(JTA) — Tiffany Haddish celebrated her bat mitzvah Tuesday night surrounded by an array of Jewish celebrity friends, including Billy Crystal, Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman.
The comedian, who celebrated in Beverly Hills on the occasion of her 40th birthday, released her Netflix standup special, “Black Mitzvah,” on the same day.
Sarah Silverman’s sister, Susan, a renowned rabbi, oversaw the service. (Editor’s note: Rabbi Susan Silverman spoke in Tucson in 2017.)
As Haddish told Alma, a website for young Jews, she became interested in her Jewish heritage after meeting her father, an Eritrean Jew, for the first time at age 27. She had previously worked as a performer at bar and bat mitzvahs but hadn’t known much about that part of her identity.
“For a long time, I didn’t even know black Jews existed. I didn’t know anything about Judaism for a long time,” she said.
Haddish, who has appeared in blockbuster comedies such as “Girls Trip,” showed off some of the Hebrew she learned on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” earlier this week.
Here’s a visual recounting of Tuesday’s big event:
