‘Jerry loves Israel’; Seinfeld heading to Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM — Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is returning to Israel next week, for four shows in Tel Aviv on Dec. 19 and 20. Although he’s visited Israel previously, and even volunteered in Kibbutz Sa’ar when he was 15, he has never performed there before.

Seinfeld is coming with his friend of 37 years, fellow comedian Mark Schiff, who will open each show.

“Israel is the best,” Schiff tells JNS.org, saying of Seinfeld, “Jerry loves Israel, too—that is for sure.” In October, Seinfeld performed at the Los Angeles Red Star Ball of American Friends of Magen David Adom, the U.S.-based support arm of Israel’s national ambulance, blood-services, and disaster-relief organization.

Both comedian friends share a propensity for “working clean.” On keeping his act sex- and swear-free, Seinfeld said in 2014 that it is part of an athletic challenge, since it denies him the easiest laughs.

“A person who can defend themselves with a gun is just not very interesting. But a person who defends themselves through aikido or tai chi? Very interesting,” Seinfeld said.

“I am in a business where I can do and say whatever I want,” Schiff says. “But you know, you talk about a fence around the Torah—I learned to put a fence around my work. I don’t let anything in because once you let it in the whole thing can become infected.”

Schiff says he and Seinfeld are proud to be coming and supporting Israel during this time of heightened terror.

“Trust me, many people are nagging Jerry and me about going there now. I think it is important when high priority people, people like Jerry Seinfeld, go to Israel. It shows the world that it is the right thing to do. It’s incredible!” says Schiff. “My love for Israel and the Jewish people is second to none. If you don’t hear from us every day, just know we love you guys!”