Funniest Jewish Film Moments: Mel Brooks as Yogurt, Keeper of The Schwartz, in Spaceballs

Some of the funniest Jewish moments in cinema involve the acting and directing of Mel Brooks.  When Mel puts himself in the center of the action, the laughs come faster and louder.

We've already posted clips of Mel in Blazing Saddles, and today we're sharing a clip from his movie Spaceballs, a classic Star Wars spoof. In this scene, he appears as Yogurt, the Yoda-like character who is the keeper of The Schwartz.

Enjoy!

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Funniest Jewish Film Moments (A Tu B'Shvat Treat): The Tree Planting Scene from Sallah Shabati

One of the funniest films to come out of Israel is Sallah Shabati סאלח שבתי))

It's a 1964 comedy about the chaos of Israeli immigration and resettlement. This social satire placed the director Ephraim Kishon and producer Menahem Golan among the first Israeli filmmakers to achieve international success. It also introduced actor Chaim Topol (Fiddler on the Roof) to audiences worldwide.

The film's name, Sallah Shabati, is a play on words; ostensibly a Yemenite Jewish name, it is also intended to evoke the phrase סליחה שבאתי, "sorry that I came". In earlier print versions of Kishon's short stories which were revised for the film, the character was known as Saadia Shabtai.

The film begins with Sallah Shabati, a Mizrahi Jewish immigrant, arriving with his family in Israel. Upon arrival he is brought to live in a ma'abara, or transit camp. He is given a broken down, one room shack in which to live with his family and spends the rest of the movie attempting to make enough money to purchase adequate housing. His money-making schemes are often comical and frequently satirize the political and social stereotypes in Israel of the time.

In this scene, appropriate for tomorrow's holiday of Tu B'Shvat, the new year of the trees, Sallah is  working in a tree planting detail on a hillside in Israel. A government official plants a sign announcing the naming of a forest for an American donor couple just as they arrive in a taxi.  After they take a few photos of  their new tree and depart, the official plants a new sign with the name of another donor pair just as they arrive at the same spot.

The movie is in Hebrew and there are no English subtitles, but the story line is obvious and easy to follow.

Enjoy, and have a happy Tu B'Shvat! 

(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.)

Funniest Jewish Film Moments: Heimish and Amish from The Frisco Kid

The Frisco Kid starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford is one of our all-time favorite funny movies. 

It has a few great Jewish film moments, and today we're sharing one of the best.

In the film Wilder plays Rabbi Avram Belinski, an underachiever in his rabbinical school in Poland. He is dispatched to America to become the new rabbi of a congregation in San Francisco. He has with him a Torah scroll for the San Francisco synagogue. 

Belinski, an innocent, trusting, and inexperienced traveler, falls in with three con men who trick him into helping pay for a wagon and supplies to go west, then brutally rob him and leave him and most of his belongings scattered along a deserted road in Pennsylvania.

He makes his way across a field where he spots a group of farmers wearing black hats and black clothing, similar to the clothing worn in his Polish homeland. Assuming that he has come across a group of Jewish landsmen, he embraces them. Then the fun begins. He tries to speak to them in Yiddish, but they are Pennsylvania Amish. The realization that he has made a big mistake is one of the funniest Jewish film moments.

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.)

Funniest Jewish Film Moments: Mel Brooks as the Indian Chief in Blazing Saddles

Today we're starting another new series on Jewish Humor Central called Funniest Jewish Film Moments. Over the years there have been many films on Jewish themes, and it's only natural to expect Yiddishisms and overt references to be include in them.

But what really tickles us is to find a covert reference in an otherwise non-Jewish film that was put in by the Jewish director just for fun or to wink at "Members of the Tribe" who will get an extra kick out of the private joke that they share.

Speaking of members of the tribe, the first film clip in this series, which will run sporadically, is the classic Indian (they weren't know as native Americans then) scene that Mel Brooks directed and acted in when he played the Indian chief in Blazing Saddles.

In this scene, Cleavon Little tells Gene Wilder how he came to be Sheriff in this Western town. He came as a little boy with his parents in a wagon train that was intercepted by the entire Sioux nation. When Indian chief Mel Brooks gets a good look at the occupants of the wagon, he lets loose a hilarious stream of Yiddish. 

For the few readers who don't understand Yiddish, he says:
Blacks! No, no, don't be crazy.
Let them go!!!!
As long as you're healthy.
Have you seen such a thing in your lifetime?

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.)