Thursday, June 18, 2026

Kathie Lee Gifford Wants to Become an Orthodox Rabbi

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Kathie Lee Gifford, who has a Jewish father and is a Born Again Christian, now wants to become an orthodox rabbi. I kid you not. On her Today show segment with Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee made the pronouncement quite emphatically. “I want to go to Yeshiva University,” Gifford said. “I want to get my rabbinical Orthodox degree.”

“I want to understand what [Hebrew] words mean and what the context is. I’m fascinated by that stuff.”

Kathie Lee’s original name was Epstein. Her father is Jewish. Her mother was not. The family was raised in the Christian faith. Gifford got her career as a Christian country singer. She has always emphasized her Christian beliefs on TV. But I’m not surprised, actually. I always thought this would happen. Mazel tov, Kathie Lee!

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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