Gwyneth Paltrow, Woody Allen, Zach Braff: How did the stars bring in the Jewish New Year?

Celebrity Rosh Hashana roundup: Here’s how some of the more famous and attractive among us celebrated Rosh Hashana.

By JTA
Gwyneth Paltrow (photo credit: REUTERS)
Gwyneth Paltrow
(photo credit: REUTERS)
From Shana Tova shout-outs to on-set shofar blowing, here’s how some of the more famous and attractive among us recognized the new year.
1. What to do when filming your Kickstarter-funded project gets in the way of Rosh Hashana? Celebrate at work, of course! At least that’s what Zach Braff did on Friday: According to Popsugar, he put together a New Year’s gathering for the heavily Jewish cast of “Wish You Were Here.”
Braff celebrated along with co-stars Kate Hudson, Josh Gad and Joey King. Bonus: Mandy Patinkin, who is playing Braff’s father in the film, blew the shofar.
2. Over at Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s online lifestyle publication, the glamorous Jewess launched the site’s “back to school mag” with a “Shana Tova my people” and a New Year-themed piece from writer Jill Kargman.
Kargman, a self-described “Jewy Jewstein,” writes about how she prefers the Jewish New Year to the secular one, mainly because she’s psyched to say goodbye to summer. In this humorous ode to fall, Kargman coins the term “Spinagogue” (what she calls her beloved Soulcycle class) and vows to “party like it’s 5774.”
3. Newly engaged Katie Couric, who has Jewish roots, spread her New Years’ cheer with this sweet tweet.

4. Rosh Hashana brought about some serious decision-making in the fashion world this year — and we’re not talking about what to wear to temple. The holiday collided with New York Fashion Week, forcing style makers to choose between work and celebration.
Many big names, including Max Azria, Rebecca Minkoff, and Ari and David Goldberg, the brothers who co-founded the fashion media site StyleCaster as well as the Soho synagogue, let the (fashion) show go on.
“I like to think the man upstairs knows we work our asses off to donate to this synagogue, and could build one in the future,” Ari told the New York Post. “That synagogue turns their lights on with our money. It’s about your own relationship with God. You do everything you can to honor your tradition, but we’re capitalists — and want to make money because we like to give back money.”

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Others, though, chose to sit this one out. Observers include designer Yigal Azrouel, who moved his Friday show to Sunday, and Leandra Medine, the Ramaz alumna behind the fashion blog Man Repeller.
5. Perhaps our favorite Rosh Hashana greeting was this one from The New Yorker. In honor of the new year, editor David Remnick dug deep into the archives for some vintage Woody Allen.
“Hassidic Tales, With a Guide to Their Interpretation by the Noted Scholar” is Allen’s delightful “re-telling and parody” of 18th-century allegorical tales about the founders of Hasidism. The post also included a 1965 video of Allen doing standup. “The ‘Tales’ are the apples; this is the honey,” Remnick says of the clip. Amen.