Netflix’s ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ Offers No Glimpse Of Authenticity Of The Jewish Identy

Crocodiles are not kosher. But the much-beloved protagonist—initially misunderstood as a villain—of Bernard Waber’s children’s books “The House on East 88th Street” and “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” is arguably Jewish. 

Winslow Fegley at the world premiere of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile held at AMC Lincoln Square on October 2, 2022, in New York City. Bernard Waber, who wrote and illustrated the books in the 1960s, had a strong Jewish identity and, as the 2015 exhibit Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and Friends. KRISTINA BUMPHREY/JNS