Hollywood to Holy Land: Screenwriter-turned-Orthodox Rabbi Shmuel Lynn

A Hollywood writer turned rabbi reveals the unbelievable true stories of Jewish survival history that they never taught in school.

Host Jonah Platt reunites with Rabbi Shmuel Lynn, his former University of Pennsylvania Maimonides Leadership Program teacher, to discuss Lynn’s path from screenwriting (Duke, NYU Film School, LA) to Orthodox Jewish education and leading young adults. Lynn describes growing up amid antisemitism in Palm Beach, discovering observant Jews in Hollywood, and being drawn to meaningful Jewish history through a Holocaust writing job. He explains his focus on college and post-college Jews through Olami in Greenwich Village, emphasizing immersive, curated experiences and storytelling to create individual and generational change.

Topics include:

• Jonah Platt reflects on meeting Rabbi Lynn through the Maimonides Leadership Program while attending the University of Pennsylvania. 
• Working in Hollywood with writers from The Cosby Show and Will & Grace sparked Rabbi Lynn’s deeper exploration of Judaism and observant Jewish life. 
• Rabbi Lynn discusses writing a Holocaust screenplay centered on Kristallnacht and how that project deepened his connection to Jewish history. 
• The episode explores Rabbi Lynn’s Holocaust film about Bardejov and the true story of 999 Slovakian Jewish girls bound for Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. 
• Rabbi Lynn recounts how Jews in Slovakia prevented deportations by staging a fake typhus outbreak during the Holocaust. 
• Rabbi Lynn explains the mission behind Olami and his Jewish center in Greenwich Village focused on college students and young professionals.
• The conversation highlights immersive Jewish education, including theater productions about the Spanish Inquisition and immigrant journeys through Ellis Island.
• Rabbi Lynn discusses leading student trips through Poland, Krakow, Budapest, and Slovakia to teach Holocaust history and Jewish perseverance.
• The episode explores the upcoming screenplay Rabbi Lynn is developing about the Soviet Jewry movement, including references to the KGB, the Iron Curtain, and Soviet Jewish activism.

Mentioned in the episode:

Rabbi Shmuel Lynn Instagram

Rabbi Shmuel Lynn Linktree

Rabbi Shmuel Lynn Facebook

Rabbi Shmuel Lynn LinkedIn

University of Pennsylvania

Maimonides Leaders Fellowship

Palm Beach Florida

Duke University

NYU Film School

Cosby Show

Will and Grace

Kristallnacht

Bardejov (Film)

Bardejov

Transportation to Auschwitz

Auschwitz

Olami

Olami Manhattan

Bishvili nivra ha-olam

New York, Circa 1909

Shema

Olami Events 

Julie Platt

Soviet Jewry Movement

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Written and Hosted by Jonah Platt, Executive Producers: Steve Hein, Jonah Platt, Chief Business Officer: Kenyon Laing, Chief Marketing Officer: Katya Nayman, Story Producer: Sasha Nelson, Associate Producer: Emma Webb, Production Manager/Executive Assistant: Josie Rothschild, Research Associate: Samantha Greenwald,  Production Associate: Rachel Stern YouTube Consultants: Jason Al-Samarrie & Zac Stein, Post Production by TIMEWEAVER, Creative Director: F. Brian Scofield, ACE, Lead Editor: Noam Klement, Editor: Gray Clevenger, Geoff McGee. Graphic Designer: Noah Bell, Theme Music by Gabriel Mann, Performed by Jonah Platt