Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi at a Simon and Garfunkel Shabbat in Georgia

Temple Kol Emeth is a Reform synagogue in Marietta, Georgia. Last month they featured a Simon and Garfunkel Shabbat, where they set most of the traditional Shabbat melodies to tunes made famous by the folk duo.

Today we're posting one of the Kabbalat Shabbat songs, Lecha Dodi, set to the music of Scarborough Fair, and performed by the Ahavat Torah Band, led by Cantor Blake Singer.

Singer has been the Cantorial Soloist for Temple Kol Emeth since 1986. His folk-style music for guitar and voice are used during worship services and lifecycle events. Blake incorporates a balanced blend of music into the worship experience, drawing from a wide variety of music genres that include traditional, Hassidic, camp, folk, country and rock & roll.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Buddy Hackett on the Johnny Carson Show in 1978

We thought that we had run out of Buddy Hackett videos and were pleasantly surprised to find another batch of Buddy's appearances on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show. It's rare to find a Hackett video these days, especially one that's clean.

So go back with us 41 years to 1978 when Buddy made one of his visits to Carson's late night show.

In this episode, Buddy tells stories about an unusual treatment for severe headache pain and his new vegetarian diet.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

An Amazingly Appetizing Yom Kippur Recipe from London's J-TV

J-TV: The Global Jewish Channel is based in London. It features weekly segments on Jewish wisdom, current affairs and entertainment. 

This year they've cooked up an amazingly appetizing recipe for Yom Kippur. There aren't many recipes for this fast day, but here's one you'll be sure to try.

We'll be attending synagogue services tonight and tomorrow, but we'll be back on Thursday with our usual mix at Jewish Humor Central.

Wishing you an easy and meaningful fast.

G'mar Chatimah Tovah!

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Welcoming Yom Kippur with Avinu Malkeinu by the Budapest Sabbathsong Klezmer Band

Yes, we know it's another Monday, and that usually means it's time for another Joke to Start the Week. But we're in the midst of a month of Jewish holidays that started with Rosh Hashanah and continues with Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

So we're holding off with the weekly jokes until the Monday after the holidays, and instead bringing you content that's more appropriate for this month.

Yesterday we posted a beautiful rendition of Hava Nagila by the Budapest-based Sabbathsong Klezmer Band. Today we're posting their version of Avinu Malkeinu as we prepare for Yom Kippur.

Wishing you an easy and meaningful day of prayer and fasting.

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Hava Nagila Around the World - Sabbathsong Klezmer Band in Budapest Concert

One of the joys of posting videos on Jewish Humor Central is discovering new versions of traditional Jewish and Hebrew songs as they are performed around the world, often in unexpected places.

Since we started Jewish Humor Central ten years ago we have posted 80 different versions of Hava Nagila. The song has shown up in many countries, including some unexpected ones (Scroll down the left column on this page and click on "Hava Nagila" in the Keywords list and you'll see what we mean.)

Today we're posting a version of Hava Nagila that was performed at the 2019 New Year's Concert in Budapest, Hungary by the Sabbathsong Klezmer Band.

As Tamas Masa, founder of the group, explains on its website,

Our band started in 1998 at the closing ceremony of Chief Rabbi László Deutsch in a small synagogue in Budapest, where we performed our beloved Israeli songs in gratitude. The chief rabbi then said a prophecy in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah) that "comfort, comfort my people ...", which has been accompanying our actions ever since, is said to be the foundation of our work.

In our repertoire, besides the Eastern European klezmer, Yiddish and Israeli traditional and. modern songs and dances also play an important role. Our aim, beyond a high-level interpretation of the melodies of Judaism, is to return to the spiritual root and source of these songs, the reality of the Bible. That's why we got the slogan: "More than klezmer."

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam (Come Back to Sorrrento)

Adon Olam, the song sung at the end of the Shabbat service in most congregations, lends itself to being adaptable to many different melodies.

In this version Rabbi David Rubinfeld sings Adon Olam to the old Italian tune Torna a Surriento (Come Back to Sorrento).

Born in Belgium and educated in the US, the rabbi came to Australia in 1973, initially living in Sydney, then moving to Melbourne, beginning his long association with the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, often dubbed “Toorak shule”, in the role of a cantor in 1989. 

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Don Rickles' Last Interview on Johnny Carson Show

Today's Throwback Thursday Comedy Special takes us back to May 1992 when Don Rickles made an appearance on one of Johnny Carson's last late night shows.

Don had Johnny and Ed McMahon laughing with his observations on marriage and on being selected as one of the ten best dressed men in the world.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: A Wild Rosh Hashanah in Uman, Ukraine

Rosh Hashanah in Uman, Ukraine is an event that takes place annually over the Jewish New Year. It attracts over 60,000 people from around the world, from all different religious and non religious backgrounds - all coming together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah together at the resting place of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. 

As Yossi Katz wrote last year on the Breslov.com website,

Not too long ago, Breslover Chassidim were so ridiculed that they were often compelled to hide their affiliation. When their friends and neighbors would hear that the Chassidim were willing to pay thousands of dollars to travel halfway across the globe to a backward town in the Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah, leaving their wives behind, they would loudly conclude that the Breslovers had lost their minds altogether.

How times have changed. Today upwards of 60,000 Jews, including many prominent rabbis, politicians, intellectuals and celebrities, join the annual pilgrimage to Uman for Rebbe Nachman’s Rosh Hashanah gathering. Many who are not Breslover chassidim come for a once in a lifetime spiritual boost, only to discover that they can’t fathom spending Rosh Hashanah anywhere else. What is the allure of Uman?

To describe Rosh Hashanah in Uman to the unaffiliated is nearly impossible—but I’ll give you a glimpse. Imagine the schlep of a lifetime. You pack your bags with whatever modern amenities you can squeeze in for a weeklong plunge into a country where most people are still living in the eighteenth century. Then you board one (or more) overbooked flights to Kiev filled with ecstatic Chassidim.

You immediately notice that your fellow Jewish travelers seem to have nothing in common. They hail from every conceivable background—young, old, rich, poor, religious, secular, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and everything else. There is, however, one common denominator—they are all spiritual seekers. While some may be great “ovdei Hashem” and pious Chassidim, others are just simple Yidden whose lives haven’t turned out as planned. They, too, make the trek to Uman, hopeful for a new year and a new lease on life.

After the plane lands, there’s a three-hour shared van ride from Kiev to Uman. You peer through the window at a Ukraine that is a mix of ancient and modern, of horses and buggies alongside Mercedes SUVs, of dilapidated huts leaning on soaring skyscrapers. No doubt the awkward drive to Uman causes one to slowly let go of his day-to-day “norm” and expectations. Personally, I feel transported out of my perceived reality and into something entirely unknown. These feelings are replicated when I arrive in Uman. As I stare at the unremarkable streets and houses, I think, “How in the world am I going to spend an entire week in this place? What am I doing here?” But sure enough, at the end of this year’s voyage, I once again marvel how time flew by so quickly.

Meir Kalmanson has been posting funny Jewish videos on YouTube under the name Meir Kay. An Orthodox Jewish filmmaker from Brooklyn, his aim is to spread "happiness and positivity. In this video from last year's pilgrimage to Uman, Meir Kay gives us an up close and personal view of what it's like to travel to Uman and be among the multitudes celebrating the run-up to Rosh Hashanah in the streets of the ancient city.
 
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Wishing All of Our Readers a Shanah Tovah - Happy New Year 5780

 

Thanks to our thousands of loyal subscribers and casual readers worldwide who have joined us during the year.

We started this blog on October 5, 2009 and it's been going strong with more than 3000 blog entries and more than 3 million page views over the last ten years.  

We appreciate your loyalty and we hope to keep bringing you a daily mix of Jewish humor in all of its forms -- traditional, eclectic, musical, unbelievable but true, and just funny, tempered with touches of nostalgia and Yiddishe nachas. 

5779 has been a great year for us -- a year of wonderful friendship, a year in which our nine books on Jewish humor have been selling on Amazon.com, and in which we performed comedy shows and lectures in Florida, New York, and New Jersey.

We'll be attending services for Rosh Hashanah Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and we'll be back posting again on Wednesday.  Here's wishing you Shabbat shalom, and a happy, healthy, joyous, prosperous and funny New Year from our family to yours!

Chasidim Know How to Have Fun in Beit Shemesh

The tish (table) of Rabbi Elimelech Biderman in Beit Shemesh, Israel, was the scene of dancing and singing last June, when one of the chasidim jumped onto the table.

The chasid started wearing a shtreimel, but quickly removed it, revealing a black kippah. He then picked up a traditional brimmed black hat and proceeded to dance, balancing the brim on his nose.

Next, he danced with a bottle on his head and, with only partial success, attempted to fill the almost empty bottle with more liquid from a second bottle. 

Who says chasidim don't know how to have fun?

Enjoy!

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