黑料社

Stephen Tobolowsky Talks 黑料社 His Journey To Faith On Thursday, October 25, actor, writer and director came to spend the day at 黑料社 All. Tobolowsky has been in numerous movies and television shows, including Groundhog Day, Freaky Friday, Silicon Valley, Glee and Momento.

Jordyn Kaufman interviews Stephen Tobolowsky for Scroll Up, A 黑料社 All Podcast

Tobolowsky began his day by recording an episode of 鈥淪croll Up,鈥� a 黑料社 All podcast, which features an author speaking about his or her book. In this case, Stephen Tobolowsky spoke his newest book, My Adventures With God. In Adventures, Tobolowsky weaves together various stories of how faith has affected his life; for him, faith is all about embracing doubt and going from there because 鈥渢he power of faith comes from asking questions, not sprouting answers.鈥� Faith鈥檚 power for him also comes from being rooted in the past: 鈥淎 lot of moving forward involves always looking back and never forgetting where you came from, because the truth will be embedded in where you came from. And one thing that鈥檚 powerful in Judaism is that we try very much to hang on to where we came from.鈥�

Dr. Daniel Rynhold (l), director of the Honors Program, discusses faith with Stephen Tobolowsky

After the podcast, Tobolowsky headed to the Jay and Jeanine Schottenstein Honors Program to speak to the students about his connection to Judaism and its intersection with his acting career. He shared what he calls his 鈥渂ack to shul鈥� story, the occurrence that brought him closer to Judaism again. He was riding a horse on volcanic cliffs in Iceland when the horse threw him off, and he broke his neck. His doctor told him it was a fatal injury, 鈥渨hich is a horrible thing to hear as a live patient,鈥� but it also made him realize how truly blessed he was. Being a faithful Jew in the entertainment industry wasn鈥檛, and isn鈥檛, always easy, but he has found a way to make it work. 鈥淪ometimes you have to learn to pray on the road,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I鈥檝e had some of my most meaningful experiences when I鈥檝e had to improvise and come to grips and create a holy moment in the middle of the desert.鈥� Following his talk to the students, Tobolowsky spoke at a Wurzweiler School of Social Work Care Cafe entitled 鈥淭he Gift That Keeps On Giving: The Unexpected Way Faith Makes The World Better.鈥� The event was introduced by Dr. Danielle Wozniak, Dorothy and David Schachne Dean, and Assembly member Carmen De La Rosa (D-72), who articulated the importance of the event: 鈥淐are Cafe is bringing back to this community a sense of hope, that sense that your neighbor cares about you and what you鈥檙e going through, and that no matter what happens there is help.鈥�

Dr. Danielle Wozniak and Stephen Tobolowsky at the Care Cafe

The many topics Dr. Wozniak and Tobolowsky discussed hinged, in one way or another, on how the practice of faith can enhance life. Tobolowsky illustrated his point with a story about how getting a job to shoot a movie in Toronto made him question if he would be able to stay connected to his faith while he was on the job. He asked his rabbi for advice, and his rabbi told him to say the Shema, an affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in one God, in the morning and evening as an expression of gratitude as well as every time he had an unexpected blessing and every time he missed some kind of catastrophe. 鈥淧lane didn鈥檛 crash, I said the Shema. Got through customs quickly, said Shema. Working television in the hotel, Shema. I realized I was saying the Shema from morning to night! It got to be where a snowflake would land in my cup of coffee, and I would say the Shema. It was an experience that completely changed my life and that鈥檚 when I saw how gratitude can totally reform your life into something else.鈥� He summed up his experience by saying that 鈥渢he way faith works, the way a prayer works, is you put it out there. You don鈥檛 know what will happen or how it will change your life, but if you don鈥檛 put it out there, nothing happens, that much I know.鈥� For his final stop, Tobolowsky spoke with the women of the . He explained to them that if they wanted to go into this world, they would have to be extremely dedicated and need to believe in themselves. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in a creative pursuit, like acting or writing, you certainly are your own performer, you have to be your own director, sometimes you have to be your own producer,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou are not allowed to be your own critic. You are not. It is more important for you to hear the creative voice in your head and to follow it, not kill yourself with criticism.鈥� He connected his advice to Judaism. 鈥�Devarim means words, but it also means things,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t means the magical connection of words becoming things, because in Judaism, there is a concept, a kind of magical thinking, that if you say something out loud, it has the power of becoming real. So don鈥檛 plough that field and plant the seeds for not succeeding. Instead, plant seeds that say you will succeed.鈥� The podcast with Tobolowsky will be released soon and can be found on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you usually get your podcasts, so stay tuned!

Stephen Tobolowsky speaks to the members of the Stern College Dramatics Society