Yael Grobglas Joins the Hallmark Family, Celebrating the Holidays with "Hanukkah on Rye"

"There were some things I had to ask my American-Jewish friends about," she continued. "When I first moved to the states I found, for example, the prayers have a different melody [here] than they do in Israel. It was a little trippy relearning the same prayers, basically, in the American tune. But a lot of the movie felt so close to home. There are a lot of shots of sizzling latkes, bobbing matzo balls, and sugary jelly donuts. But at the center of it, it's really just about family. It's very much embedded in the Jewish culture that food and family are at the center of every holiday, but I think that's kind of true for everyone. One of the great things about this movie, and why so many people are going to relate to it, Jewish or not, is that it's about food and family. Who can't relate to that?"

In addition to the enticing title, Grobglas was excited to work with Jordan again as the two go way back. "We met when I did a few episodes of Supergirl a while back," she revealed. "I really liked him, and that was another reason I jumped on board. We became really close friends and we discovered that we both love doing escape rooms. As soon as we'd finish filming for the day, we'd [hit] an escape room. We ended up doing a massive amount of escape rooms and it was wonderful. I feel anybody working in a team should do one, to see if the team can function under high stress for an hour and nobody's killed each other."

While the movie is a classically fun romp, its importance concerning representation on television makes it timely, too. With anti-Semitism continuing to rise around the country, that was not lost on its cast. "Growing up Jewish, you know anti-Semitism exists," Grobglas shared. "You feel it. You see it. We were seeped in Hanukkah while filming for about a month and surrounded by everything Jewish. I think a day or two after I returned to Los Angeles is when the most recent wave of anti-Semitism erupted. The film couldn't have been timelier. Representation matters, no matter what. I know my Jewish friends are excited to watch, and I've heard from people who are not Jewish and are also excited for it. It's really a movie for everyone, and maybe [they'll] learn something they didn't know about Jewish culture, which is so very important. Part of why I like being an actor is showing other people's lives to people who they maybe don't know much about."

Grobglas and Jordan had a blast while filming, often trying not to laugh at each other, but one challenge was not eating all the props. "Oh, I didn't stop myself because all the food was delicious," she laughed. "My character, Molly, stress eats Gelt chocolate coins, so the amount of chocolate coins I ate making this movie was insane. But I have no regrets, and I loved every minute of it."

She also enjoyed the traditional element of letter writing, a major narrative element of the movie. However, when it came to penmanship, both actors were nervous. "Both Jeremy and I were very self-conscious [of] our handwriting as it's not something you actually do as much anymore," she recalled. "Still, there's something so special about receiving a handwritten card versus a text message from someone. There's an extra element [to] a person's handwriting, even their spelling mistakes. A charm comes through when something is personalized that way."

Another gift the movie gives viewers is a brand-new Hanukkah song, "Light," courtesy of a cameo by Lisa Loeb (pictured above). "It's a really beautiful song and very special," Grobglas said. "In Israel, we have lots of Hanukkah songs, but here there's like two? I loved that we got Lisa's song and after she filmed her scene, we sang it nonstop on the set."

Grobglas hopes to do more with Hallmark. "I had such a lovely time making this as not only did Jeremy become one of my closest friends, but I also made some new ones as everyone on the production was delightful," she said.

"I feel Hallmark hires not only talented people, but people that are kind and just so good at what they do," she added in closing. "When that happens on a set, it shines through in the final product. While making this, everybody was smiling and happy to be there, so I'd love to work with everyone again."

Hanukkah on Rye will be telecast on Sunday, December 18 at 8 p.m. on Hallmark Channel as part of their Countdown to Christmas programming event.

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