Rock ‘n’ poll

Is there a split in the Dylan family? Bob Dylan‘s youngest and most famous son, rock musician Jakob Dylan, 38, played Hillary Clinton’s 60th birthday party/campaign fundraiser at a New York theater in October. Meanwhile, Bob’s oldest child, film and musical video director Jesse Dylan, 41, directed a video for the Barack Obama campaign that has got a lot of Internet play. Entitled, “Yes We Can,” the popular Internet offering features rap artists and a few other entertainers (including Scarlett Johansson) reciting — to a musical beat — the words of a memorable speech that Obama made in January.

Of course, when Jakob played Hillary’s birthday bash, Obama was just another candidate; his “movement” had not yet taken off. It would be interesting to know if Hillary is holding onto this son of a superstar.

Touchdown in Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been so busy this month with the violence that has wracked Israel and Gaza that he almost had to cancel a March 7 meeting with a delegation led by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Kraft’s wife, Myra.

But Robert Kraft is “somebody special” and Olmert made time to meet with the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston delegation, which included two Patriots players.

Kraft’s Israeli charities include a Haifa educational center for Ethiopian immigrants; thousands of paid trips to Israel for young people via the Kraft Passport to Israel program; and the funding of Israel’s American flag football league — including building a football stadium in Jerusalem. He is also the primary owner of the largest Israeli packaging company and his Israeli plant employs 700 workers.

Marvelous Margulies

The Fox series “Canterbury’s Law” premiered March 10 and can be seen Mondays at 9 p.m. It is a pretty good show and Julianne Margulies, 41, who stars as a top-notch defense attorney with all sorts of personality faults, is just plain terrific. That’s not just my opinion — it’s the overwhelming consensus of the better TV critics. Ben Shenkman (“Angels in America”) is also excellent as a lawyer in the firm headed up by Margulies.

Margulies’ Jewish parents divorced when she was very young, and when she was 5 years old, her mother converted to Christianity. In a 1998 interview, Margulies said she was not raised Jewish and that she didn’t follow any organized religion as an adult. However, in November, she wed lawyer Keith Lieberthal, who comes from a religious Jewish family. A personal source, who was at the wedding, tells me it was a Jewish ceremony. In January, Margulies gave birth to her first child, a son.

Peck on a roll

Josh Peck, 21, has been a favorite of younger TV viewers for almost a decade. He grew up fairly poor in Manhattan, raised by his single Jewish mother. Work in children’s theater led to a 1999 part on the Nickelodeon series “The Amanda Show,” starring Amanda Bynes. In 2004, Josh got his big break as the co-star of the very popular Nick series “Drake & Josh.”

Peck, who was bar mitzvahed, co-stars in the film “Drillbit Taylor” as a high school student who bullies three other boys. In order to protect themselves, the boys hire a man (Owen Wilson) they believe to be a professional mercenary. Seth Rogen co-wrote the script for the film, which opens Friday, March 21.

In July, Josh co-stars in “The Wackness” as a troubled Jewish pot dealer who trades marijuana for therapy sessions with a psychiatrist played by Ben Kingsley. The film won a major award at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

Columnist Nate Bloom , an Oaklander, can be reached at [email protected].