If Jewish Mothers Wrote "Baby, It's Cold Outside"

One of the most often played songs during the winter holiday season is Frank Loesser's classic, Baby, It's Cold Outside. The song was included in a 1949 film titled Neptune's Daughter and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. 

The following year Loesser wrote the music and lyrics for Guys and Dolls.

Jon Wolf and Matt Campana wondered how the song would sound if the lyrics were written by a Jewish mother. So they created a parody with animation that addresses that question head-on.

We hope you'll enjoy the parody, and if you don't remember the original, we're posting a video clip of it as sung by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.


2014 has been a wonderful year for us at Jewish Humor Central. We hope it's been a great one for you, too. Enjoy today's video, and don't forget to dress warmly. We wish you a happy new year, and we'll see you in 2015!

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The Real Story of the Binding of Isaac - As Told by Satiric Israeli TV Show "The Jews are Coming"

So you think you know the story of the binding of Isaac?  Think again. 
The new (and controversial) satire now playing on TV sets in Israel, Hayehudim Ba'im (The Jews are Coming), has a different take on what went on behind the scenes. Just like all the other sketches in the series, it's funny and irreverent.
 
Here's the episode in Hebrew with English subtitles so you can see what really went on when Abraham and Isaac journeyed to Mount Moriah to fulfill God's command to Abraham about offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice.  We plan to bring you other episodes as soon as they are released with English subtitles.

Please remember that this is satire, and clever satire at that. The writers are not being disrespectful, they are simply being funny. We find it to be well within the range of satire and parody that most Jews expect and accept on Purim. We're glad to have a taste of the fun of Purim all year long and applaud the creators of this series for finding humor in these situations.
 
Enjoy!
 
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A Joke to Start the Week - "My Son, the President"

It's the last Monday of the old year, but it's no different from any other Monday in that we still need a joke to get the week started. 

So let's dip into the Old Jews Telling Jokes barrel and pull out an oldie but goodie. This one is told today by 68-year-old Dennis Spiegelman, a dealer in antiques and collectibles.

Here's the setup: It's 2016, and a Jew has been elected president. And he calls his mother and says "Ma, I'm the President of the United States. Are you coming to the inauguration?" And then...

Enjoy!

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Comedy Flashback: Robert Klein Goes to the Dentist and Takes Us With Him

Robert Klein has kept us laughing for more than 40 years, and at 72 he's still going strong as a stand-up comedian and actor.

Most recently he narrated the documentary tribute to the Borscht Belt, When Comedy Went to School.

Klein's stand-up skits are still floating around the Internet, and we recently found one from 1979 where he turns a description of a trip to the dentist into a barrage of sound effects guaranteed to put us right into the dentist's chair. 

Maybe painful, but still funny.

Enjoy!

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Biblical Philology Meets Gilbert and Sullivan in a Funny Pirates of Penzance Parody

Philology is the study of a language's grammar, history and literary tradition. Biblical philology focuses on the historical development of language as it appears in the Bible. 

Sounds like a boring, arcane pursuit to anyone not already immersed in it in the world of academia. But every field has its own sense of humor, and even biblical philology can be a very funny subject when combined with the comedic style of Gilbert and Sullivan, whose works include The Pirates of Penzance.

Joshua Tyra, a PhD student in Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern history, archaeology and languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, saw parallels in Gilbert and Sullivan's song I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General, and adapted the song to biblical philology using his talents as a composer, musical theater director, arranger, and piano accompanist.

The result is a hilarious romp through the world of biblical and linguistic scholarship set to Gilbert and Sullivan cadences.

We hope you enjoy this delightful biblical and linguistic excursion, followed with a video clip of the original song from The Pirates of Penzance.

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(A tip of the kippah to Dan Mosenkis for bringing this video to our attention.)

Holiday Satire: Jews Explain Christmas and Christians Explain Hanukkah

We're in the middle of a big holiday week, with yesterday being the eighth and last day of Chanukah, and Christmas starting and ending today. So today we're posting a pair of satire videos produced by Buzzfeed, those same folks who gave us the funny video of non-Jews trying Jewish food for the first time.

It's a matched set, Christmas Explained by Jews and Hanukkah Explained by Christians. It's all in good fun. 

We hope you're enjoying the holiday season, whichever holiday you're celebrating. It reminds us of the old joke about an EL AL plane landing in Tel Aviv in late December.

The pilot has asked all passengers to remain in their seats until the plane arrives at the gate. Just before arriving at the gate, the pilot gets on the intercom again and announces "Thank you for flying EL AL. To all the passengers who are standing in the aisles, we wish you a Happy Chanukah. To the passengers who remained in their seats, we wish you a Merry Christmas!"

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Christmas Explained by Jews



Hanukkah Explained by Christians

The Gat Brothers, Breslov Hasidim, Sing Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer"

The Gat Brothers have come a long way from jamming on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem and playing in the Mamilla Mall, and achieving high scores and fame on Israel TV's Kochav haBa (Rising Star) talent show. 

Their story and their musical expression started long before their Jerusalem street appearances. They grew up in the largely secular resort city of Eilat and became observant 17 years ago.

As Dalit Halevi and Tova Dvorin wrote in Arutz Sheva earlier this year,

Aryeh told a Toronto daily that he and his brother, prior to becoming observant, spent their days dancing and singing on the streets of Eilat. Impressed passersby took video footage of them and uploaded in onto YouTube.

The staff of The Next Star found the videos and were impressed, and the rest is history. The brothers came on stage with guitars in hand and shocked the judges with a rendition of Paul Simon's "Sounds of Silence." Instead of becoming a gimmick - an act on a music competition television show by brothers who do not own a television themselves - audiences were hooked to the brothers' heartfelt connection to their music and easygoing manner.

Aryeh stressed during the interview that participation in the program was approved by the brothers' rabbis, and there was no mission to deliver a message to the public. Rather, the two performed on the show from a desire to express themselves artistically and use their talents to make a livelihood.

We found a video clip of the Gat Brothers rehearsing their renditon of Simon and Garfunkel's hit The Boxer and thought you'd like to see them in action again.

Enjoy!

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Our Last Chanukah Video for 2014 - Ari Goldwag Sings "Chanukah Lights"

Rabbi Ari Goldwag is a prolific writer, lecturer, singer and musician who lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. 

Just in time for Chanukah, he has released a new music video, Chanukah Lights, that puts the traditional Chanukah story of lighting the menorah in a contemporary framework. 

In this video, Ari is rushing to the airport to catch a plane home for the holiday.

When he finds that his flight and many others have been canceled, he takes to the city streets with his rolling suitcase and sees a menorah already lit. Anxious to fulfill the mitzvah of candle lighting, he wanders the streets until he sees a shop owner putting a bag full of empty Perrier bottles in a recycling container.

He quickly trades his suitcase for the bag of bottles and continues walking until he finds a street vendor selling odds and ends including plain white candles. The modern miracle? Just enough bottles to hold nine candles and candles just the right size to fit in the bottle necks.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Minister and Rabbi in Car Crash"

Even though we're in the middle of Hanukkah, it's still a Monday. And we wouldn't want to disappoint our readers who anxiously await a new joke on Mondays. We have two more Chanukah music videos to share, but we'll wait until tomorrow to post them so you joke lovers can have your weekly dose.

Once again we pick a joke from the Old Jews Telling Jokes collection. Today's joke teller is Larry Lerner, an 81-year-old retired Superior Court Judge. 

Here's the setup: Two cars are driving on a highway at 90 degree angles to each other coming to an intersection, both going 45 to 50 miles an hour. As they hit the intersection, the cars smash into each other. And then...

Enjoy!

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Mendy Pellin and the Jewbellish Crew in "Taking Off" (for Jewish Holidays) Parody of "Shake it Off"

Hasidic comedian (and rabbi) Mendy Pellin and the Jewbellish crew are in high gear for a boisterous parody of Taylor Swift's pop hit "Shake it Off." 

Just a couple of days ago we joined in the fun of posting another parody of this song by the a cappella group Six13. But this version came in after Hanukkah started and we thought you'd like to see a different take on it.

In this version, Mendy, dressed as the Loopholer Rebbe, leads his Chasidim out of the office where they work, to take the day (or week) off from work because it's a Jewish holiday.

As the Jewish online newspaper The Algemeiner reports:

Menachem Weinstein, the video’s lead singer, is the creative director at the all-boys Jewish Educational Trade School (JETS) in Los Angeles. I’m Taking Off features all JETS students, including the young boy who raps in Yiddish about fooling his boss, losing his job and  then having to work at the Jewish-owned electronics store B&H.

“We sort of want to show the world that Hassidic Jews are not those close-minded, sad, closed people,” Weinstein said. “We wanna show the world Hassidic Jews can have fun and we’re fun.”

The boss and co-workers are understandably not pleased with this display of chutzpah in taking off on a holiday on which work is permitted. While in our working days we took off our share of religious holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, but we never took the same privilege with Purim or Chanukah.

We hope this video is only in the spirit of satire and parody and not an attempt to portray Chanukah as a holiday that demands taking off from work.

Enjoy!

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Six 13 a Cappella Group Sings "Chanukah" - "Shake It Off" Parody

We still have a few days to go before Chanukah 2014 is history, so we'll bring you a few more of the best new Chanukah videos that have shown up on the Internet. Today's song by Six13 doesn't have a unique name -- it's Chanukah, but it's a take off on Taylor Swift's popular Shake It Off.

Six13 is a six-man vocal band that brings an unprecedented style of Jewish music to the stage, with songs ranging from hip-hop dance tracks to rock anthems. The members of the New York City-based group sound like a full band – while using nothing but their voices. 

Six13 has recorded five award-winning albums, whose songs have been played all over Jewish radio and been chosen to appear on nine different “best of” compilation albums. The group has over 20,000 CDs in circulation, and are among the top Jewish music artists on iTunes. 

They have received distinctions and accolades from Jewish organizations like the National Council of Young Israel and Moment Magazine, and awards from musical organizations like the Harmony Sweepstakes and the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America. 

They have been featured on the Chabad Telethon, Fox, ABC, in the Huffington Post, Jewish Week and NY Daily News, and were chosen three years running from hundreds of groups, both Jewish and secular, as finalists in the casting process for NBC’s hit prime-time television series The Sing-Off. The group has also become a viral internet sensation, with over 1.5 million views on YouTube.

Enjoy!

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Hanukkah Traces in Unexpected Places: "A Hanukkah Wish" Sung by a Texas High School Chorus

Most of the Hanukkah music videos that we get and share with you fit into two neat categories.

Either they're musical or a cappella performances of the top five traditional songs (Maoz Tzur, Mi Yemalel, Chanukah oh Chanukah, I Have a Little Draydel, or S'vivon, Sov Sov Sov) or they're parodies of popular secular hit songs on the Billboard Top Hits list.

It's not often that we find a new warm ballad composed especially for Hanukkah. But there is a new Chanukah song that's circulating among the non-day school world of high school choral groups, even in schools where there are no or very few Jewish students. And it's not writtten in a minor key. It's just a tender heartfelt message of family and tradition. 

A Hanukkah Wish, written by Andy Beck, incorporates a contemporary setting of the traditional Hebrew “Maoz Tzur” just before a dramatic modulation to the final refrain.

This version was recorded last Thursday in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Prosper as sung by the Prosper High School Varsity Mixed Choir. We hope you enjoy it.

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Naomi Less Rocks Chanukah with "Eight Lights"

Naomi Less is an internationally renowned, multi-skilled musician, facilitator and educator – who both performs and creates tailor-made trainings and educational experiences for all ages. 

In February 2013 we featured her performing a modern twist on Lecha Dodi to show that "Ain't No Mountain High Enough " to keep us from welcoming Shabbat.

Now, just in time for Chanukah, she has released a new music video called Eight Lights. As we continue our selections of the best new Chanukah videos, we wanted to share it with you.

Enjoy!
 
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Julie Geller Lights the First Chanukah Candle - "Shine With Me"

Tonight we light the first Chanukah candle, and we can't think of a better way to get the eight-day holiday off to a happy start than to share with you another new, original song by Julie Geller.

Julie, raised in Colorado where she now lives with her family, also spent time in Boston, San Diego, and Israel. She has taken on a mission to bring love and healing into the world through her music. 
  
Julie is a graduate of Harvard University and the New England Conservatory of Music. She studied at Bar Ilan University and Midreshet Lindenbaum in Israel. 

Last year Julie gave us new, original songs that she composed for Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and I Believe in Miracles for Chanukah. Now she's done it again with another new song for this year's Chanukah celebrations called Shine With Me.

We hope it enhances your Chanukah experience. Enjoy.

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Sylvia's Going Deaf"

 

It's Monday again, and you know what that means. Time for another joke to get the week off to a funny start.

This week's joke is another gem from the archives of Old Jews Telling Jokes. The joke teller is Marty Adickman, a 65-year-old dentist and keyboardist for "The Alta Rockers."

Here's the setup: The guys are playing cards, and during a break in the action, one guy leans over to the other guy and says "I don't know what I'm going to do, I think Sylvia's going deaf." And then...

Enjoy!

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Maccabeats Come Up With Another Hanukkah Hit - "All About That Neis"

 

In 2010 The Maccabeats, an a cappella group from Yeshiva University, released their first Hanukkah music video, Candlelight, and every Hanukkah (and other holidays) since then we've seen many more videos by them and lots of other groups.

Originally formed in 2007 as Yeshiva University’s student vocal group, the Maccabeats have recently emerged as both Jewish music and a cappella phenomena,  with a large fan base, more than 20 million views on YouTube, numerous TV appearances, and proven success with three albums, 2010′s Voices From The Heights, 2012′s Out Of The Box and 2014′s One Day More.

Many of the songs are parodies of pop hits and The Maccabeats' latest is no exception. Using the pop song All About that Bass as a basis, they sing about the neis (miracle) of Chanukah.

Enjoy!

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The Real Story of the First Circumcision - As Told by Satiric Israeli TV Show "The Jews are Coming"

So you think you know the story of how Abraham carried out the first circumcision of Isaac and Ishmael? Think again. 

The new (and controversial) satire now playing on TV sets in Israel, Hayehudim Ba'im (The Jews are Coming), has a different take on what went on behind the scenes. Just like all the other sketches in the series, it's funny and irreverent.

Here's the episode in Hebrew with English subtitles so you can see what really went on near Abraham's tent. We'll bring you other episodes as soon as they are released with English subtitles.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Flashback: Sacha Baron Cohen as Ali G. Leads Religion Roundtable with Rabbi Barry Freundel and Others

For years, English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen adopted the persona of Ali G, an unorthodox journalist who asks absurd and ridiculous questions to seemingly unsuspecting guests on his interview show.

After a year of doing the show in England, it came to the USA for two years. One of the episodes was a "religion roundtable" in April 2011 during which Cohen asks downright offensive questions to the four guests representing Judaism, Catholicism, and religion in general. 

They included Rabbi Barry Freundel of the Georgetown Synagogue in Washington, Dr. Francisca Cho of Georgetown University, Bobbie Kirkhart of Atheist Alliance International, and Father William Byron, a Catholic priest.

Watching the episode, it's hard to believe that these serious guests didn't realize that they were pawns in an elaborate put-on and put-down of religion for the sake of comic relief. But Cohen, as we later saw in his movie role as Borat, can be very funny.

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Lively Hanukkah Mashup Hits the Streets of Chicago

Elliot Dvorin and the Key Tov Orchestra are at it again. The Chicago-based wedding band likes to use the large plaza in front of a Chicago office building as a stage for their musical productions.

We have featured them before, performing a flash mob version of Hashem Melech in downtown Chicago, and with the Kol Ish a cappella singers in a bluegrass version of Yigdal.

Their latest production is a mashup of Chanukah songs old and new, sung by Dvorin and danced to by an ensemble of dancers in the streets of Chicago. The songs included are Adam Sandler's Chanukah Song, Sevivon, Ocho Candelas, Candlelight, and Chanukah oh Chanukah.

Enjoy!

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Quasi-Jewish Roots of Paddington Bear Revealed as New Movie Debuts

Remember the childrens' books about Paddington Bear, the bear who arrived unaccompanied at Paddington Station in London wearing a raincoat, rain hat, and a tag that said "Please look after this bear. Thank You."?

Now that Paddington, a new film featuring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Bonneville, and Sarah Hawkins has been released in the UK and is coming to the USA in January, Michael Bond, the 88-year-old author of the books has revealed the quasi-Jewish roots of the stories.

As Rachel Shukert wrote in The Tablet, 

Bond revealed his inspiration for the kindly bear: the Jewish evacuee children he remembered seeing in the train stations of London during the Kindertransport of the late 1930s. “They all had a label round their neck with their name and address on,” a recent article in The Guardian quotes Bond as saying, “and a little case or package containing all their treasured possessions. So Paddington, in a sense, was a refugee, and I do think that there’s no sadder sight than refugees.”

Paddington wasn't really a Jewish bear and his family wasn't persecuted. But when his Aunt Lucy moved into the Home for Retired Bears, he became a stowaway to London with his aunt's handwritten note on his tag. His refugee status resonated with many parents who became attached to the stories of his adventures.

Speaking of the Kindertransport, in 1988 the BBC aired a program that included a surprise encounter of Sir Nicholas Winton, the organizer of the Kindertransport from Czechoslovakia to London, with many of the children, now grown up, that he saved. It's a very moving video, just below the trailer for the new Paddington film

Last October, Sir Nicholas, now 105, was awarded the highest honor of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion, by Czech President Miloš Zeman.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "A Very Special Dog"

Another Monday, and another joke to get the week off to a funny start. Once again we dip into the archives of one of our favorite websites, Old Jews Telling Jokes, to come up with a "walk into the bar" joke,

Today's joke teller is Julie Lokin, a 71-year old semi-retired concert promoter.

Here's the setup: A man is walking his dog. They go into a bar and the bartender says "Sir, you cannot bring a dog into the bar." And then...

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Chanukah Videos...Starting With the Residents of Jewish Care Victoria (Australia}

Only nine days until we light the first Chanukah candle. The new Chanukah videos have started to arrive, and from now until the end of the holiday, we'll bring you the ones that we think are the funniest, cleverest, and most entertaining.

It's not going to be all Hanukkah, all the time at Jewish Humor Central because we have lots of other funny and interesting video clips to share with you in the next few weeks.

Whether you spell it Chanukah, Hanukkah, or whatever, let's get started with a delightful video from the residents of Jewish Care Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.This video is one of a series called A Bissel...

It covers predictable differences of opinion on how to spell the name of the holiday, the candle lighting sequence, what should go into the sufganiyot (doughnuts) and the right way to make latkes.

Enjoy!

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