powers progressive Jewish identity through Yiddish language and Jewish cultural engagement.
The actor went to a Jewish day school as a child and his parents met on a kibbutz in Israel.
He headlined a Workmen’s Circle event when his father worked there, and Mark’s grandparents, Labor Zionists who performed in the Yiddish theater, grew up down the street from a Workmen’s Circle office, according to The New York Jewish Week.
During his acceptance speech on Tuesday, he said “it’s a lot of nachas” to receive the award together with his father, using the Yiddish word for “pride.”
The comedic actor had no shortage of jokes for the audience.
“I was always told I have shpilkes as a kid by my grandmother when I couldn’t sit still,” Rogan joked.
“There’s a large amount of Jewish mother energy [here]. I’ve been asked by 200 women if I’ve had enough to eat,” he quipped.
Executive Director of the Workmen’s Circle Ann Toback explained in October why the Rogans were chosen for the award.
“From the moment we met Mark and Seth Rogen, we recognized the deep commitment they have to making this world a better place, not only through their words but their actions,” she said as quoted by the Forward.
“The Workmen’s Circle’s mission is to build a shenere un besere velt far ale — a better and more beautiful world for all —and Mark and Seth Rogen epitomize those words.”
Seth Rogan will be starring in the upcoming movie An American Pickle. The film is about a man called Herschel who falls into a vat of brine in a Brooklyn pickle factory. He stays perfectly preserved inside the vat and comes back to life 100 years later.