Born into a Messianic Jewish Family, This Comedian Is Now a Proud Observant Jew

Pauline Schantzer was born into a Jewish family. But looking in from the outside, you wouldn’t know it.

Growing up in Philadelphia in the ‘90s, she went to church with her parents. She believed in Jesus. She didn’t know any Jews; all her friends were Catholic and Christian.

Eventually, she did meet Jews, at a Jews for Jesus summer camp she attended every summer starting when she was nine years old.

“I was happy to be around them,” Pauline told Aish, “because they were the only Jews I knew.”

A Difficult Childhood

Pauline and her family went to an Evangelical church down the street from her home. “I didn’t resonate with it,” she said, but that’s where her father took the family.

In school, Pauline was the class clown. She was always joking around, trying to be silly, but really, it was a coping mechanism.

“Comedy is how I deal with things that are tough in life,” she said.

She grew up in a tumultuous home. Though her parents were together, “no one was ever really happy,” she said. “There wasn’t a lot of love in my family.”

Pauline with her mother

Her home environment was chaotic and, at times, abusive. Pauline’s father would hit her with a belt when he got angry. One time, it happened during church.

“I was giggling during church service, so he belted me,” she said. “I was confused and didn’t understand why he was doing this. I was eight or nine years old.”

When Pauline was 12, she traveled to New York with other teens in Jews for Jesus and a group leader, handing out pamphlets for the organization. It was then that another traumatic moment happened.

“A Hassidic Jew yelled at me in the street and told me I wasn’t a Jew,” she said. “It was like he hit a core thing. I never felt like I was that Jewish because I didn’t practice Judaism … it was something I was already sensitive about.”

Following Her Dreams

In 2012, when Pauline was 23, she decided to pursue her dreams of working as a comedian and actress. She moved from her hometown to Los Angeles where she met up with her cousins, who were Reform, and did Shabbat with them. She also started posting funny songs under her stage name Polly Wolly on YouTube. In one of her videos, “Imma Real Jew,” she sang her life story:

Mom’s manic
Dad's Christianic
I was raised Messianic
Parents believe in Jesus....But they're Jewish, how traumatic!

Still, it wasn’t until 2018 when her real spiritual journey began. Her dad passed away and she was feeling lost and alone. She’d given up believing in Jesus when she was 12; she didn’t connect with God, either.

“I really had no relationship with God,” she said.

She didn’t know much about Judaism still, but it occurred to her, at this point, to give it a try.

“I was yearning,” Pauline said. “I looked up ‘free synagogues near me’ in Northridge, where I was living. There was a Chabad at CSUN (California State University), so I showed up. I don’t remember which holiday it was—probably Yom Kippur. I started going there randomly for things, and the rabbi encouraged me to go on Birthright. I kept getting rejected from Birthright because I was a Jew for Jesus. They didn’t say that was the reason but I knew it was.”

In 2019, Pauline applied again, this time telling them her story and sending Birthright her song. She was accepted and had a great time, joking around with Orthodox Jews, including the Orthodox rabbi leading the trip.

“The Orthodox Jews were laughing the most at my comedy,” she said. “I thought they were pretty cool. The rabbi was the best rabbi ever.”

She asked the rabbi question after question and debated him throughout the trip – and he enjoyed it.

“I was challenging him a lot and he was not offended,” said Pauline. “He really saw me for who I was. He later told me he saw through all my stuff. I was wild and unhinged and combative. He said he always saw my neshama (soul) and he knew that I had a good heart.”

When she got back to LA, she found a group of Israelis and started doing Shabbat dinners with them. She also decided to only date Jewish men.

“They were telling me to eat kosher food because I’m holy,” she said. “I didn’t understand what kosher was. I went to some event and brought lobster ravioli but forgot that it wasn’t kosher.”

Pauline slowly started to give up non-kosher foods. At the same time, her connection to God and Judaism kicked into high gear.

Troubled Times

Things were looking up for Pauline. She was discovering Judaism, making Jewish friends, and she had a career breakthrough: She had auditioned for the comedy rap battle show, “Wild ‘N Out,” and was picked as a finalist. She was flown to Atlanta for another audition and thought she was on her way to success. But things didn’t pan out.

“I didn’t get it,” she said. “I beat myself up so much.”

Pauline began having health problems, including pain in her body, which was exacerbated by her job as a waitress. She and her boyfriend broke up. Her situation at home was not ideal; she was living with a woman who wasn’t Jewish and would cook non-kosher food around her as she was trying to keep kosher.

Pauline also became estranged from her sister, and her family didn’t understand her newfound connection to her Judaism. When she went back home to visit her mom, who was now in a nursing home, she didn’t have anywhere to stay, so she had to go to seedy motels and travel a long distance to see her.

“I thought, ‘What do I have going for me?’ I was so lonely and sad,” Pauline said. “I was not in a good place spiritually.”

Before she took another trip back home, she reached out to TorahMates, an organization where she was learning Hebrew, and asked if they knew anyone who could host her in Philadelphia. They set her up with a woman Pauline had never previously spoken to.

“I flew in really late at night, and she left a key outside for me,” Pauline said. “She didn’t know me. She let me stay in her guest house. It’s amazing that this woman who didn’t know me hosted me. I walk in and there is a little basket of candy and snacks and she wrote, ‘Welcome Pauline.’ It was so sweet. It was so beautiful. It made me feel so loved.”

While staying there, Pauline kept Shabbat for the first time.

“I enjoyed it so much,” she said. “I was so happy not to look at my phone. It was such a nice break. It was such a blessing.”

Pauline was inspired. She began keeping Shabbat and released a comedic video called, “Shabbat Shabbat Shalom,” where she sang:

You know what we do: we schmooze
But on Shabbat we snooze

Through Judaism, Pauline was starting to find her voice—and heal.

Forging a New Path

Pauline started going to a synagogue in Beverly Hills, and a family there would invite her for Shabbat. This was in 2023.

“The family was so sweet and loving towards me, and the kids were so excited to see me,” she said. “I was yearning not only for a religious connection, but also for love, community, and family, the things I didn’t grow up with.”

It was experiencing the warmth of observant Jews and their ability to see who she really was that brought her closer to Judaism.

“The people I’ve met in the Orthodox world are is I was attracted to it,” she said. “It’s the beautiful people I’ve met who have welcomed me into their homes around the world who don’t even know me. There have been so many experiences like that. When I hear the rabbis talk about the neshama and the spiritual aspects, I resonate with that.”

Pauline recently moved from Los Angeles to South Florida where she hopes to build her community and continue to grow spiritually. It’s also the perfect place for her new focus: Performing comedy for senior citizens in nursing homes. Her nursing home comedy videos, where she is singing to residents and making them laugh, went viral, racking up millions of views on Instagram and TikTok.

“A part of why I like doing this is because my mom has dementia,” she said. “I have a lot of feelings around it. This is how I deal with it, in a humorous way. The residents are having fun.”

Pauline’s next goal? To get married.

“I want to find someone who is okay with me expressing myself through comedy,” she said.

Through Judaism, Pauline has found herself, her home – and her people.

“I’ve met so many warm and loving families,” she said. “It’s like a family I never had.”