Jewish members or fan of the show Numbers

[american_mama]

I was watching an old episode of the TV show "Numbers" yesterday with my family and none of the three adults there got a joke, at least I think it was a joke. I think it had a Jewish connection.

It's set in LA, I guess, and a very sarcastic yet witty criminal has been abducted by other criminals and thrown in the trunk of a car. As he looks out a peephole and talks on his cell phone to the FBI/main characters, he thinks he's in "the Valley" and starts naming businesses to help identify his location. He names two chains, the FBI computer pulls up multiple locations for each, and the FBI lead says "Give me something that's not a chain." The criminal says, "Come on, it's the VALLEY." Then he says, "Ok, wait, here we go..." and he says something that sounds like "Mitvah Recovery Center." The FBI types it in and (here's the joke I didn't get) the camera cuts to them all looking surprised and the main character says deadpan "There are twelve Mitzah Recovey Centers?"

So, what might a Mitvah Recovery Center and what's the joke?

[mommylamb]

I'm guessing the joke is that there are a lot of Jews wherever he was. I'm not practicing, and I'm probably not your best Jewish culture expert, despite my heritage, but, a Mitzvah is just a good deed.

[elektra]

There might be more nuances to the joke that I don't get but "The Valley" is the San Fernando Valley and alot of the cities in the valley like Westlake Village, Encino, etc. are known to have larger Jewish communities than some other areas in LA.

[niccig]

There might be more nuances to the joke that I don't get but "The Valley" is the San Fernando Valley and alot of the cities in the valley like Westlake Village, Encino, etc. are known to have larger Jewish communities than some other areas in LA.

And the Valley is known for mostly chain stores, big box retailers etc

[Zansu]

A Mitzvah is a commandment from the Torah, so it was probably an writer's inside joke about another writer or a member of the cast.

[american_mama]

I don't know SoCal, but I assumed the rest of the joke except for the Mitvah part. I googled it and got the same meanings (good deed or Jewish law), but don't get a Mitvah Recovery Center. Maybe I heard it wrong. Mitza? Mivah? The episode was on the website, so maybe I will try to re-watch that scene. I am really curious.