A Joke to Start the Week - "So Much Nachas"

It's another Monday, and it's time for another joke to start the week. Here comes another one from Toronto's Jewish Folks Telling Jokes, a night of comedy to benefit Jewish Family and Child, one of the foremost Jewish service agencies in North America.

We previously posted a few jokes that were told at the event, a Canadian contribution to the world of Jewish humor, probably inspired by the off-Broadway show Old Jews Telling Jokes, still touring around the USA.
 
We'll be posting more of these jokes on upcoming Mondays. Here's another one, told by David Goldstein.

Here's the setup: These two old friends are talking, and one says "How's your daughter, the one who's married to the surgeon?" "Oh, she's doing terrific, fine." 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.

 

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Meet Mike Hanopol, the Filipino Jewish Rock Star

Drew Goldberg, who uses his childhood nickname Binsky when he travels, is close to achieving his goal of visiting each of the 193 countries recognized by the United Nations. In just a few months, the 28-year-old will have done it. 

It started when he spent part of his college junior year in Prague after a Birthright trip to Israel. Then he got hooked on travel and never stopped.

As Josefin Dolsten wrote in The Times of Israel, 

Goldberg grew up in a Jewish family in Scottsdale, Arizona. He attended Temple Chai, a Reform congregation, where he had his bar mitzvah.

After graduating with an economics degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Goldberg took a job teaching English in South Korea. He created a travel blog to document his experience traveling throughout Asia over the next 18 months.

Goldberg makes a point of visiting Jewish communities in the countries he visits, and he says traveling has helped him connect with his Jewish identity. He has visited Jewish communities in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Ethiopia and the Philippines.

“I feel more connected with the religion from a global perspective because I’ve really gone in the houses of Jews around the world,” he said.

We'll share some of his videos in the next few weeks, starting today with his video report about meeting Mike Hanopol, the Filipino Jewish rock star. 

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.

Welcoming Shabbat with Shalom Aleichem in Toronto's Temple Sinai

Today we welcome Shabbat with a choir from Temple Sinai in Toronto, Ontario. Their version of Shalom Aleichem is the 36th that we've posted in our welcoming Shabbat series.

It was recorded last November at the installation of Rabbi Jordan Shaner and Cantor Sharon Brown-Levy.

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 at the Oscars: Norma Shearer and Carl Laemmle - Jewish Winners in 1930

With all the glitz and glamour associated with the Academy Awards coming up on February 9, we're going back 90 years to take a look at the laid back awards announcement that was made in awarding the Oscars for best performances in 1930. 

It was a year that saw two Jewish nominees walk away with the coveted gold statuette. Norma Shearer received the Oscar for her Best Actress performance in The Divorcee. And Producer Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures, took home the award for All Quiet on the Western Front as Best Picture.

As P.J. Grisar wrote in The Forward,

Norma Shearer, a Canadian-American actress who converted to Judaism in 1927 to marry MGM mogul Irving Thalberg, holds the distinction of being not only the first Jewish woman to win an Oscar, but the first performer overall. (Writers Benjamin Glazer, Ben Hecht, Joseph W. Farnham, né Frohman, and director Lewis Milestone, né Lieb Milstein, were the first Jewish winners in the first Oscars ceremony.)

Oscar winner producer Carl Laemmle was born in 1867 to a Jewish family in Laupheim, in the German Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1906, Laemmle quit his job and started one of the first motion picture theaters in Chicago.

Laemmle remained connected to his home town of Laupheim throughout his life, providing financial support to it and also by sponsoring hundreds of Jews from Laupheim and Württemberg to emigrate from Nazi Germany to the United States in the 1930s, paying both emigration and immigration fees, thus saving them from the Holocaust.

Let's go back to 1930 and watch these two members of the entertainment world receive their awards. 

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

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Delight: Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar and the Invention of Music

In Sefer Beresheet (Genesis 4:21) we read that Jubal (Yuval) was the ancestor of all who played the lyre, which is a stringed instrument, and the pipe. 

In his History of the World: Part 1, his hilarious take on world history, Mel Brooks came up with an alternate version of how music was created. 

Casting comedian Sid Caesar as an early caveman, Brooks has him accidentally discovering music by dropping a large rock on the foot of a fellow caveman and observing the "notes" that come out of his mouth as he screams with pain.

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.

Introducing Frumprov - Montreal's Home for Religious Comedy Tryouts

The center of Montreal's Jewish comedy scene is a comedy club called Frumprov. It's a monthly gathering spot for Kosher, Frum entertainment. A safe space where musicians, comedians, & artists can try new material.

Videos are starting to appear on the Internet with short standup comedy performances by a number of up and coming new Jewish comedians who focus on clean comedy with an emphasis on religious rituals and experiences.

We are monitoring the site, looking for funny episodes that would be seen as funny by the more general Jewish audience. So far we find most of the standup routines too particular for general audiences. But a few have potential. So dear readers, please let us know in your comments what you think about Frumprov.

Here is an example by Levi Goldstein with a set about Meshulachim, sometimes known as schnorrers or fundraisers who won't take no for an answer.

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.

A Joke to Start the Week - "On the Bus"

It's another Monday, and it's time for another joke to start the week. Here comes another one from Toronto's Jewish Folks Telling Jokes, a night of comedy to benefit Jewish Family and Child, one of the foremost Jewish service agencies in North America.
We previously posted a few jokes that were told at the event, a Canadian contribution to the world of Jewish humor, probably inspired by the off-Broadway show Old Jews Telling Jokes, still touring around the USA.
 
We'll be posting more of these jokes on upcoming Mondays. Here's another one, told by Arthur Stern.

Here's the setup: A small, elderly Jewish woman gets on a bus at Bathurst and Wilson in Toronto. She's shlepping her bags from the No Frills and she gets on the bus. She makes absolutely no attempt to pay. 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.

More Israeli Standup Comedy From Shahar Hason and Yossi Tarablus

Comedians Yohay Sponder and Shahar Hason got their start as comedians in Israel catering exclusively to Hebrew-speaking audiences. As the two became more and more well-known to Hebrew speakers throughout Israel, they noticed a huge demographic in the country that was missing out on the laughs. 

Sponder and Hason took the risk of crafting and re-writing their material from Hebrew to English (and from Israeli humor to American humor), all the while unsure whether or not they would even get a laugh out of an English speaking crowd. Their hard work and dedication to broadening the audience of one of Israel’s most unique cultural elements has launched the growing scene of Israeli Stand-up in English.

Last year Sponder, Hason, Yossi Tarablus, and some of their friends took their show, Funny Monday, on a tour of Europe and visited Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Manchester. Here is another video highlight of the tour.

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.