Lt. Giardello Doesn't Skip His Prayers.

By IsraelWire

Yaphet Kotto portrays Lt. Al "Gee" Giardello in the TV series "Homicide: Life on The Street." In an interview with HaTzofe, Kotto talked about growing up as a black Jew in Harlem, the difficulties of being black and Jewish, what was said on the set of "Homicide: Life on The Street " when he refused to work on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and why Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu invited him to visit Israel.

Kotto jokingly calls himself the worst nightmare of a prejudiced American: both black and Jewish, and proud of it. He was born in 1937 in New York, and has fought all his life for survival as a Jew and a black. Kotto has been an actor for over 20 years and his autobiography, "Royalty" will be published in June.

He says his father, Avraham, an observant Jew, was the crown prince of Cameroon who immigrated to America and became a businessman. Kotto's mother converted to Judaism before marrying Avraham. According to Kotto, Judaism was in the family's blood for many generations.

Yaphet Kotto grew up in an America that segregated blacks from whites. Kotto, as a little black boy with a large yarmulke, was easy prey to the white Catholic Irish kids in the Bronx neighborhood where he went to school. In his neighborhood, the Baptist black children beat him for being Jewish. Kotto says he was a skinny kid who always was running away from someone who wanted to hit him. Even his name, Yaphet, set him apart. His father supplemented his Jewish education at home.

Kotto, at a Bronx public school, caught the acting bug after performing in a high school play. His aunt had a dancing school, where he learned to dance, and where he met people in show business.

Kotto says his father was not happy with his decision to become an actor. He credits his father's strength of dedication to religious observance as the influence for his being a Jew who keeps kosher and observes the commandments. Kotto says his religious observance is a matter between himself and his Creator, and that, since his becoming a celebrity, he avoids the media circus that occurs when he goes to synagogues to pray. He was recently married in a Jewish ceremony.

Kotto is bothered by the fact that most Jews are non-observant and have no knowledge of the religion's basics. He says that throughout history, when the Jews move away from the Torah, they receive horrible blows. He says that people remember to pray only when they have troubles. Kotto stated that the biggest problem Jews have today is that they have forgotten that Judaism means constant study.