MARCH 26 • 2020 | 41

Arts&Life

celebrity jews

OVER ON NETFLIX AND HULU 
Unorthodox is a four-part 
mini-series that begins stream-
ing on Netflix on March 26. It is 
based on Deborah Feldman’
s 
bestselling 2012 autobiography, 
Unorthodox: The Scandalous 
Rejection of My Hasidic Roots.
Feldman, a wife and mother, 
was a member of the Satmar 
Hasidic in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 
In the series, Esther “Esty” 
Shapiro (played by Israeli actress 
Shira Haas, 24) flees Brooklyn 
for Berlin. She leaves behind 
her husband (Israeli actor Amit 
Rahav). Most advance reviews 
praise the series. It tells a multi-
dimensional story that does not 
vilify the Hasidic community (and 
shows some of Esther’
s joyous 
moments in that community). 
Esther, in a word, wants more 
independence. 
Baghdad Central is a six-part 
series that begins streaming in 
its entirety on Hulu March 27. 
The central character of this 
series is an Iraqi Muslim police 
detective who is forced into a 
risky collaboration with American 
occupying forces when his older 
daughter goes missing and his 
younger daughter requires kidney 
dialysis. Corey Stoll, 44, co-stars 
as a U.S. military police officer 
who may or may not be corrupt. 
Advance reviews are very good. 
 
AFTER A 62-YEAR DROUGHT, 
A GRAND SLAM VICTORY
I became aware of rising tennis 
star Sofia “Sonya” Kenin, 
21, when she won the 2020 
Australian Open. She is the first 
Jewish woman to win a Grand 
Slam singles title since Suzy 
Kormoczy, a Hungarian Jew, 
won the French Open in 1958. 
 Kenin’
s parents left the Soviet 
Union for America in 1987, but 

briefly returned to Moscow in 
1998 (after the fall of the Soviet 
Union) so family members could 
help them after Sonya’
s birth. 
They returned to America a few 
months later and eventually 
settled in south Florida. Sonia’
s 
father, Alex, has been her coach 
since she was 12. She turned pro 
in 2017 and, by 2019, she was 
ranked No. 14 (singles) in the 
world. Last February, she earned 
$2.85 million for winning the 
Australian Open and has moved 
up to No. 7 in the world.
 Shortly after Kenin won the 
Open, a friend asked me if Kenin 
was Jewish. I found what I could 
and then got assistance from a 
Russian Jewish émigré friend. 
What public records we could 
find — a partial family tree and 
Kenin family Facebook pages 
that often mention Israel — con-
vinced us that her father was 
very likely Jewish, and her moth-
er was probably Jewish, too. 
I told the Jewish Sports 
Review what we found, and they 
attempted to contact Kenin or 
her parents. It took some time, 
but contact was made with her 
mother. She told the Review that 
Alex is Jewish and that she is 
“half-Jewish.” As I learn more, 
I’
ll let you know. Kenin will be a 
big-time contender for years to 
come. 

NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST

HULU 

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