Everything You Wanted to Know About Hamantaschen

This week CBS Sunday Morning featured a segment on hamantaschen, the edible symbols of Purim. The hamantasch, a triangular-shaped cookie served during the Jewish holiday of Purim, celebrates the spirit of resilience. 

Correspondent Faith Salie bites into the history of this treat, and of how it came to be associated with the Biblical tale of Esther – and a notorious villain.

In this segment, Gadi Peleg, owner of New York's Breads Bakery, shows the many hamantasch fillings available, including pizza. Stephanie Butnick, Deputy Editor of Tablet magazine and host of the podcast Unorthodox, explains the Purim story and how the cookies were named hamantaschen.

Enjoy, and have a happy Purim!

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.

Chicken Soup: The Story of Jewish Penicillin

Now that we're into the fourth day of Passover, have you had your fill of chicken soup with matzo balls? Probably not, since this quintessential Jewish dish has found a place in American cuisine far beyond its original presence on the Pesach table. 

This week CBS Sunday Morning had a special segment on Chicken Soup: The Story of Jewish Penicillin that traced its origins and validated its place as a treatment for colds and other ailments.

For centuries chicken soup has been prescribed by grandmothers and doctors alike for all manner of ailments, but many believe there really is evidence to support the prescription. Correspondent Nancy Giles talked with food historian and cookbook author Joan Nathan, and with New York's 2nd Ave. Deli owner Jack Lebewohl and executive chef David Teyf about the universal love for chicken soup.

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. 

Comedy Showcase: Mel Brooks Interviewed on Comedy and Love

In an recent episode of CBS Sunday Morning, Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz sat down with director and comedy writer Mel Brooks, now 93, who opened up about his politically-incorrect films like Blazing Saddles and The Producers, and whether they could be made today.

In the interview, Mel talks about his relationship with his soul mate, actress Anne Bancroft, with whom he was married for 41 years until her death in 2005. 

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.

Remembering MAD Magazine as it Plans its Final Issue

There is no joy in MADville today. The editors of MAD Magazine have announced that they will cease publication of new material after its next issue. The magazine will no longer be available on newsstands and will only be sold to subscribers.

As Hannah Brown wrote in The Jerusalem Post last week,

Aficionados of Jewish humor will particularly miss the publication, which had an outsider’s irreverent point of view that reflected a particularly Jewish kind of humor, which was not surprising in light of the fact that its founder, William M. Gaines ( the family name was originally Ginzberg), and many of its contributors were Jewish. It has influenced generations of Jewish comic artists, comedians and writers, notably Art Spiegelman, the author of the graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus, who called it his “Talmud.”

Harvey Kurtzman, considered by many to be one of the great geniuses of the comics, started the publication with Gaines, and wrote many of the magazine’s original stories, until he and Gaines had a falling out in 1956.

Will Elder, one of Mad’s first and most iconic comic artists, was born in the Bronx as Wolf Eisenberg, and was called “Meshugganah Villy” by his family.

MAD was known for its irreverent humor and for taking aim at politicians, celebrities and prominent communal figures, including rabbis. 

In February 1955 its cover was identical to the cover of composition books, allowing a generation of high school students to read the issue in class while their clueless teachers thought they were busy with their classroom assignments. 

In this video clip, CBS News summarized the effect that MAD magazine has had on American culture.

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: Yiddish Thrives at the University of Texas

Yiddish 101 is an introduction to an ancient language that's attracting new interest at the University of Texas. Richard Schlesinger has a video report on the Austin classroom where conversations sound like they could be taking place at a Hasidic Jewish bakery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

This video was shown on the CBS Sunday Morning TV show last week. It focuses on the resurgence of spoken Yiddish in Texas classrooms. The report includes comments by a University of Texas Vietnamese student who is adding Yiddish to her language repertory, a visit to the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts and its founder Aaron Lansky, and to the streets of Williamsburg where Yiddish is the main spoken language of its Hasidic residents.

We  also get a glimpse of activities of the National Center for Yiddish Film, the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene, and the Klezmatics, one of the oldest bands playing the Klezmer music that was the dominant musical form in Eastern Europe.

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.)