'Nobody Wants This' Star on Jewish Women's Stereotypes: EXCLUSIVE

“If you watch a light comedy and think it's fueling anti-Semitism, maybe you should really watch it, right? For example, we are doing a TV show. We're going to focus on a few things you've heard about Jews before, and then we're going to try to refute some of them. And it gets amplified. It's for television. …How boring would it be if it was just insane, right in your actual life? The question is: What do we do?”

Still, it was important to Tohn to ensure that Esther didn't feel like a monotonous character.

“I wanted to make sure Esther was multidimensional, and I often tried to portray the opposite of what was on the page,” says Tohn. “When we first meet her, she's an absolute weirdo. Your brother-in-law is ruining not only his life, but all of our lives, right? Because there are four of us. That's why she's mad because, “You were with my best friend, and on vacation there were always four of us, in life, like you're going to ruin it for all of us.” So she's very defensive about that.”

She also understands Bina's character and her motivations as Noah's mother. While the “overbearing Jewish mother” stereotype certainly exists, Tohn says it's not all that different from other communities.

“In so many cultures, in most cultures, mothers want their children to be with someone from that culture. And I think that's why it's so understandable that Bina's character is a bit harsh, but important to her. You.” “Son is a rabbi. She wants him to be with someone from the culture. This is not a difficult concept to understand.”

As a descendant of Holocaust survivors (her mother's parents had three children in three different countries while fleeing), Tohn says there is a certain nuance to the pressure Jewish people feel, particularly when it comes to maintaining traditions.

“I think a big part of Jewish parents' desire for their children to be around Jews is, quite literally, to keep Judaism alive. I don't think people understand it because we kind of have a powerful presence. The actual numbers must elude people. We are 12 people.

“I mean, we've obviously suffered a massive loss and there aren't many of us left now. It’s just a fact,” she continues. “And I think, historically, if you look at the bigger picture of how Jewish parents want their children to end up with Jews, it's more than just, 'I want my children to be in church.'” “I want to “That my children have everything, whatever.” It's like we're out here, the twelve of us left, trying to repopulate a people, right? And so… it could be difficult.”

But in Tohn's own family that's not a problem. Her parents don't mind that her boyfriend isn't Jewish, and neither do her two sisters-in-law.

“You know, my brothers are both married to 'shiksas,' right?” Tohn says the show's use of the Yiddish term for non-Jewish women gets a lot of attention. “They call themselves 'Shiksas,' and that has never been anything other than a term of endearment and a description.”

Speaking of “shiksas,” Tohn is proud to say she taught Kristen Bell the word, and she just thinks it's cool that there's a show where Bell's character could convert to Judaism.

Was Tohn able to convince her friend to do this in real life?

“Honestly, I’ve been working on this for over 20 years.”