Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi Sung by Kol Kinor Choir of Birmingham, UK

Kol Kinor Choir was formed in Birmingham, UK in September 1990, under the able musicianship of Joyce Rothschild and Jane Ward. Alexander Knapp is the honorary Patron. Jacob Fifer is the musical director and principal conductor.

Kol Kinor is a small mixed voice choir of singers who perform, enjoy and enthuse about Jewish music. It has a rich and diverse repertoire covering many aspects of Jewish culture including liturgical and synagogue pieces set to modern, traditional and folk arrangements. It has Jewish and non-Jewish members.

The choir sings in Yiddish, Hebrew, English and Ladino, and complement this with commentaries on the history and significance of each piece in relation to musical development and religious emphasis within individual festivals and services.

Over the years, the choir has performed all over the UK in many varied venues including cathedrals, churches, synagogues, music festivals, City of Birmingham events; the choir has also sung in the USA. 

In this video, Kol Kinor sings Lecha Dodi, a traditional part of the Kabbalat Shabbat service.

Shabbat shalom!

Comedy Showcase: Ariel Elias on Jewish and Christian Holidays and Miracles

Ariel Elias is a comedian living in New York City. Growing up, this Kentucky Jew made everyone laugh at her bat mitzvah, and the rest is history.

Today, her comedy is a fun mesh of unique, personal stories mixed with witty and wry observations. Described as “a sly young comic from Kentucky” by the "New York Times", Ariel has also been featured in "Rolling Stone", the "Washington Post", and on "Good Morning America". 

As a traveling stand up comedian, she has performed on the set of the "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and was named a “New Face” at the 2021 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival.

After catching Jimmy Kimmel’s attention with a viral stand-up clip that displayed her cool, calm, and hilarious composure, he invited Ariel to make her late night television debut on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

In this clip from her comedy special debut, Ariel contrasts Jewish and Christian holidays and miracles. Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase - "Taste-Free Food" - A Candid Camera Classic From 2002

Candid Camera was an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947. 

After a series of theatrical film shorts, also titled Candid Microphone, Funt's concept came to television on August 10, 1948, and continued into the 1970s. 

The show involved concealing cameras filming ordinary people being confronted with unusual situations, sometimes involving trick props, such as a desk with drawers that pop open when one is closed or a car with a hidden extra gas tank. When the joke was revealed, victims would be told the show's catchphrase, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera."

Peter Funt joined the show professionally in 1987 when he became a co-host with his father. During this time the show was being broadcast on the CBS television network. In 1993, Allen Funt had a serious stroke, from which he never fully recovered. This required Peter to host the show full-time. 

The show went through a few revivals. During his time on the show Peter was a producer, host and acted on the show. He also produced and hosted over 200 episodes.

There's fat-free food and sugar-free food. What about taste-free food? Twenty-three years ago the Candid Camera team asked shoppers in a supermarket if they would sample a new cookie that had no taste. Let's watch their reactions when eating the cookie and when they were told they're on Candid Camera.

Enjoy!  

Remembering Tom Lehrer -- Singer, Songwriter, Satirist, and Mathematician

Tom Lehrer, the master satirist of the 1950s and 1960s who was a big hit on college campuses and the nightclubs of Greenwich Village, died at 97 in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Saturday.

A Harvard-trained mathematician, his sarcasm touched on the major issues of that era, including, politics, the Cold War, and a variety of social issues.

Growing up in a secular Jewish home, he wrote two songs that had Jewish elements, Hanukkah in Santa Monica, and National Brotherhood Week. 

As Phylissa Kramer wrote for JTA,

“(I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica” debuted in 1990, well after Lehrer’s peak as a performer, on a come-from-retirement performance on Garrison Keillor’s radio show.

Keillor commissioned the new song from Lehrer because, he observed, Jews had written many popular Christmas songs but none for their own holidays.

“There was thus a deplorable lacuna in the repertoire, which this song, a sort of answer to ‘White Christmas.’ was intended to remedy,” Lehrer said on air.

The resulting song — which also mentions spending “Shavuos in East St. Louis,” “Rosh Hashanah in Arizona” and “Yom Kippur in Mississippi” (try saying it out loud with a Southern accent) — has grown more popular in recent years. The writer Sarah Weinman attributed its rise to the New York City nightclub impresario Michael Feinstein, whom she said had turned the gossip columnist Liz Smith, composer Marvin Hamlisch and writer Nora Ephron on to the song. 

While “(I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica” was the Lehrer song that put Judaism in the title, at least one other famous song contained Jewish content as well. The 1965 song “National Brotherhood Week,” which pilloried an event promoting togetherness at a time of rising tension over race, drew laughs when he got to the verse about religion.

“Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics, And the Catholics hate the Protestants,” he sang. “And the Hindus hate the Moslems, And everybody hates the Jews.”

Here are two videos of Lehrer playing the songs. Enjoy! 

 

A Joke to Start the Week - "The Cairo Gazette"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're sharing a joke by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak (YY) Jacobson, one of America's premier Jewish scholars in Torah and Jewish mysticism.

Rabbi Jacobson, an American Chabad rabbi from Monsey, New York, is one of the most sought after speakers in the Jewish world today, lecturing to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences on six continents and in forty states, and serving as teacher and mentor to thousands across the globe. 

He is considered to be one of the most successful, passionate and mesmerizing communicators of Judaism today, culling his ideas from the entire spectrum of Jewish thought and making them relevant to contemporary audiences. 

He served as editor-in-chief of the Algemeiner Journal, and as a choizer (transcriber) for Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

He also loves to tell jokes, and here's the setup: A Jew came to shul every day for Mincha and he would read The Cairo Gazette. So somebody asked him "You have to bring this trash into a holy place?" And then...

Enjoy!

Comedy Showcase: The Sklar Brothers Bring Their Standup Comedy to St. Paul, Minnesota

Randy and Jason Sklar, professionally known as the Sklar Brothers, are American identical twin brother comedians and actors best known for hosting the show Cheap Seats, which aired for four seasons on ESPN Classic. 

Randy and Jason grew up in suburban St. Louis in a Jewish family. They went to the University of Michigan, where they joined the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. While enrolled, they decided to pursue a career in comedy.

In 1994, they moved to New York where they developed their comedy style at stand-up comedy clubs. In 1997, Jason and Randy starred in and wrote for MTV's sitcom/sketch/standup program Apt 2F. It was their first television work. The show lasted one season.

The Sklar brothers have also appeared in television shows such as CSI, Comedy Bang! Bang!, Mighty Med, Childrens Hospital, Law & Order, Becker, Providence, The Oblongs (as conjoined twin brothers Biff and Chip Oblong), Entourage, Grey's Anatomy (as conjoined twin brothers Peter and Jake Weitzman), Curb Your Enthusiasm (Jason only), and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 

They appeared in two episodes of season 3 of Better Call Saul as the owners of a music shop called ABQ In Tune. The Sklars have appeared in the films My Baby's Daddy, Bubble Boy, Wild Hogs, and The Comebacks. 

Today we're sharing a video clip from their 2018 standup show in St. Paul, Minnesota. Enjoy!

Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam...in Margaritaville

Adon Olam is the song that marks the end of the Shabbat service in most congregations. Over the years we have posted 99 versions -- not just Ashkenazic and Sephardic interpretations, but also melodies taken from films, Broadway shows, and pop music.

Today we're sharing a version in the spirit of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, as interpreted by Cantor Danny Mendelson of Congregation Kol Ami, a Reform synagogue in White Plains, New York.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

Israeli Standup Comedy Special: Shahar Hason on Too Many Holidays

Shahar Hasson is one of the leading stand-up comedians in Israel, appearing on Israeli stages for over 25 years, He is a graduate of Yoram Levinstein's acting school. 

Shahar is an entertainer who paved his way through the best entertainment programs in Israel: Eretz Nehederet, Zahirut TV, TV at its best, Laughter from Work, Limited Edition, Fun Night, Express Hearts and more.

In this performance before a live audience, Shahar carries on about Jewish holidays --how there are so many of them, which is his favorite, and the wonders of Moroccan food.

Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: "Newspaper Recall" - A Candid Camera Classic from 2002

Candid Camera was an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947. 

After a series of theatrical film shorts, also titled Candid Microphone, Funt's concept came to television on August 10, 1948, and continued into the 1970s. 

The show involved concealing cameras filming ordinary people being confronted with unusual situations, sometimes involving trick props, such as a desk with drawers that pop open when one is closed or a car with a hidden extra gas tank. When the joke was revealed, victims would be told the show's catchphrase, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera."

Peter Funt joined the show professionally in 1987 when he became a co-host with his father. During this time the show was being broadcast on the CBS television network. In 1993, Allen Funt had a serious stroke, from which he never fully recovered. This required Peter to host the show full-time. 

The show went through a few revivals. During his time on the show Peter was a producer, host and acted on the show. He also produced and hosted over 200 episodes.

Twenty-three years ago the Candid Camera show sent Linda, a team member, to knock on doors of homes where the local newspaper was just delivered. She informed the home owner that the paper is being recalled because it had too many mistakes. Recalls of cars and consumer products have become frequent, but newspapers???

Enjoy! 

Yiddish Word of the Day - "Cleaning"

In 2020 the Forverts launched a daily series of short informal video clips called Yiddish Word of the Day.

The series, written and narrated by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter, aims to give non-Yiddish speakers an introduction to familiar Yiddish words and phrases and how they might be used in everyday situations. 

Schaechter, who was appointed the new editor of the Forverts in 2016, is the first woman to helm the paper in its 119-year history, its first editor to have been born in the United States, and likely its first editor who is shomeret Shabbat.

We posted the first of this series in May 2020. Now that the Forverts is continuing the series, we'll continue sharing some of the words and phrases as a regular feature of Jewish Humor Central.

Today we get to learn the Yiddish word for cleaning and lots of related expressions.

Enjoy!

A Joke to Start the Week - "Morris Has His Physical"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with another good one.

Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt received degrees from Columbia (BA and BS in Flight Sciences), a DC from Von Karman Institute (1963) and his PhD from Princeton in Aerospace Sciences. He worked as a researcher for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

With four other scientists, he founded Fusion Systems Corporation, which invented microwave-powered UV lamps for drying coatings. He founded and served on the boards of technology companies and is active in volunteer work. He served on the executive committee of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington for many years.

Mickey also loves Jewish jokes and sent us this one to share with you. Here's the setup: 82-year-old Morris went to Dr. Cohen for his annual physical. Everything went pretty well and Morris went home happy with the results. And then...

Enjoy! 

Remembering Connie Francis, Italian Singer Who Sang Hebrew and Yiddish Songs

Connie Francis, the pop singing star of the 1960s who died last week at the age of 87, had an affinity for Jewish music, having released an album of popular Jewish songs including Tzena, Tzena, Mamele, Oyfen Pripitshok, and Shein vi di Levone.

As Phylissa Cramer wrote in The Times of Israel, 

Francis, whose real name was Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, grew up in Newark, New Jersey, in the 1940s, when the city was home to a large Jewish population (including Phillip Roth, four years her senior). “If you weren’t Jewish, you needed a password to get in,” she once told an interviewer, the Forward reported in 2018.

Francis wound up deploying the Jewish culture and language she picked up in her childhood neighborhood as she emerged as a vocal star in the late 1950s and early 1960s. She performed at Borscht Belt resorts during their heyday, then recorded an album of Jewish music as part of an effort to make herself as widely known as possible in the early 1960s.

In 1989 at a concert at the Diplomat Hotel in Miami Beach, she sang the song from the movie Exodus intertwined with Hebrew and English versions of Hava Nagila. She introduced the song with a dedication "to the great state of Israel, a nation of people who are truly an inspiration to the whole free world."

Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi by the Maccabeats

Originally formed in 2007 as Yeshiva University's student vocal group, the Maccabeats have emerged as both Jewish music and a cappella phenomena, with a large fan base, more than 50 million views on YouTube, numerous TV appearances, and proven success with four albums.

In this video, a trio from the Maccabeats sing an excerpt from Lecha Dodi, a major liturgical piece from the Kabbalat Shabbat service sung on Friday night.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

Israeli Standup Comedy Special: Shahar Hason on Selling Dead Sea Products

Shahar Hasson is one of the leading stand-up comedians in Israel, appearing on Israeli stages for over 25 years, He is a graduate of Yoram Levinstein's acting school. 

Shahar is an entertainer who paved his way through the best entertainment programs in Israel: Eretz Nehederet, Zahirut TV, TV at its best, Laughter from Work, Limited Edition, Fun Night, Express Hearts and more.

In this performance before a live audience, Shahar explores all the nuances of Israelis selling Dead Sea skin care products to tourists, but not to Israelis.

Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: "Missing Glass Counter" - A Candid Camera Classic

Candid Camera was a popular and long-running American hidden camera reality television series. Versions of the show appeared on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jokes, and initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947. 

The show involved concealed cameras filming ordinary people being confronted with unusual situations, sometimes involving trick props, such as a desk with drawers that pop open when one is closed or a car with a hidden extra gas tank. When the joke was revealed, victims were told the show's catchphrase, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera." The catchphrase became a song with music and lyrics by Sid Ramin.

In this classic episode the Candid Camera crew removed the glass countertop from a department store display case and positioned a book in such a way that the missing top would not be noticed. Watch as unsuspecting shoppers place a variety of objects on the non-existent counter.

This Candid Camera episode took place 62 years ago in 1963.  

Enjoy!

Comedy Showcase: Actor/Comedian Paul Reiser on Eyeglasses and Getting Older

Paul Reiser is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He comes from a Romanian Jewish family and attended the East Side Hebrew Institute, a Jewish Day School which merged with the Park East Synagogue in the early 1980s to become the Park East Day School.

He played the roles of Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom My Two Dads, Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom Mad About You, Modell in the 1982 film Diner, and Detective Jeffrey Friedman in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. He has gained recognition for his roles as Jim Neiman in the 2014 film Whiplash and Dr. Sam Owens in the Netflix series Stranger Things. 

Reiser is ranked 77th on Comedy Central's 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time". The name of his production company, Nuance Productions, is inspired by one of his lines in the film Diner, where his character explains his discomfort with the word "nuance".  

In this excerpt from his first standup special in over 30 years, Reiser tells about the 14 pairs of glasses he needs now that he's older.

Enjoy!

A Joke to Start the Week - "The Fortune Teller"

It's another Monday, and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today's joke teller is Rabbi Avrohom Rapoport, also known as Rabbi Raps.

Dubbed "The Tiktok Rabbi," Rabbi Rapoport is a congregational Rabbi, musician, filmmaker and motivational speaker. His upbeat, humorous, and engaging style brings meaning and inspiration to the many who follow him.

With over 20 Million views and more than 220,000 followers on Instagram and Tiktok @RabbiRaps shares daily inspirational messages and lessons.

Here's the setup for today's joke: A girl lost her grandfather and she missed him. She was walking on the boardwalk in Atlantic City and saw a fortune teller's booth. And then... 

Enjoy!

 

Haredi Rabbi Bans Cholent on Weekdays, Causing a Stir in Yeshiva Circles, Then Reverses Ruling

It all started with a question posed by a group of Yeshiva students in Israel to a weekly bulletin on Jewish law. They expressed their concern about whether weekday consumption of cholent, the beef stew traditionally eaten on Shabbat, diminishes the sanctity of the day.

Feasting on cholent on Thursday nights has become a popular activity among Yeshiva students in Israel, and also in Yeshiva communities in the United States. 

A charedi rabbi, Yitzchok Zilberstein, responded to the question with what appeared to be a ruling that the practice is forbidden.

 

As Deborah Danan and Philissa Cramer wrote in a report for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA):

Citing Talmudic, Kabbalistic and later rabbinic sources, Zilberstein wrote that it is “very appropriate not to eat [cholent] on weekdays, so that one can delight in it on Shabbat as is proper.” He went on to note that cholent is not only spiritually designated for Shabbat, but that its heavy ingredients may even pose a health risk when eaten without the merit of the holy day.

The ruling was quickly picked up by haredi news outlets, with some dramatic headlines interpreting the text as a formal prohibition.

The simmering public response about Zilberstein’s ruling was enough to provoke a partial retraction. His grandson, Rabbi Chaim Malin, emphasized that the original response was not meant to impose a universal ban, but was rather intended as a recommendation for those seeking to elevate the uniqueness of Shabbat.

The statement noted that cholent served at mitzvah meals — weddings, bar mitzvahs and other religious celebrations — is fully permitted, as is the Thursday-night practice of serving it in yeshivas, with the rabbi clarifying that students should follow the guidance of their yeshiva leadership. The statement concluded: “Let the humble eat and be satisfied.”

If you want to check out the best cholent spots in Israel, there's a YouTube channel called Cholent and Chill that rates the many restaurants that feature cholent in all of its varieties on Thursday nights.

Enjoy!

Welcoming Shabbat with Shalom Aleichem by Itay Benda

Itay Benda, also known as Itay Ben David, was born in Jerusalem with music in his soul. Enthralled by music from a young age, he convinced his friends to take music lessons to form his first band. He’s since gone on to tour around the globe with some of the most prominent Israeli and European acts as both a singer and musician.

Currently based in Los Angeles and performing around the world, Itay brings new meaning and life to audiences as he shares the songs inside his soul. As a solo act or alongside a band of up to twelve, Itay incorporates nuances and flavors from his time spent touring the world.

Join us in welcoming Shabbat tonight with Shalom Aleichem, as sung by Itay Benda.

Shabbat shalom!