James Franco was apparently bar mitzvahed last Friday night at a friends house, Seth Rogen told Vulture at the New York premiere of Steve Jobs, in which he plays Apple co-founder Steven Wozniak (wait, another movie about Apple? Meh). Franco, who is Jewish, was going through the rite of passage—usually reserved for awkward new teens with braces and acne strips in their back pocket—for Rogen’s Hilarity for Charity organization, which is raising money to support Alzheimer’s research (“Kick Alz in the Ballz”—word, let’s) at its fourth annual variety show on October 17 in L.A.
Franco’s ceremony was taped and will be shown at the event, a bash for Franco’s bar mitzvah (Miley Cyrus will perform). In 2009, Franco opened up to The Guardian about his upbringing and belief system:
The Franco household was academic, liberal and largely secular, despite mother Betsy being Jewish. [Franco said:] “I do feel like I missed out on the Jewish experience. My Jewish friends tell me not to worry… but I like the idea of religion as a source of community.” Is he a believer? “In God? I don’t know. Yes. To a certain extent. It’s a complicated question.”
In any case, bravo and mazel tov, Mr. Franco. Welcome, officially, to manhood.
A photo posted by James Franco (@jamesfrancotv) on Oct 3, 2015 at 2:48am PDT
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Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.