been proposed several times before by "probably every Jewish writer who's passed through", according to Gordon. However, Gordon's unique take on the story, complete with an "emotional basis", began to develop after he attended a wedding of two of his friends. During the ceremony, the officiating rabbi, who was a survivor of the Holocaust, used a real Jewish relic: the communal ring that was eventually featured in the episode. The ring inspired Gordon to pen a "Romeo and Juliet-like" story that revolved around the power of love and the powerful desire to bring back loved ones from the dead. As such, the episode's title is a reference to the Jewish mourning prayer service. Gordon's original version of the script called for both the protagonists and the antagonists to be African Americans, and the main protagonist to be a "Louis Farrakhan-like" character. Gordon later rewrote the script because he realized "black anti-Semitism is a very subtle and difficult subject and not what I needed in my dramatic structure." Gordon wanted much of his episode to focus on anti-Semitism, thereby contrasting sharply with the episode's main theme about love. To create Brunjes's propaganda, Gordon reached out to the Anti-Defamation League and requested samples from their archives. These articles were later reproduced and used in the episode with only "minor alterations". Casting and characterization Justine Miceli, the actress who played Ariel, based her character's sorrowful demeanor on the memory of her own father's death due to cancer. Although she is not Jewish, Miceli was assisted by a friend's rabbi, who helped her learn the proper pronunciation for many of the Jewish prayers used in the episode. Gordon was adamant that he did not want Jacob Weiss to be portrayed in a stereotypical way. Initially, he was disappointed when actor David Groh affected a Yiddish accent, for fear that Weiss' scenes could "lapse into parody rather easily". Gordon, however, stated that Groh had a "certain verisimilitude" and that in the end it was "the right choice" for him to have the accent. Many fans on the internet were hoping that the episode would reveal whether or not Mulder is Jewish. In the episode, however, Mulder is unable to identify a Jewish book, states that he does not know Hebrew, and quips that Jesus returned from the dead. When asked whether or not Mulder is Jewish, Gordon said that he did not think that he