Passover Showcase: Israeli a Cappella Group Kippalive Sings a Medley of Seder Songs

Kippalive is Israel's leading A Capella group, famous for its amazing energy, humor, thrilling performances and fresh musical style. 

Founded in 2011 in Raanana, Kippalive has inspired and entertained audiences across the globe, including performances on the Israeli X Factor, at the President's residence, in London, Mexico, and throughout the United States. 

The group's unique ability to blend its Israeli roots with classical Jewish music and modern pop songs has made it one of the top Jewish A Capella groups on YouTube and Facebook, where its videos have generated over 10 Million views. To date, Kippalive has released numerous singles and a critically acclaimed album which has gained worldwide recognition.

With the Pesach seder only a day away, let's get in the mood with Kippalive singing a medley of traditional seder songs.

We're giving Jewish Humor Central a vacation break for a few days while we celebrate the first two days of Pesach and Shabbat in sunny Florida. We'll be back on Sunday with our usual mix.

Wishing you a Chag Pesach sameach!

 

A Joke to Start the Week - "Flying into Dallas"

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: There were three men sitting in a row on a flight to Dallas. As the plane landed, one of the men said "If you look out this window, you can see my ranch." And then...

Enjoy! 

Park Avenue Synagogue Cantors Share Their Favorite Passover Songs

Like the seder itself, this medley packs in a whole sequence of events. 

Sing along with your favorite tunes and enjoy the ones that are new to you as Cantors Azi Schwartz and Mira Davis of New York's Park Avenue Synagogue share their favorite Passover melodies.

Songs include:

- Order of the Seder

- Ma Nishtana

- Vehi She'amda

- Dayenu

- Ki Lo Ya'eh

- Adir Hu

 

Enjoy!

Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi Sung by Cantor Jenna Sagan

In the summer of 1976, a small group of Jews banded together to form a Reform congregation in the Fountain Valley – Huntington Beach community in California. 

They were firmly committed to the idea that a synagogue should not only preach justice, but should endeavor to make that principle its guide in every facet of its operation. Congregation B’nai Tzedek is a Reform Synagogue with a love for tradition.

On this Shabbat we join cantor Jenna Sagan of Congregation B'nai Tzedek in the Kabbalat Shabbat service with a Sephardic version of Lecha Dodi.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

Here Come the Pasover Videos - Six13 Sings A Michael Jackson Passover

Pesach is coming, and it's coming soon. In six days we will be sitting down to the seder in Israel, and the first of two sedarim in the diaspora. To get in the mood, we will be sharing some new music videos for the holiday right here on Jewish Humor Central. Today we start with Six13's latest entry, A Michael Jackson Passover.

Anchored by a strong Jewish identity and driven by a mission to connect Jews around the globe with their heritage through music, professional Jewish a cappella group Six13 are the originators of today's Jewish a cappella sound. 

They've performed to rave reviews at the White House, and many more at synagogues, religious schools, JCCs, fundraising events, B'nai Mitzvah and private affairs alike. They’ve appeared all over mainstream media, been cited by Billy Joel and Bruno Mars, received numerous awards for their eight best-selling CDs, been selected as finalists for casting in NBC's "The Sing-Off", and garnered more than 20 million views online.

As we start the countdown to next Wednesday's seder, come and moonwalk right out of Egypt with Six13's Pesach homage to the King of Pop. Ponder the meaning of maror and... Bubbe Jeanne ??? 

Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: Restaurant Health Rating Downgrades - A Candid Camera Classic

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.

In this Candid Camera classic stunt set in a Los Angeles restaurant 25 years ago, a Candid Camera staffer posed as a Health Department inspector who downgrades the health rating from A to C, then to D, and then to F as customers are starting their meal.

Enjoy!

The Great Israeli Singing Groups: The Dudaim Sing "Rad Halaila"

The Dudaim (Hebrew: הדודאים) was an Israeli folk duo which was active between the years 1957–1993, consisting of vocalist Benny Amdursky and guitarist Israel Gurion. The name of the band Dudaim comes from the Hebrew word for the mandrake plant, which is native to the Mediterranean region. 

Dudaim was formed in 1957 when Amdursky and Gurion met in a party in Jerusalem and started singing together. Their first album Erev Shel Shoshanim came out in 1957, and included the hit song in the same name. Another hit song from the same album was Tapuach Hinani (תפוח חינני) which was later recorded by the Weavers. In 1959, they toured Europe and the USA. They recorded several albums in France and the US, where they changed their name to Ben and Adam for promotional purposes.

In this video, the Dudaim sing the Israeli folk classic Rad Halaila.

Enjoy! 

A Joke to Start the Week: "Bee at the Bar Mitzvah"

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: Two bumble bees happened to meet in the field and one said to the other "How's it going?" And he said "Not so good. It's been wet and I haven't been able to get any good pollen or anything." And then...

Enjoy!

Sunday Standup Comedy Showcase: An Early Standup Performance by Totie Fields in 1967

Some of the best standup comedy was on TV shows and comedy specials in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Today we continue our Sunday Standup series, sharing some of the classic routines by iconic comedians on Sunday editions of Jewish Humor Central.  

Totie Fields was born Sophie Feldman in Hartford, Connecticut. According to Wikipedia, she started singing in Boston clubs while still in high school, taking the stage name of Totie Fields. The name "Totie" was a childhood nickname, a baby-talk pronunciation of the name "Sophie"

Fields gained fame during the 1960s and 1970s. Ed Sullivan gave Fields her first big break when he booked her on his show after seeing her perform at the Copacabana in New York. She made multiple appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Merv Griffin Show, as well as a fifth season episode of Here's Lucy starring Lucille Ball.

Here's a video clip of Totie doing standup comedy in 1967. Enjoy! 

Welcoming Shabbat with Ein Keloheinu by Israel's Service Community Choir

Piyyut is poetry that combines a rich musical tradition together with a live language of emotion, which draws from layers of depth of Jewish thought, from the Bible to the Midrash, to the Midrash, to the Mishna and Kabbalah. The unity created by the combination of the words and the melody, gives the piyyut a new expression and here lies the secret of its magic. 

Israel's Service Community Choir performs a unique variety of lyrical piyyutim: Morocco, Algeria, Ashkenazi Hasidic, Cochin, Persia, Tunisia, Yemen and more. The choir performs musical programs full of thought and emotion, combining piyyutim and melodies from a variety of traditions with innovative arrangements for old piyyutim, and composing piyyutim in surprising and inspiring combinations. 

In this video, the choir performs Ein Keloheinu in Ladino.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom! 

"We Met at Grossinger's" - New Joyfully Nostalgic Documentary Now Playing in South Florida

We Met at Grossinger’s is a joyfully nostalgic journey through the Jewish Catskills—once known as the Borscht Belt—told through the rise and fall of its most beloved resort: Grossinger’s Resort and Hotel, the real-life inspiration for Dirty Dancing.

Built and run by three generations of trailblazing women, Grossinger’s Resort and Hotel stood at the center of a world Jews built for themselves after being shut out of America’s mainstream resorts and clubs. It became far more than a vacation destination—it was a sanctuary of identity, joy, and reinvention. Here, amid the laughter of comics, the brilliance of athletes, and the grace of guests like Jackie Robinson, Eddie Fisher, and Eleanor Roosevelt, Jewish Americans and other marginalized communities found a stage to redefine what it meant to be accepted, celebrated, and free.

As once nostalgic and revelatory, We Met at Grossinger's captures both the golden age and the fading echoes of the Catskills’ most beloved resort. It paints a sweeping portrait of an America in transformation—one that discovered, in the glow of the Borscht Belt, that inclusivity, creativity, and leisure lie at the very heart of the American dream.

The film will be making the rounds of Jewish film festivals and is playing through March 31 at the Movies of Delray in Delray Beach, Florida. Tickets are $8.00.

Here's the trailer for the documentary. Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: "Impossible Phone Message" - Candid Camera Gold from 1962

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 team set up two adjacent public phone booths and persuaded a passer-by to use one phone booth to take an important message for a planted cast member in the other booth while workers were making noise with air hammers just outside. 

This Candid Camera episode took place 64 years ago in 1962.  

Enjoy!

Israeli Comedy Showcase: Shahar Hason on Aliyah and Religion in Israel

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 delivers a stand-up routine filled with humorous observations about Aliyah, becoming Jewish, and living in Israel.

Enjoy!

A Joke to Start the Week - "Jewish Retirement Celebration"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. This week we're posting another joke from Dr. Jay Orlikoff, a retired dentist from Centereach, New York, a community on Long Island in Suffolk County.

After a distinguished and meritorious dental career, he is shifting his focus to telling and posting jokes on YouTube. We were fortunate to find some of his jokes and we're sharing one of the family-friendly ones with you today. 

Here's the setup: An old Jewish merchant is retiring and it's his last day at work. He decides he's going to out in glory so he calls in his assistant. And then...

Enjoy! 

Sunday Standup Comedy Showcase: David Brenner's First TV Appearance 55 Years Ago

Some of the best standup comedy was on TV shows and comedy specials in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Today we continue our Sunday Standup series, sharing some of the classic routines by iconic comedians on Sunday editions of Jewish Humor Central. 

David Brenner was born to Jewish parents in 1936 and raised in poor areas of South and West Philadelphia. His father, Louis, was a vaudeville comedian, singer and dancer performing under the stage name of Lou Murphy, who gave up his career and a film contract in order to please Brenner's grandfather, a rabbi, who objected to his working on Shabbat.

After making his national television debut in 1971, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, he became the show's most frequent guest, with 158 appearances. He guest-hosted for Johnny Carson 75 times between 1975 and 1984, placing him fifth on the list of Carson's most frequent guest hosts.  

Here's the video clip of Brenner's first appearance on Carson's show on January 8, 1971.

Enjoy!

Welcoming Shabbat with L'Cha Dodi by Beth Reinstein at Central Synagogue

Beth Reinstein is a Cantorial Intern at New York City's Central Synagogue with a mission to craft community through music. Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Beth’s first introduction to music came through joining Temple Beth Emeth’s youth choir. It was there that she discovered and experienced how music can bring a community together.

Through Temple Beth Emeth’s music program, Beth fostered a love and passion for music that blossomed into her work. 

While pursuing her secular music career, Beth began to serve the greater Chicago area as a Cantorial soloist and song leader. Beth has served as a Cantorial soloist and song leader at Beth Emet the Free Synagogue, Temple Sholom, Anshe Emet Synagogue, Sukkat Shalom, and several other Chicago communities. She also performs with Jewish Rock Radio’s group “Chicago Sings” and had the opportunity to debut her own liturgical compositions at URJ’s Biennial in 2019. It was through her work as a Cantorial soloist that Beth realized her heart lay in Jewish music, and it was time to pursue the Cantorate.  

In this video, Beth sings L'Cha Dodi, a traditional part of the Kabbalat Shabbat service.

Shabbat shalom!

 

Throwback Thursday Musical Showcase: Abbe Lane Sings "Never on Sunday" in 1961

Abbe Lane (born Abigail Francine Lassman to Jewish parents in 1932) is an American singer and actress. Lane was known in the 1950s and 1960s for her revealing outfits and sultry style of performing. Her first marriage was as the fourth wife of Latin bandleader and musician Xavier Cugat, more than thirty years her senior. 

Because of her work in Europe, Lane was known as an actress before she became recognized for her singing and dancing. She had a television program in Europe and made 21 films there early in her career.

In 1952, she married bandleader Xavier Cugat. During the 1950s and early 1960s she worked as a nightclub singer and was described in a 1963 magazine article as "the swingingest sexpot in show business."Cugat's influence was seen in her music, which favored Latin and rumba styles. 

In this 1961 video from the Ed Sullivan Show, Lane sings Never on Sunday, in English and in French.

Enjoy!

  

  #Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Slot Machine Devotion - A Candid Camera Classic from 1962

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 team tried to distract customers putting nickels into a slot machine at a Las Vegas casino, but they were so devoted to their slots that nothing could keep them from continuing to play.

This Candid Camera episode took place 64 years ago in 1962.  

Enjoy!

Musical Showcase: Koolulam Brings Optimistic Choral Singing to Modi'in in Israel

Koolulam is a social-musical project that aims to strengthen our society by strengthening the bonds between the people who make it up. Koolulam invites people from all walks of life to do one thing - stop everything for an hour and simply sing, together.

For those who are not familiar with the concept of Koolulam, it is a gathering where the musicians on stage teach the audience to perform a well-known song according to a special arrangement they wrote, with harmonies and vocal roles that are divided into different groups in the audience.

At the end of the learning process, the band and the audience together perform the song in its entirety.

Here's a video of a recent performance of "Start From the Beginning" in the Moadon Gray auditorium in the city of Modi'in in Israel. The song expresses an optimistic view that even in difficult times, even though there's a way to go, in the end the flowers will bloom again, and everything will be all right. 

Enjoy!

A Joke to Start the Week - "The Burglary Problem"

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. Here's the setup: Father Moynihan went to see Rabbi Kaplan as he did once a week. They traded visits to just stay in touch. And then...

Enjoy! 

Sunday Standup Comedy Showcase: Jean Carroll on Trying on Dresses in 1964

Some of the best standup comedy was on TV shows and comedy specials in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Today we continue our Sunday Standup series, sharing some of the classic routines by iconic comedians on Sunday editions of Jewish Humor Central.  

Jean Carroll was the first famous female standup comic. Born as Celine Zeigman in Paris, France in 1911, she began her career as part of the comedy dance team Carroll and Howe, with her husband, vaudevillian Buddy Howe, who later became her manager. 

She appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show more than 20 times and had her own short-lived sitcom, The Jean Carroll Show (also known as Take It From Me), which aired for one season (1953–1954).

In November 2006, she was honored with an evening at the Friar's Club in New York City. The emcee was Joy Behar and the main speaker was Lily Tomlin. In 2007, Carroll was featured in the Off-Broadway production The J.A.P. Show: Jewish American Princesses of Comedy, which includes live standup routines by four female Jewish comics juxtaposed with the stories of legendary performers from the 1950s and 1960s, Belle Barth, Pearl Williams and Betty Walker, Totie Fields, and Carroll herself. She was later featured in the 2009 PBS documentary, Make 'em Laugh.

Enjoy!

Welcoming Shabbat with Ana Bekoach Sung by Cantor Chaim Stern

Chaim Stern was born in 1996 to a renowned family of cantors in Jerusalem, with a long-standing tradition in cantorial music. He grew up in a Haredi environment in Beit Shemesh, Jerusalem, and Be'er Ya'akov. Chaim studied cantorial music at the Cantorial School in Petah Tikva and is considered one of the leading students of Maestro Eli Jaffe and Cantor Israel Rand.

Since 2020, Chaim has served as the Chief Cantor of the Great Synagogue in Munich. In addition, he regularly performs in Jewish communities around the world and in major synagogues in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Ramat Gan, as well as in the United States, Australia, and Europe.

As we welcome Shabbat let's listen to Chaim Stern sing Ana Bekoach from the Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom! 

Remembering Neil Sedaka - Singer, Songwriter, and Pianist

The musical world lost one of its brightest stars last week with the death at 86 of Neil Sedaka, famous for his writing and performing many popular hits including Breaking Up is Hard to Do and Calendar Girl.

Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Mordechai "Mac" Sedaka, was a taxi driver of Sephardi Jewish descent from Turkey. Sedaka's paternal grandparents came to the United States from Istanbul in 1910. 

Sedaka's mother, Eleanor (née Appel), was an Ashkenazi Jew of Polish and Russian descent. He grew up in Brighton Beach. Sedaka (the name is a variant of the Hebrew word Tzedaka - charity) was a cousin of singer Eydie Gorme.

Here are videos of his greatest hits. Enjoy!

 

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: Auto Photo Machine Captures Reactions - A Candid Camera Classic from 1963

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 team rigged a photo machine to give instructions to users on the expressions they should use when posing for the camera. Watch their reactions and the resulting photos.

This Candid Camera episode took place 63 years ago in 1963.  

Enjoy!

Happy Purim! Today we Welcome This Joyous Holiday with the Kol Kaveret Choir of SAR High School

Today is the long awaited holiday of Purim. We're welcoming this Yom Tov by singing the traditional prayer Al Hanissim together with the SAR High School  Kol Kaveret Choir in Riverdale, New York.

The video was recorded at the American Dream mall in New Jersey. 

Enjoy, and Chag Purim sameach to all of our readers!

A Joke to Start the Week - "Irving, the Talking Dog"

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: Todd took his dog to the veterinarian, Dr. Saul. He said "Dr. Saul, my dog has a problem." And then...

Enjoy! 

Sunday Standup Comedy Showcase: Shelley Berman - "Don't Hang Up"

Some of the best standup comedy was on TV shows and comedy specials in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Today we continue our Sunday Standup series, sharing some of the classic routines by iconic comedians on Sunday editions of Jewish Humor Central.   

In this classic TV moment, watch Shelley Berman, one of the first and best to do the one-sided telephone conversation, bring his irritable telephone solicitor to The Colgate Comedy Hour stage. 

Berman was an American comedian, actor and writer who was awarded three gold records for his comedy albums. He also won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy recording in 1959. The Colgate Comedy Hour revival takes us back to 1967, the year war raged abroad with the Vietnam War and the Six-Day War, while at home Elvis and Priscilla tied the knot and the landmark Monterey Pop Festival launched.

Enjoy!

Welcoming the Shabbat Before Purim with a Sephardi Version of Yigdal by Hazzan Daniel Halfon

In the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi tradition, it is common for a particular melody to serve as a motif for a specific day or occasion. There's a custom which is observed with particular consistency in the New York community. 

On the Shabbat before Purim, known as Shabbat Zachor, Mi Kamokha, a Piyyut of considerable length by Yehuda Halevi is inserted into Nishmat during Shacharit. 

In anticipation of this, the Friday night service at Congregation Shearith Israel concludes with Hazzan Daniel Halfon singing Yigdal set to the melody of that Piyyut.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!