Why do Jews Eat Chinese Food on Christmas?

It's been a tradition, or better said, a common practice, for Jews to eat Chinese food on Christmas day, either by going to Chinese restaurants or buying Chinese takeout food for dinner at home.

Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan made it sort of official when she was asked during her confirmation hearing where she was on Christmas day. Here's what she said:

 

The reasons most cited for the affinity between Jews and Chinese food are that Chinese restaurants are generally open on Christmas day, most of their menu items do not include dairy, and that their non-kosher meats are chopped up and hidden inside of dumplings or wrappers.

 

Today it's not so easy to find a kosher Chinese restaurant in many cities, but you'll likely have a selection to choose from if you live in the New York-New Jersey area, or in other states with large Jewish communities like South Florida, Los Angeles, or in Israel.

Dani Klein is doing a great service to the kosher Jewish community by providing an updated list of kosher restaurants worldwide at www.yeahthatskosher.com. To find a certified restaurant in your area, his website is worth checking out. 

Also be sure to check out the smartphone apps Kosher Near Me and Kosher GPS.

3 Livestream Jewish Comedy Programs for Christmas Eve - Order Kosher Chinese Takeout and You're All Set

The clouds of coronavirus lockdowns, isolations, and quarantines this year have revealed a silver lining -- the annual Christmas eve Jewish comedy nights at clubs and restaurants in cities with large Jewish populations are now accessible everywhere through Zoom and YouTube.

Today we're sharing links to three live streaming celebrations that will bring comedy and entertainment into your home on Thursday night. One is free and the other two have fees of $20 and $25 to participate.

A Very Jewish Christmas Eve

MyJewishLearning.com is sponsoring A Very Jewish Christmas Eve, a free fun evening of activities, including Jewish trivia, stand-up comedy, and everyone's favorite Jewish Christmas tradition: Chinese food!

The site, originally started by Canadian philanthropist Edgar Bronfman and now funded by the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, is offering four sessions, starting at 7 pm and ending at 11 pm. Here is the schedule:

7 p.m. ET: Learn how Jews have dealt with Christmas throughout the decades, with Rabbi Joshua Plaut, author of "A Kosher Christmas: 'Tis the Season to be Jewish."

8 p.m. ET: Chinese Food Cooking Demo: Learn to Make Dumplings, with chef and author Kian Lam Kho.

9:15 p.m. ET: Trivia Night! Test your Jewish knowledge in an interactive game led by Rabbi Benjamin Resnick.

10:15 p.m. ET: Laugh the night away with Jewish stand-up comic Talia Reese. 

To join in the fun, just submit your name and email address on this form.

 Christmas Eve for the Jews 

Comedian Joel Chasnoff hosts the 8th annual CHRISTMAS EVE FOR THE JEWS at 8 pm -- this time, virtually!

Joel welcomes stand-up comedian Mark Normand (The Tonight Show, Conan, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert), Ophira Eisenberg (Host of NPR's quiz show "Ask Me Another"), Jessica Kirson (The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The View, The Comedian), sketch comedy from Canadian troupe Comedies Never Win, and more. Click on this link to purchase tickets for a night of laughter:

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28th Annual Kung Pao Kosher Comedy Night

Every year comedy is king at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco when Jewish comedians perform their stand-up acts on Christmas Eve. This year is no exception, but the comedy will be virtual. Below is a preview, and you can buy tickets right here.

Chanukah Comedy: Special Nigunim for a December Night of Learning

In some Orthodox circles it's customary to have study sessions late into the night the last week of December. But how can you study without resorting to a few nigunim (Chasidic melodies) to brighten up the evening?

Here's one take on how to add joy to a night of Talmud study. Enjoy!

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Rick Rosenthal, Orthodox Jewish Santa from Atlanta, Reflects on His Annual Role

Rick Rosenthal spent much of December sitting children on his knee, asking whether they’ve been good and listening to their Christmas wishes.

On Saturdays, he may have slept overnight in the building. And he only accepts payment after nightfall.

Rick Rosenthal is a Orthodox Jewish Santa from Atlanta. As reported in Vos Iz Neias,

Rosenthal began playing Santa at age 16 as a gag. He would dress up and hang mini bagels on his non-Jewish friends’ Christmas trees. He occasionally played the part in subsequent decades.

But he became a full-time Santa seven years ago when two things happened: First, his parents passed away within two weeks of each other, which led him to grow out his beard, a custom of the traditional Jewish 30-day mourning period after a parent’s death.

Soon after he was shopping at Home Depot when he noticed that a little boy was staring at him transfixed, sure that he was Santa Claus.

“I knew what he was thinking and I said, ‘Don’t tell anyone you saw Santa buying tools for the elves at Home Depot,’” he said. “He was frozen dead over. I walked into the store, I looked back at the first row and he’s still staring at me.”

Since then, Rosenthal has become Santa year-round. He and his wife, Tracy, run a Santa school, Northern Lights Santa Academy, that hosts three-day weekend seminars on how to be Santa. The school covers everything from fashioning a good costume to making sure you have legal and insurance protection in place. But the seminars also promise fun times, like a Christmas movie screening and a photo op with a live reindeer.

The couple also runs the National Santa Agency, which books a network of 100 Santas, Mrs. Clauses and elves for private parties and events. Rosenthal is a member of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas.

Enjoy!

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Throwback Thursday Chanukah Special: Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan's Response at Confirmation Hearing

When Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan was going through her confirmation hearings in 2010, it was Senator Lindsey Graham's turn, and the subject was the Christmas Day bomber. Senator Graham asked her where she was on Christmas day.

After Kagan asked for a clarification, Graham persisted and said that he only asked where she was on Christmas. Kagan's response was priceless.

"You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant."

Enjoy, and Happy Chanukah!

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#Throwback Thursday   #TBT

Christmas Eve Special: Jewish Kids Meet Santa for the First Time

We hope all of our readers had a happy Hanukkah. We celebrated the holiday in Jerusalem, where the sufganiyot (filled donuts) won a lopsided victory over the latkes. Now, as we put our Hanukkiot away until next year, it's time to wish our Gentile readers and friends a Merry Christmas.

Most large department stores in major cities have been featuring a Santa Claus encounter for the children who accompany their parents shopping for gifts. The funny folks at BuzzFeed video set the stage for some Christmas eve humor by getting a bunch of cute and precocious Jewish kids to meet Santa for the first time. The kids are skeptical, reluctant, outspoken, and adorable.

Enjoy!

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In Argentina, a Rabbi and Bishop Walk into a Recording Studio and Sing Holiday Greetings

 

This is not "A Rabbi and a Priest walk into a bar" joke. But Rabbi Marcelo Polakoff of the Israelite Union Center of Cordoba, Argentina and Bishop Pedro Torres did walk into a recording studio in  Argentina last week and emerged with a seasonal hit song that we're including in this year's selection of Chanukah videos. 

It was originally composed in Spanish as Cuando Llega Diciembre, and translated into English as It's Already December.

As Molly Tolsky wrote on Kveller.com,

In a video shared by World Jewish Congress last Friday, Rabbi Marcelo Polakoff and Bishop Pedro Torres teamed together to send their musical holiday blessings to people celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. They parody both “Hava Nagila” and “Silent Night,” making for an equal opportunity smash hit.

It’s so heartening to see leaders of different faiths coming together, and feels especially apt this year as the first night of Hanukkah begins on Christmas Eve–making for a literal Chrismukkah if there ever was one.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Chanukah Videos: YidLife Crisis Guide to the Holidays

Two years ago Chanukah coincided with Thanksgiving. This year the eight days of Chanukah coincide with the period between Christmas and New Years Day. 

So Jamie Elman and Ely Batalion, the two Canadian jokers who refer to themselves as your favorite nudniks of YidLife Crisis, have been having fun writing parodies of many of the songs that we've become accustomed to hearing in December.

As they say on their website, "while you’re at work shredding those potatoes, yingling bells, or chugging gogl-mogl or eggnog, this platter of oy-ful melodies will make your season even brighter. Or, at least, not any darker!"

With Chanukah starting in just 11 days, we're opening the Chanukah video season with their YidLife Crisis Guide to the Holidays, a hilarious rendering of the December classics in funny Yiddish, with even funnier English subtitle translations. 

Enjoy!

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December Comedy Special: Elon Gold on Why Jews Are Better Off Without Christmas Trees

 

Elon Gold is an American comedian, television actor, writer and producer. He starred in the television series Stacked.  He also starred in the short-lived sitcom In-Laws.

 

Known for his impressions, including those of Jeff Goldblum, Howard Stern and Jay Leno, Gold was a judge on the ABC celebrity impersonation competition series The Next Best Thing.Gold was also in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen as a cameraman from the Oprah Winfrey show.

  

Gold attended the Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck, NY and the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (MTA)/Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan, NY. He is a practicing orthodox Jew.

We have posted some of Elon's videos over the years and we'll keep posting them whenever we find a new one.

Here's Elon's lates video, a stand-up routine he did for Stand With Us, an international, non-profit Israel education organization. It's a funny commentary on why Jews are better off without Christmas trees.

Enjoy!


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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