Chassidic Comedy: A Chasid, Stuck in the 1980s, is Exposed to Today's Technology

 

A badchan (a Hebrew word meaning jester that has been Yiddishized as badchen) is a Jewish comedian with scholarly overtones who entertained guests at weddings among the Ashkenazim of Eastern Europe.  Today they are found in all countries with Chassidic populations, including the United States, doing their shtick at weddings.

The badchanim (plural) probably originated during the Middle Ages where they traveled around Europe like troubadors.  They developed a tradition of wedding entertainment, telling jokes related to scriptural and Talmudic passages.  More recently, in this country, their entertainment has included impersonations of Jewish religious figures and American politicians.

 

Yoely Lebovits is a popular badchan around the Chassidic World. One of his very funny acts is his imitation of Hungarian characters, which earned him the name Pester Rebbe, implying that he is the Rebbe of Pest.

 

He has also made some funny videos that are popular with Chassidic users of the Internet.

But the Internet has not made its way into most Chassidic homes.

 

In this video, The Multimedia Genius, Lebovits is stuck in the '80s, seated at a desk with a portable typewriter, a corded desk phone, and a camera as he tries to keep up his side of a phone conversation filled with the language and technical jargon of today.

 

Enjoy!

 

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Sukkot in Jerusalem: The Joy of Simchat Beit Hashoeivah in a Chasidic Yeshiva

When the Temple in Jerusalem stood, a unique service was performed every morning throughout the Sukkot holiday: the Nisuch ha-Mayim (lit. "Pouring of the water") or Water Libation Ceremony. 

According to the Talmud, Sukkot is the time of year in which God judges the world for rainfall; therefore this ceremony, like the taking of the Four Species, invokes God's blessing for rain in its proper time. The water for the libation ceremony was drawn from the Pool of Siloam (Hebrew: Breikhat HaShiloah‎‎) in the City of David and carried up the Jerusalem pilgrim road to the Temple. The joy that accompanied this procedure was palpable. 

Afterwards, every night in the outer Temple courtyard, tens of thousands of spectators would gather to watch the Simchat Beit HaShoeivah (Rejoicing at the Place of the Water-Drawing), as the most pious members of the community danced and sang songs of praise to God. The dancers would carry lit torches, and were accompanied by the harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets of the Levites. According to the Mishnah, (Tractate Sukkah), "He who has not seen the rejoicing at the Place of the Water-Drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life." Throughout Sukkot, the city of Jerusalem teemed with Jewish families who came on the holiday pilgrimage and joined together for feasting and Torah study. A partition separating men and women was erected for this occasion. Nowadays, this event is recalled via a Simchat Beit HaShoeivah gathering of music, dance, and refreshments. This event takes place in a central location such as a synagogue, yeshiva, or place of study. Refreshments are served in the adjoining sukkah. Live bands often accompany the dancers. The festivities usually begin late in the evening, and can last long into the night.

Join us for a few minutes of Sukkot rejoicing at a Simchat Beit HaShoeivah at the Toldos Aharon center in Jerusalem.  The Toldos Aharon sect, based in Jerusalem's Meah Shearim neighborhood is one of the most extreme in the Haredi world, but certainly one of the most fascinating as well as devout.

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Jimmy Kimmel Plays "Hipster or Hasidic" Game With His Audience Again

Back in November 2012, late night show host Jimmy Kimmel introduced a new audience participation game show called "Hipster or Hasidic." We called our readers' attention to it then, but it has since been purged from YouTube. So we were happy to see that Kimmel played the game again with his studio audience last Thursday and posted it to YouTube.

Why "Hipster or Hasidic?" Because the Hasidic enclave of Williamsburg in Brooklyn has in recent years seen an influx of artists and musicians who tend to have a hipster look. What the men in both groups share is the avoidance of cutting their facial hair.

Shooting video closeups of faces of Brooklyn residents, focusing on the beard and mustache, and then panning out to see the whole person, Kimmel asked whether the audience thought the subject was a hipster or a Hasidic Jew.

It was all in good clean fun, and the hipsters and Hasidim seemed to be enjoying themselves. One bearded participant turned out to be a little of both hipster and Hasidic, and one surprised the audience by being in a third category. 

 
We played the game, and got half of the eight right. One really fooled us.
So try your luck and play the game. How many did you get right?

 
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A Visual Guide to Chassidic Wedding Dances

Did you ever attend a Chassidic wedding and feel like an outsider because you didn't know the steps or even what the names of the dances were?  

Now AMK Productions and Chony Milecki Music have provided a video reference guide so you can impress your friends with your newly acquired knowledge.

Maybe you'll feel like such an expert after watching the video a few times that you'll even be willing to try a few steps.

The video includes such favorites as Od Yishama, Hup Cossack, Choson on the Table, The Chassidic Running Man, Penguin Dance, Mitzvah Tantz , Na Nach Nachman Style, and that perennial favorite, Hand on Your Friend's Shoulder as You Walk in a Circle.

And all that before the main course is served. Oy, are we tired.

Enjoy!

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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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Wall Street Journal Puts Chassidic Comic Mendy Pellin on Front Page

On Friday November 14 The Wall Street Journal printed a feature article about Chassidic rabbi and comedian Mendy Pellin on its front page. 

The article in the "A-Hed" position  below the fold, was titled Did You Hear the One About the Rabbi Who Carries a Big Schtick? (In later editions and online, they changed the title to This Rabbi Raps and Riffs -- on Judaism.)

We have been featuring Mendy's schtick on Jewish Humor Central since 2010, with 12 posts including his music parodies, news show parodies, and other funny stuff.

As Lucette Lagnado wrote in the Wall Street Journal,

Mr. Pellin is an Hasidic Jew who trolls Tinsel Town in a skull cap and sneakers, a long beard grazing his polo shirt. An ordained rabbi, his risky mission is to show the world that an observant culture—largely absent from the comedy mainstream—is natural fodder for funny.

“I call this period the ‘Hasidic Spring,’ ” he says, noting that many Hasidic youth are now embracing Facebook and Twitter, thereby pushing the boundaries of a once-insular society.

“Talk Yiddish to Me” is one of Mr. Pellin’s signature online music videos. A parody of the hit Jason Derulo song, “Talk Dirty,” the number features the comedian, dressed in full black Hasidim garb accented with an enormous gold chain.

Surrounded by singing sidekicks, he sways back and forth, as if praying, and busts the kind of rap moves—like hand gestures straight from the ’hood—more often associated with 50 Cent or Eminem.

YouTube counts more than 237,000 views for the video; Mr. Pellin says it has received millions more hits via other social networks.

What do other Hasidic rabbis think of Mendy's schtick? Those with a sense of humor generally like it and those without a sense of humor don't. The article has lots more information about Mendy and other Orthodox comedians. It's a good read and worth your time. You'll find it right here.

Enjoy!

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HAG: The Story of the Hasidic Actors Guild - A Mockumentary

You've probably heard of SAG -- the Screen Actors Guild. But how about HAG -- the Hasidic Actors Guild? At first we didn't believe that it's real, and after doing some Googling we're pretty sure that it's not real. 

But it is a figment of the imagination of Richard (Yisrael, Izzi) Lifschutz, an actor who has had bit parts in Hollywood movies about Hasidim. Two years ago Lifschutz invented the Hasidic Actors Guild in order to create a mockumentary film about it.

The film had a flurry of popularity at its release, and even got some favorable reviews. We couldn't find it playing anywhere now, nor could we find a DVD. But we did find a four minute trailer for the film, and we think it's funny enough to share with you today.

Enjoy!

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Classic Chassidic Comedy: Siddur Finger - A Synagogue Hazard. Is It Covered By Obamacare?

Mendy Pellin is our favorite Chassidic comedian. We've been running his shtick for four years, and he keeps inventing new routines, from his Mendy Report on Chabad TV to the comedy midrash he created on the Jewbellish site that he co-founded recently.

We discovered another one of Mendy's gems from a few years back that may raise concerns about the comprehensiveness of medical coverage. We haven't been able to find out whether the new insurance plans that are in compliance with the Affordable Care Act provide full coverage for treatment of this blood clot disorder.

In this video Mendy focuses on Siddur Finger,or index avascular necrosis, a condition that arises when a synagogue congregant holds the place in the siddur with his finger while also holding a chumash during a Torah reading and rabbi's sermon which can last an hour or more. He explains that keeping the finger in this position for an extended period could leave the finger as flat as gum on the asphalt of the subway system.

Enjoy!

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Chasidic Wedding Welcomes a Special Guest - an Upside Down Polar Bear!

Celebrating a wedding is one of the happiest occasions in Jewish life, and over the last four years we have been a fly on the wall at many Jewish weddings and shared many videos with you.

The most joyful, and sometimes funny ones have involved jubilant dancing and singing among Chasidim. 

Here's a wedding video posted just last week that had us laughing. Please bear with us for the duration of the performance to see the polar bear fall down twice and do a complete flip to dance on its head. 

You'll have to take our word that this was really a wedding, as there's no trace of any women, including a bride, in the video.
 
Enjoy!

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"Soul Doctor" - Musical of Life of Shlomo Carlebach - Finally Comes to Broadway

Soul Doctor, a musical based on the life of Shlomo Carlebach, the charismatic rock star singing rabbi, is now in previews at the Circle in the Square theater on Broadway. It will have its formal opening on August 15. The show had previous short runs off-Broadway and in Florida and New Orleans, but now it's ready for prime time.

We were in the audience last night attending one of the preview performances and joined other attendees in singing and clapping to the familiar Carlebach songs, even though most of them were rendered in English translation. The cast was energetic, ebullient, and talented, and painted a convincing portrait of the rabbi who came to America from Vienna as a baby, was nurtured in a traditional Yeshiva environment, and left it to embrace a Hasidic outlook with music at its core.

The musical uses Carlebach's friendship with Nina Simone, the African-American singer, songwriter, and pianist as the focal point of the story. They have a chance encounter when they are both trying to find their musical direction early in their careers, and renew their friendship along the way to fame and broad recognition of their talents.

Carlebach is shown singing his songs in Brooklyn, Greenwich Village, San Francisco, Jerusalem, and Vienna. His role is played by Eric Anderson.

Tickets are listed on the show's web site at $135, but they can be ordered from BroadwayBox.com for $69 from now through August 14, and for $85 from August 15 through September 29. There are no Sunday performances. We enjoyed the show and recommend it for a fun evening. It runs three hours, including a 15 minute intermission.

We found a video with a behind-the scenes look at a rehearsal and interviews with some of the cast members.

Enjoy!

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Mandy Patinkin Sings Take Me Out to the Ball Game and God Bless America - in Yiddish!

On Sunday we posted two videos of Brooklyn chasidim singing the National Anthem and God Bless America before a baseball game in Coney Island. This chorus, whose first language is Yiddish, sang the two American patriotic songs in English (with a little help from a smartphone.)

Today we're posting the flip side. American singer and actor Mandy Patinkin released a CD album a few years ago that included his rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game and God Bless America -- in

Yiddish! The audio clips were turned into a video by MyZeidi Video Productions.
  
We think it's appropriate to share this gem during this 80th anniversary year of Hank Greenberg's rookie year with the Detroit Tigers. Greenberg was the first Jewish superstar in all of American professional sports. He attracted national attention in 1934 when he refused to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays, even though the Tigers were in the middle of a pennant race and he never claimed to be a religiously observant, practicing Jew. Greenberg is widely considered as one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history.

Enjoy!

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Hasidic Singers Kick Off Baseball Game With National Anthem and God Bless America

A group of Hasidic singers took to the field last week in Coney Island to kick off the annual baseball game between the New York Police Department team and a team of players from the Flatbush Hatzolah volunteeer ambulance service of Brooklyn, New York.

At first the singers ran into difficulties with the microphone and the words, but then the leader of the group whipped out his smartphone to read the lyrics and belted out the National Anthem while the backup singers hummed along.

They followed up by singing another patriotic song, God Bless America, and this time they knew the words. We think Irving Berlin would have been proud.

P.S. As reported by The Yeshiva World News, the Hatzolah team beat the NYPD team, 8-6.

The game was tied at 2/2 until the 8th inning, when the NYPD took the lead by 2 runs. The following inning, Flatbush Hatzolah scored 6 runs, and the NYPD scored another 2 in the top of the ninth. The final score was 8-6 Hatzolah. - See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=21146#sthash.YSb1Duy3.dpuf

The game was tied at 2/2 until the 8th inning, when the NYPD took the lead by 2 runs. The following inning, Flatbush Hatzolah scored 6 runs, and the NYPD scored another 2 in the top of the ninth. The final score was 8-6 Hatzolah. - See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=21146#sthash.YSb1Duy3.dpuf

The game was tied at 2/2 until the 8th inning, when the NYPD took the lead by 2 runs. The following inning, Flatbush Hatzolah scored 6 runs, and the NYPD scored another 2 in the top of the ninth. The final score was 8-6 Hatzolah. - See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=21146#sthash.YSb1Duy3.dpuf

The game was tied at 2/2 until the 8th inning, when the NYPD took the lead by 2 runs. The following inning, Flatbush Hatzolah scored 6 runs, and the NYPD scored another 2 in the top of the ninth. The final score was 8-6 Hatzolah. - See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=21146#sthash.YSb1Duy3.dpuf

The game was tied at 2/2 until the 8th inning, when the NYPD took the lead by 2 runs. The following inning, Flatbush Hatzolah scored 6 runs, and the NYPD scored another 2 in the top of the ninth. The final score was 8-6 Hatzolah. - See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=21146#sthash.YSb1Duy3.dpuf

Enjoy!

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(A tip of the kippah to Esther Kustanowitz for bringing this story to our attention.)

25,000 Hasidim Attend Second Biggest Wedding Ever in Jerusalem

Photo: Reuters

Last week, the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Belz was the scene of the second biggest wedding ever held in Israel. On Tuesday evening, under a chuppah built for the occasion in the center of the sector, Shalom Rokeach, the 18-year-old grandson of the Belzer Rebbe, leader of the Belz Hasidic dynasty, married Hanna Batya Penet, his 19-year-old bride in the presence of 25,000 guests (no, that's not a misprint.)

In this video you can see the bride, completely veiled, escorted by two female relatives holding candles, circling the groom seven times. After the chuppah, the men adjourned for an all-night celebration at the Belz synagogue. The women had their own celebration a mile away at Binyanei Ha'Uma, Jerusalem's large convention center.

In the last half minute of the video, the camera pulls back from the chuppah so you can see the magnitude of the crowd and the setting.

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If you're wondering why 25,000 guests didn't make it the biggest wedding ever, The Times of Israel reported that the wedding of Rokeach’s parents in 1993 was the largest in the city’s modern history, drawing 30,000 people, who gobbled down 3.1 tons of potatoes, 1.5 tons of gefilte fish and 39,000 gallons of soda in celebration.

Members of various Hasidic sects, the national-religious world and Sephardi Judaism also attended the wedding.

The leader of the Gur Hasidic sect, the biggest in Israel, and the Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodox community each received a special welcome from the Belz Rabbi, as did Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

For a close-up view of all aspects of the wedding, click here to check out the photo album posted by the Haredi web site Vos iz Neias. 

The Belz Great Synagogue is the biggest synagogue in Jerusalem, with an ark that is so huge it has been included in the Guiness Book of World Records. This imposing monolith of a building is located in northern Jerusalem and was built by the Belz Hasidim, a Hasidic sect dating to the nineteenth century. The Belz Great Synagogue is also significant for its uncanny resemblance to the Holy Temple built by Herod thousands of years ago.

Like the original Belz synagogue in Europe that was destroyed by the Nazis, the Belz Great Synagogue in Jerusalem took 15 years to build. The building was dedicated in 2000 and now towers imposingly in the Jerusalem skyline, rising above the surrounding apartment complexes like a new incarnation of the Holy Temple. The project was financed by the Belz community as well as by philanthropic donations.

The main interior of the synagogue can house up to 6,000 worshipers—an unheard of number for most synagogues, which usually seat hundreds or less. The record-breaking ark is 12 meters high, weighs 18 tons, and can hold 70 Torah scrolls. (In contrast, most synagogue arks can hold about six or less.)

Nine chandeliers gracing the synagogue are each strung with 200,000 pieces of Czech crystal, lending the sanctuary a lofty ballroom splendor. Since it is so huge, the building is utilized not just for prayer, but also for weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and communal events. Smaller study halls and communal facilities are included in the building.

The original Belz synagogue, located in the Ukrainian town of Belz, was similar in size to the new Jerusalem version. The building was destroyed in 1939 by the Nazis, who first attempted to burn it down. When the synagogue proved too huge to be destroyed by such means, the Nazis forced the Jews of the community to dismantle the synagogue one stone at a time.

Now it has been rebuilt in Jerusalem and stands as the center of a thriving Belz community.

"Rebbetzin Rivka Leah Zelig" Reports on Her Chasidishe Pesach in Miami

 

Last year we posted a funny video featuring comedian Danielle Jacobs in the role of a chassidic rabbi's wife talking about her extreme Passover cleaning.  In it, she used an electric drill to remove kitchen components and the toilet for cleaning. It's one of a series of comedy caricatures in which  the "rebbetzin" comments on Jewish holidays and other aspects of Jewish life.

Now she's back, in her  high-pitched, grating voice, jogging on the beach in hot Miami in her black head covering and black modest clothes while talking rapidly about the challenges of observing Pesach without being sure if the bottled water is Kosher l'Pesach. 

 

At the start of the video she is approached by a man who asks her where the casino is. Of course in her sheltered world casinos don't exist so she thinks he said Beis Hakisei (toilet). Toward the end of the video she faints from heat exhaustion and has to be revived. All through the video she references and seems to be talking to her daughter Chaneleh, who never appears on camera because she is supposedly filming the episode. 

If you watch carefully, you'll see a black square appear to cover parts of sunbathers as the rebbetzin jogs past them. The video is chock full of Hebrew and Yiddish words and yeshivish expressions. Don't worry if you don't get all of them. One thing for sure -- this comedian knows her stuff and pulls off the parody, irritating as it may be, with professional aplomb.

Enjoy!  Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem.

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He's Back! Standup Comic David Finkelstein: A Guide to Jewish Pre-Marital Relations

David Finkelstein, dressed in black as an Orthodox Jew, was a big hit a few days ago when we posted his standup comedy routine at the Broadway Comedy Club. Since many readers asked for more, we expanded our search and found another one of David's routines with his "Guide to Jewish Pre-Marital Relations."

It appears to be another few minutes taken from the same performance at the Broadway Comedy Club. In this one he veers into a description of the convoluted steps he has to take as an Orthodox Jew operating at the edge of restrictions about touching a female. His advice includes how to sit next to females on the subway and how to interact with cashiers at the store.

"When I go to the store, if the cashier is a female, I'm not allowed to hand her the money, so we don't accidentally touch. Sometimes when I'm horny, I hand her the money so our fingers brush passionately."

We're still trying to track him down and find more of his shtick and backstory. Stay tuned and enjoy!

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Hipster or Hasidic? Jimmy Kimmel Tests His Audience

The Hasidic enclave of Williamsburg in Brooklyn has in recent years seen an influx of artists and musicians who tend to have a hipster look. What the men in both groups share is the avoidance of cutting their facial hair.

A couple of nights ago, late night show host Jimmy Kimmel challenged his studio audience to a game of "Hipster or Hasidic?"

Shooting video closeups of faces of Brooklyn residents, focusing on the beard and mustache, and then panning out to see the whole person, Kimmel asked whether the audience thought the subject was a hipster or a Hasidic Jew.

It was all in good clean fun, and the hipsters and Hasidim seemed to be enjoying themselves. One Hasid, Yanky Schnitzer, even promoted his Facebook page.
  
We played the game, and got four out of five right. One really fooled us.

So try your luck and play the game. How many did you get right?
 
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Comedy Showcase: Meet Chasidic Comedian Hilly Hill

Just because Chasidic clothing tends to be black and otherwise colorless doesn't necessarily mean that every one who wears it is colorless. The Chasidic world has produced its own share of comedy and comedians who can keep their community and the larger Jewish community laughing out loud.

Much of the comedy takes place on the holiday of Purim and at weddings, where the badchan, a sort of jester, is responsible for entertaining the bride and groom and their guests with funny songs and rhymes, mostly in Yiddish.

We have profiled Chasidic comedians such as Yisrael Campbell and Mendy Pellin in previous blog posts. Today we're sharing a video clip of comedian Hilly Hill at a Melave Malke Shabbaton in Parsippany, New Jersey, a few years ago.

Hilly is the son of Skverer Chasid and former actor Steven Hill, who was a featured actor on Mission Impossible and Law and Order. In this video, he jokes about airline security, Haredi websites, the need for a Chassidishe radio station, and radio announcers who report play-by-play of a rebbe cutting the challah or holding a sefer Torah in the style of reporting a baseball game. He also reflects on how different our cuisine would be if Chassidus had been invented in America instead of Eastern Europe and conducts a simulated texting session with God.

LOL!

(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.)

Lipa Schmeltzer's Music Video "Mizrach" Supports Jewish Unity

Lipa Schmeltzer is an American Hasidic singer and composer. He is a headliner within Hasidic and Haredi communities worldwide and has been called "the Jewish Elvis" and the "Lady Gaga of Hasidic music." Schmeltzer has released ten solo albums. In 2008 he was named to the Forward 50 of most influential Jews.

Now Schmeltzer is using his celebrity status as a springboard for the greater good, with the release of a music video that uses a hit song to promote solidarity among Jews worldwide, no matter what their background or religious leanings.

The video features the dance sensation Mizrach, one of the most popular tracks from Lipa's recent Leap of Faith album and shows the bespectacled icon singing and dancing with a group of Israeli soldiers, members of the noted Netzah Yehuda Battalion of the Nahal Haredi. Part of the Kfir Brigade of the Israeli Defense forces, Netzah Yehuda was created to give religious Israeli soldiers the opportunity to serve in the army while maintaining a strict adherence to their religious convictions.
 
With the expiration of the Tal Law one month ago, the Israeli army has been the subject of much media scrutiny as yeshiva students who were previously exempted from military service are now facing the possibility of joining their fellow countrymen in the army. Thousands of Israeli yeshiva students are expecting to receive draft notices in the upcoming future, further widening the division between Israel's secular and ultra-Orthodox communities.

With the release of the new video which clocks in at just under five minutes long, Lipa hopes to help bridge the gap between the two groups, with the clear message of unity amongst all Jews expressed in the lyrics of the song.

"There are chareidim serving in the army and we should value their service" explained Lipa, who has strong ties to the Nahal Haredi. The singer is a close friend of David Hager, a staunch supporter of the religious battalion, who just recently donated an Aron Kodesh to Lipa's Airmont Shul.

Directed by producer Danny Finkelman, the video was shot in various locations around Israel and features the outspoken singer, who is known for his unabashed love of Jews of all affiliations and support of countless Jewish causes, dressed in army fatigues as he dances in a Jerusalem square with Israeli soldiers and with six Israeli teenagers in several other spots across the country.

(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 Mr. Softee Serves Kosher Kids in Brooklyn

Come and make a brocha, 

a brocha, a brocha.

Come and make a brocha, 

the kosher ice cream truck is in.

We've got ice cream and ices,

And boy, you'll love our prices.

It's cold and refreshing.

Come on up and make a blessing.

So goes the jingle, broadcast over and over again through the streets of Brooklyn, where Yaniv Bazel guides his kosher ice cream truck to reach the Orthodox children of Borough Park, Crown Heights, and other Jewish enclaves.

As Hannah Rubin reported in this week's Jewish Daily Forward,

“Give me it for free,” a group of young boys yells in Yiddish, giggling merrily, as their tzitzit strings dangle.

The man standing in the ice cream truck grins down at them. “No, give me money,” he replies.

The negotiation continues until an older sibling finally comes over with a wrinkled fistful of dollar bills.

“They always come at me, in Yiddish, shouting for free ice cream,” Yaniv Bazel said while leaning against a popcorn machine in his hot-pink ice cream truck, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. “They drive me crazy!”

It’s all in a day’s work for Bazel, 24, the Lubavitch co-owner of the Kosher L’Mehadrin Bazel Ice Cream Truck. Though there are hundreds of ice cream trucks that tour the city streets in the summer, this truck is different from most. It is among the few that hold a strict kosher certification allowing them to cater to a specific — and ice cream hungry — sliver of New York children: the ultra-Orthodox.

In 2006, Bazel had no ice cream experience and one lone truck — a small school bus painted bright pink, designed with clip art pictures of ice cream cones and with “Bazel” written across it in swirling letters. He recruited his brother and soon-to-be brother-in-law, both 17-year-old Israelis, to venture into the project with him. Since then, that original truck has become a family business. Bazel now has a fleet of six trucks, each one stocked with freezers and ice cream machines. Every summer, his father flies in from Israel to help man the trucks, and he’s hoping to get a visa for his youngest brother to join them in the United States.

“We want to be big, like a kosher Mister Softee, with 600 trucks all over the city,” Bazel said. “We’re not trying to sell to people that don’t keep kosher, because they already have enough ice cream trucks. We’re looking at Jewish customers.”

(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 Real Invention From Chelm: Blurry Glasses to Prevent Looking at Women

We had to check our calendar today to be sure it's not April Fools' day or Purim. We came across a piece of breaking news on the Vos Is Neias Haredi website that brings us to restate our observation that you just can't make this stuff up.

What's the news? That a startup company in Jerusalem is selling eyeglasses with blurred lenses so that wearers will not have to look at immodestly dressed women when they are walking in the street. Evidently they have not been able to black out all of the billboards and put stickers on all consumer products that show images of women in all states of dress and undress.

As Allison C. Witty wrote in VIN News,

The glasses contain blurry lenses that obscure the wearer’s vision and do allow men not to see more than three meters.  For those who already wear glasses, the company has designed stickers that can be affixed to the existing pair of glasses which will obscure the vision.

Yedioth Ahronot reports that the glasses, designed for the charedi community, are intended for charedi men who must go to places where women will be present. The new patent cost the inventors only NIS 25. The patent includes non-prescription glasses and the obscuring stickers. The glasses with the blurry lenses contain perforations at the bottom of the lenses enabling charedi men to look down at the ground through the perforation and still see where they are walking.

Readers of VIN News have been quick to comment, and they are almost all ridiculing this new head-in-the-sand initiative.  Here are a few of the best comments:

- The Torah says that you should not put a stumbling block in front of a blind person.

- What a wonderful idea! It also enables us to cross the streets without looking since the cars can't hit me if i cant see them!!

- Does this mean that if men are wearing these glasses, women won't have to move to the back of the bus?

- Actually, this is good. add a set of ear plugs and they can serve in the army. no more excuses.

- It's funny because now they're going to bump into the women instead of seeing them.

- Yup. now they can feel their way around.

- Yep, this could easily lead to mixed dancing.