The 21st century has seen an explosion of famous hot Jewish guys.  

I noticed this because I’m Jewish, but was never really attracted to Jewish guys. Maybe that’s because growing up in a Jewish family gave Irish Catholic mesomorphs a certain exotic lure. Now I have a wider, more diverse idea of masculine appeal, but when I was young my idea of an ideal husband was mostly someone who would intimidate repairmen and wouldn’t blanch when he killed bugs for me. So, in my teenage fantasies, few Chosen People were chosen.  Back then, I could only think of a handful of hot Jewish guys:

John Garfield — born Julius Garfinkle, and puh-lenty mesomorph-y

David Groh – he phoned it in as Joe, Rhoda’s husband, but he managed to look pretty manly in his tight polyester Nik-Nik shirts

Jeff Chandler – his torso and gray hair made him a pretty hot daddy

Sheldon Leonard – I like that old school, Lower East side gangster type. “Alright you pixies…”

Chico and Harpo Marx — they had good builds and they’re funny.

Paul Newman — DUH.

Paul Rudd– Cute AF.

Adam Schiff — you know why.

Jesus — Original Gangsta Jewish hottie

Runners-up included:

Roy Scheider –  he looks like he could actually fix a car engine; not the vibe I got from Woody Allen or Richard Dreyfuss.

William Shatner – he’s no Patrick Stewart, but we didn’t know from Patrick Stewart in those days, kids

Moshe Dyan – #eyepatch

Neil Diamond

Peter Falk

Steve Lawrence – I was always excited when he showed up on “the Carol Burnett Show”. (So sue me, I was in puberty. Which reminds me, I thought Harvey Korman was kinda hot too.)

Sammy Davis Jr. — Not really my idea of hot, but I really liked that he made the team. 

Peter Riegert — I’ve had a soft spot for him ever since Crossing Delancey.

For me still today, the hotness high point is still a cute priest (Fleabag 2 made my head explode) or a WASPy bibliophile with very white upper arms, i.e., my husband. But I’m now aware that many Jewish men can kill bugs, be romantic, and go days without criticizing me. Besides, nowadays the screen is littered with hot Hebrews! Dames, comment below and add to the list. (But yes, I purposely did not type the words Shia; Adam Levine; Adam Sandler or Franco. Neither Franco. Ew.)

Today’s list of hot Stars of David includes:

Jon Stewart (duh)

Jeff Goldblum!

Josh Charles

Max Greenfield

Liev Shreiber (kinda the Roy Scheider of today)

Daniel Day-Lewis (no, this is NOT cheating)

Daniel Radcliffe (no, this is NOT cheating)

Ari Melber

Justin Bartha

Ben Stiller

Michael Vartan

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

And these guys are not my type, but you can’t argue with hotness:

Drake

David Duchovny

Lenny Kravitz

Eric Dane

Justin Kirk

Gabriel Macht

Sasha Baron Cohen

Jason Segal

Noah Wyle

Adrien Brody

Craig David

Ben Foster

Adam Brody

Jake Gyllenhaal

James Caan? Scott Caan?

Jesse Eisenberg?

Jason Schwartzman?