Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Milton Berle as Elvis Presley's Twin Brother Melvin

With Yom Kippur in the rear view mirror, we hope you all had an easy and meaningful fast.

Now in this festive month of one holiday after another, we're taking a Throwback Thursday comedy break and turning the clock back to 1956. That's 62 years ago. 

Back then, color TV was just beginning to become available and most programming was in black and white. Milton Berle was in his prime and on his way to becoming the king of television. In 1956 he did a special with Elvis Presley on the deck of the U.S.S. Hancock in which Elvis introduced him as his twin brother Melvin Presley. 

After a couple of minutes of patter, they put their guitars to work in a rendition of Blue Suede Shoes. 

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday   #TBT

Getting Ready for Yom Kippur with Avinu Malkeinu

Yom Kippur begins tonight with Kol Nidrei and ends tomorrow night with the singing of Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King.) The prayer is chanted at the end of the Neilah service before the last shofar blast of the High Holidays.

There are many versions of Avinu Malkeinu, but one of the most popular is the one composed by Max Janowski. Today we're sharing that version as sung a year ago in New York's Park Avenue Synagogue by cantors Azi Schwartz, Shira Lessek, and Rachel Brook. The words appear below the video.

We hope it puts you in the proper mood to experience a meaningful day of prayer and reflection. We'll be in synagogue all day tomorrow and back on Thursday with our usual Jewish Humor Central mix.

G'mar Chatimah Tovah!



Our father our king, hear our prayer
We have sinned before Thee
Have compassion upon us and upon our children
Help us bring an end to pestilence, war, and famine
Cause all hate and oppression to vanish from the earth
Inscribe us for blessing in the Book Of Life
Let the new year be a good year for us

Avinu malkeinu sh'ma kolenu
Avinu malkeinu chatanu l'fanecha
Avinu malkeinu chamol aleynu
V'al olaleynu v'tapenu

Avinu malkeinu
Kaleh dever v'cherev v'raav mealeynu
Avinu malkeinu kaleh chol tsar
Umastin mealeynu

Avinu malkeinu
Avinu malkeinu
Kotvenu b'sefer chayim tovim
Avinu malkeinu chadesh aleynu
Chadesh aleynu shanah tovah
 

A Joke to Start the Week - "A Yom Kippur Hole in One"

It's another Monday. Time for another joke to start the week. But it's also the day before Yom Kippur eve. What to do? How to be true to both traditions? There has to be a joke about Yom Kippur that will fit the bill. But where?

Enter the Internet, and Google. It wasn't easy, but we found one, and here it is, as told by a puppet on the Beliefnet website.

Here's the setup: A rabbi loved to play golf, but he never seemed to have time. He couldn't play on Shabbat, there was religious school on Sundays, and on days off something always comes up. But amidst all the activity of the High Holidays, he got a very early tee time before services on Yom Kippur. And then...

Enjoy!


A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

U.S. Ambassador Makes Emergency Trip to Jerusalem Shuk for Rosh Hashanah

A few days before Rosh Hashanah, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman discovered that the  jar of honey that he was going to use for the first night of the holiday was missing from his new office in Jerusalem. It probably got lost in the move from Tel Aviv. 

So, after a quick call to his wife, he ended up in Mahane Yehuda, the Jerusalem shuk, where he was able to find a solution to his problem and to wish a Shanah Tovah to all of us.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Jerusalem Cantors Choir Sings "Am Yisrael Chai" in New Synagogue in Serbia

Thirty cantors who lead services year-round in Jerusalem synagogues also sing in the Jerusalem Cantors Choir, with performances in Israel and beyond.

In July the choir traveled to Subotica, Serbia for the dedication of a renovated synagogue there. The cantors performed a full program of Israeli and Jewish songs that included Hatikvah, Oseh Shalom, Chiribim, Jerusalem of Gold, Al Kol Eleh, and many others.

Here is their rendition of Am Yisrael Chai. Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar in "The Commuters: Small Apartment"

When Your Show of Shows was canceled in 1954, Sid Caesar started a new show called Caesar's Hour. The popular series of sketches called The Hickenloopers, about a bickering married couple, was recast as The Commuters, with Nanette Fabray playing Sid's wife as Imogene Coca had played in The Hickenloopers.

In this 1955 episode, "The Small Apartment," Bob and Nan Victor (Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray) try to host a dinner party for three couples in a city apartment that's far too small for the task. Meanwhile, their guests continually needle them about their spacious suburban homes.
Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

How "Old Jews Telling Jokes" Got Started

Old Jews Telling Jokes has been around since 2008, first as a web site, then as a CD, book, DVD, and an off-Broadway show that has been traveling all around the USA.

It was the creation of Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman, who got the idea from listening to their parents telling jokes with their friends in central New Jersey.

In this NJTV News interview, Hoffman tells the story of how his idea blossomed into a source of laughter for so many people. 

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Wishing All of Our Readers a Shanah Tovah - Happy New Year 5779

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 2600 blog entries and almost 3 million page views over the last nine 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. 

5778 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 18 comedy shows and lectures in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Montreal.

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

Getting Ready for Rosh Hashanah with Psalm 150 (Halleluyah) Sung by Zamir Chorale

 

With Rosh Hashanah starting on Sunday evening, we're taking a break from pop music songs about the holiday and getting in the liturgical mood with a selection from the Shofarot section of the Musaf service.

It's a beautiful rendition of Psalm 150 (Halleluyah) with music by Louis Lewandowski. It's sung by the participants of the 28th Annual North American Jewish Choral Fesitval conducted by Maestro Mathew Lazar, Founder and Director of the Zamir Choral Foundation.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar At the Movies

It's another Throwback Thursday and time for another comedy special from the past. Today we're going back 67 years to 1951 when Your Show of Shows was the weekly show you just had to watch. 

The regulars on the show were Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. All four of them appear in this comedy sketch. 

Sid goes to the movies and settles into his seat. Before long he finds himself embroiled in an argument between a bickering couple played by Imogene Coca and Carl Reiner. Then the sparks fly.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday     #TBT