Welcoming the New Year 5785 with Six13 a Cappella

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 ten of thousands more at synagogues, religious schools, JCCs, fundraising events, B'nai Mitzvah and private affairs alike. They’ve appeared all over mainstream media, 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.

Now Six13 has released a rousing, energetic new musical video for Rosh Hashana titled "5785". It's a takeoff on the song "1985" by rock band Bowling for Soup, whose name is a takeoff on a comedy routine by Steve Martin with a title that we can't print here.

This is our last musical video for Rosh Hashanah 5785. Tomorrow we'll post our annual personal family greeting to our readers.

Enjoy!

Holiday Countdown: Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus Sings a High Holidays Medley

The Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus began as a musical expression of the Jewish labor movement. It was founded in 1922 as the Freiheit Gezang Farein, an outgrowth of the leftist Morgen Freiheit Yiddish newspaper. In 1948, the Chorus changed its name to The Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus—likely to avoid scrutiny during the McCarthy era. Now that it's a century old, they changed the name again—to reflect the goals of learning, enjoying, and promoting the Yiddish language and Yiddish choral music.

The chorus is a multigenerational thirty-five-voice ensemble. They're students, professionals, and robust retirees, all in love with singing and committed to promoting Yiddish language and culture through beautiful four-part harmony.

Led by conductor Binyumen Schaechter, they perform each spring and fall at Merkin Concert Hall and most summers at the North American Jewish Choral Festival. They've also performed at Symphony Space, Carnegie Hall, Shea Stadium, West Point, Queens College, the World Trade Center site after 9/11, and places of worship throughout the New York metropolitan area.

Today we're sharing a video of the chorus singing a medley of songs for Rosh Hashanah,  Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.

Enjoy!

Wishing All of Our Readers a Shanah Tovah - Happy New Year 5784

Thanks to our loyal subscribers and casual readers worldwide who have joined us during the year.

We started Jewish Humor Central on October 5, 2009 and it's been going strong with more than 4200 blog entries and more than 10 million page views over the last 14 years.  

We appreciate your loyalty and we hope to keep bringing you a daily mix of Jewish humor in all of its forms -- traditional, eclectic, musical, unbelievable but true, and just funny, tempered with touches of nostalgia and Yiddishe nachas. 

We'll be attending Rosh Hashanah services tonight, Shabbat and Sunday, and we'll be back posting again on Monday.  Here's wishing you a happy, healthy, joyous, prosperous and funny New Year from our family to yours!

L'shanah Tovah Tikatevu v'techatemu!

Here Come the Rosh Hashanah Videos: Congregation B'nai Israel of Sacramento Sings "I Always Wanna Have Rosh Hashanah"

A week ago we started this year's Rosh Hashanah musical videos with a holiday version of Oklahoma! by the choir of Congregation B'nai Israel in Sacramento, California. Well, they're at it again with a set of Rosh Hashanah lyrics to There's No Business Like Show Business.

Founded in 1849 as one of the first few Jewish synagogues west of the Mississippi, B'nai Israel is a vibrant multi-generational and multi-cultural community in the heart of Sacramento,  California where people of diverse backgrounds pursue their Jewish journeys. It is an egalitarian, inclusive congregation committed to experiencing the joy and beauty of Jewish life.

With the holiday starting tomorrow night, let's get ready by joining the choir in singing I Always Wanna Have Rosh Hashanah!

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashanah Videos: Six13 Sings "5784" - Adaptation of Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4"

Six13 is a groundbreaking, six-man a cappella vocal band that brings an unprecedented style of Jewish music to the stage, with songs ranging from hip-hop dance tracks to rock anthems. The members of the New York City-based group sound like a full band – while using nothing but their voices.

They’re driven by a mission to connect Jews around the globe with their heritage through music, anchored by a strong Jewish identity, and fueled by thumping beatbox, intricate arrangements, and soulful harmonies.

For this high holiday season, Six13 has released "5784", their adaptation of Chicago's mega hit song "25 or 6 to 4".

Enjoy!

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Shofar in the Street: British Actor Marcus Freed Asks Londoners to Identify Shofar

As we count down the days to Rosh Hashanah, today we're posting a "Shofar in the Street" segment with British actor Marcus J. Freed asking London passers-by just what is the animal horn that he is carrying.

Is it a buffalo horn? Elephant tooth or tusk?  Antelope horn? Musical instrument? Something a Viking would use? Then Freed does the big reveal by saying it's Jewish and proceeding to sound an abbreviated combination tekiah and teruah.

The video is sponsored by the Pico Shul in Beverly Hills, California.

Enjoy!

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Blowing the Shofar - Tricks & Tips for Rosh Hashanah

With Rosh Hashanah only five days away, we're continuing our special posts for the holiday. Our Joke to Start the Day feature will be back after the holidays.

Have you ever tried to blow a shofar and not get the clear musical tone that you expected to emerge from it? Do you even own a shofar? Today we're sharing some tricks and tips to get the best sounds from the horn of a ram or a kudu or whatever kosher animal gave up its horn to enhance your Rosh Hashanah.

Today Leah, a Jewish Orthodox artist/graphic designer, mom, wife, and cook living in Israel who has a YouTube channel called JewGotIt, shows us, with the help of her husband, how to properly position the shofar in order to produce a perfect sound.

If you don't own a shofar, there's still time to get one, as Amazon can deliver one in two days. It can add a new dimension to your High Holiday celebration and also serve as an attractive addition to your Judaica collection.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashanah Videos: Congregation B'nai Israel of Sacramento Sings "Roshklahoma"

It's that time of year again. In only nine days we will be attending Rosh Hashanah services in person in synagogues, and at home via Zoom sessions and live streaming services.

In addition to attending traditional services, we have been posting music videos that capture the spirit and nuances of the holiday season, by synagogue groups and choruses and by creative individuals.

We're starting to see some new videos and we'll be sharing them with you during the coming week. In the meantime, let's start with a music video that was posted last year by Congregation B'nai Israel in Sacramento, California. We missed it last year so we're playing catch up today.

Founded in 1849 as one of the first few Jewish synagogues west of the Mississippi, B'nai Israel is a vibrant multi-generational and multi-cultural community in the heart of Sacramento,  California where people of diverse backgrounds pursue their Jewish journeys. It is an egalitarian, inclusive congregation committed to experiencing the joy and beauty of Jewish life.

Here's their version of Oklahoma!, with new words reviving the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune as Roshklahoma!

Enjoy!

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Wishing All of Our Readers a Shanah Tovah - Happy New Year 5783

Thanks to our thousands of loyal subscribers and casual readers worldwide who have joined us during the year.

We started this blog on October 5, 2009 and it's been going strong with more than 3900 blog entries and more than 3 million page views over the last 13 years.  

We appreciate your loyalty and we hope to keep bringing you a daily mix of Jewish humor in all of its forms -- traditional, eclectic, musical, unbelievable but true, and just funny, tempered with touches of nostalgia and Yiddishe nachas. 

We'll be attending Rosh Hashanah services tonight, Monday and Tuesday, and we'll be back posting again on Wednesday.  Here's wishing you a happy, healthy, joyous, prosperous and funny New Year from our family to yours!

L'shanah Tovah Tikatevu v'techatemu!

Welcoming Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah with "Shana Tova" by the Boys Town Jerusalem Choir

Boys Town Jerusalem is one of Israel's premier institutions for educating the country's next generation of leaders in the fields of technology, commerce, education, the military and public service. 

Since its founding in 1948, BTJ has pursued its mission of turning young boys from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures. From Junior High through the College level, the three part curriculum at Boys Town - academic, technological and Torah - is designed to turn otherwise disadvantaged Israeli youth into productive citizens of tomorrow. 

Boys Town’s 18 acre campus is a home away from home for its more than 950 students. More than 7,500 graduates hold key positions throughout Israeli society.

For Rosh Hashanah, the Boys Town Jerusalem choir posted a creative and lively song wishing everyone a happy and sweet New Year.

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova! 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.

Wishing All of Our Readers a Shanah Tovah - Happy New Year 5782

Thanks to our thousands of loyal subscribers and casual readers worldwide who have joined us during the year.

We started this blog on October 5, 2009 and it's been going strong with more than 3600 blog entries and more than 3 million page views over the last 12 years.  

We appreciate your loyalty and we hope to keep bringing you a daily mix of Jewish humor in all of its forms -- traditional, eclectic, musical, unbelievable but true, and just funny, tempered with touches of nostalgia and Yiddishe nachas. 

We'll be attending Rosh Hashanah services remotely tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we'll be back posting again on Thursday.  Here's wishing you a happy, healthy, joyous, prosperous and funny New Year from our family to yours!

L'shanah Tovah Tikatevu v'techatemu!

Hava Nagila Around the World - With Shofar Intro by Folkadu with Yael Gat

Folkadu is an ensemble which takes us on a musical journey from traditional Jewish tunes to Israeli folk songs, sung in diverse Jewish languages such as Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino, accompanied by a unique instrument combination of trumpet, accordion and oud. 

Hava Nagila (Hebrew: "הבה נגילה"‎, "Let us rejoice") is an Israeli folk song traditionally sung at Jewish celebrations. The melody is based on a Hassidic Nigun, composed in 1915 in Ottoman Palestine, when Hebrew was being revived as a spoken language for the first time in almost 2,000 years. 

We are now in the middle of the Hebrew month of Elul. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, it's traditional to blow the shofar each day of the month. By doing so, inevitably we’ll feel remorse over past misdeeds and set ourselves upon a fresh new path. We don't think that the rabbis who started this tradition had it in mind as a prelude to Hava Nagila, but why not take Yael Gat's interpretation as a foretaste of the coming holidays? 

Folkadu are: Yael Gat - Shofar & Trumpet 

Pier Paolo Bertoli - Acoordion 

Doron Furman - Oud

Performance at Berlin Music Festival 2021 

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Creative (and Funny) Coronavirus Protection for the High Holidays

Attending High Holiday Services has been a real challenge in this year of coronavirus. We've all gotten used to wearing masks, social distancing, sanitizing with spray disinfectant, and wiping down surfaces.

But applying these new safety measures can result in some funny situations. Whether it's praying, eating, or blowing shofar, here are many ways in which our new reality has created hilarious scenarios of their usage.

Enjoy!

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Six-Year-Old Australian Kid Sings an Impassioned Avinu Malkeinu in Hebrew and English

Bibi, the six-year-old son of Nina Shapiro loves to sing, and his singing is going viral because of an impassioned version of Avinu Malkeinu that has been spreading on the Internet since it mysteriously landed on Twitter and Facebook last week.

As Philissa Cramer wrote last week in JTA News,

Exactly how the video got from a family text chain to thousands of Jewish viewers is unclear, but there’s no question that Bibi’s performance of a song he learned at his school is resonating with many on the eve of the High Holidays.

Others who amplified the video did know who Bibi was, even though he is not identified in it. They included people associated with Sinai Academy, the school in Cape Town, South Africa, that he attended before the family moved to Australia two years ago. Shapiro credited both that school and the one he attends in Perth, Carmel School, with developing her son’s love for Judaism.

Bibi is adopted — we adopted each other when he was a baby. He has been raised Jewish, and it’s all he knows. Halachically [according to Jewish law] he is a Jew. I’ve come to realize he has a Jewish neshama [soul] even though entering the world he was not born into a Jewish family.

Here are the English words he sings before launching into Hebrew:

I’m sorry for all I did wrong. 

I’m sorry for all I did wrong. 

I’ll try to be better forever and ever I’m sorry for all I did wrong. 

I’ll try, I’ll try to be the best that I can be. 

I’ll try, I’ll try to do what is right, and be the best I can be.

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. 

Yiddish Word of the Day - Rosh Hashanah

As people continue to spend their days and evenings at home, due to coronavirus social distancing restrictions, the Forverts has launched a daily series of short informal video clips called Yiddish Word of the Day.

 The series, written and narrated by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter, aims to give non-Yiddish speakers an introduction to familiar Yiddish words and phrases and how they might be used in everyday situations. 

Schaechter, who was appointed the new editor of the Forverts in 2016, is the first woman to helm the paper in its 119-year history, its first editor to have been born in the United States, and likely its first editor who is shomeret Shabbat.

We posted the first of this series in May. Now that the Forverts is continuing the series, we'll be sharing some of the words and phrases as a regular feature of Jewish Humor Central.

As we reflect on this year's unusual Rosh Hashanah experiences, Rukhl gives us a look at how many familiar words and phrases of this season are expressed in the Yiddish language.
 
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.

 

Wishing All of Our Readers a Shanah Tovah - Happy New Year 5781

Thanks to our thousands of loyal subscribers and casual readers worldwide who have joined us during the year.

We started this blog on October 5, 2009 and it's been going strong with more than 3300 blog entries and more than 3 million page views over the last 11 years.  

We appreciate your loyalty and we hope to keep bringing you a daily mix of Jewish humor in all of its forms -- traditional, eclectic, musical, unbelievable but true, and just funny, tempered with touches of nostalgia and Yiddishe nachas. 

5780 has been a great year for us -- a year of wonderful friendship, a year in which our nine books on Jewish humor have been selling on Amazon.com, and in which we performed comedy shows and lectures in Florida, New York, and New Jersey.

We'll be attending Rosh Hashanah services remotely tomorrow, Shabbat and Sunday, and we'll be back posting again on Monday.  Here's wishing you Shabbat shalom, and a happy, healthy, joyous, prosperous and funny New Year from our family to yours!

Pass the Pomegranate for Rosh Hashana...and Learn How to Open it

Pomegranates and Rosh Hashanah go together, because by eating the pomegranate, we express our wish for a year filled with as many merits as a pomegranate has seeds.

Here is a Rosh Hashanah video greeting created and posted on YouTube by Franck Nabeth, a creative video producer that shows a pomegranate being passed in seemingly magical ways.

But how do you open and eat this beautiful, symbolic, but difficult fruit? Easily, if you know how.

Watch the video below the pomegranate passing video and you'll see how easy it is to open and gain access to the seeds.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashanah Videos - "Under the Sea" Parody - The Kosher Mermaid and Gefilte Fish

Tehila, the Kosher Diva, has posted Gefilte Fish, a video parody of the Disney Little Mermaid song Under the Sea just in time for us to share it with you as another funny Rosh Hashanah video.

 But just who is Tehila, the Kosher Diva? She is 34-year-old Yael Yekel, a fun and flirty Israeli actor-singer.

As Renee Ghert-Zand wrote in The Times of Israel,

Through her kitschy character, Yekel is on a mission to make the mammeloshen relevant and accessible to younger generations. 

“I grew up with secular kibbutznik parents. I only heard Yiddish spoken by my grandparents — Holocaust survivors from Poland and Lithuania who helped found Kibbbutz Lohamei HaGeta’ot in northern Israel — when they didn’t want us to understand what they were saying,” Yekel told The Times of Israel.

When not portraying the Kosher Diva, Yekel acts on stage and in commercials and television shows. Her studies at the Beit Zvi School of the Performing Arts focused on musical theater, through which she first became engaged with Yiddish.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashanah Videos - The Maccabeats Sing "Bashana Haba'ah"

With Rosh Hashanah only nine days away, we're continuing our sharing of music videos with a new version of Bashana Haba'ah (In the Coming Year), a song of hope for the year to come.

This version is sung by the Maccabeats. Originally formed in 2007 as Yeshiva University’s student vocal group, the Maccabeats have recently emerged as both Jewish music and a cappella phenomena,  with a large fan base, more than 20 million views on YouTube, numerous TV appearances, and proven success with four albums. 

Though the Maccabeats aren’t your grandfather’s synagogue choir, their ideology and identity play an important part in what they do. Strongly committed to the philosophy of Torah u-Madda, the integration of traditional and secular wisdom, the Maccabeats perform an eclectic array of Jewish, American, and Israeli songs.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashanah Videos - "Reset" - From Communities Around the World

We're only 10 days away from the start of Rosh Hashanah, and it's time to start sharing some videos that focus on the High Holidays. 

Last year, before coronavirus social distancing set in around the world, the 92nd Street Y released Reset, a new song and video.

Reset features music and lyrics by Noah Aronson and Abigail Pogrebin and was shot on mobile phones by people all over the world, from New York City to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, from Ghana and Belarus, Turkey, Israel, Guatemala and beyond, all making music together. Click CC to follow along with the lyrics!

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