Park Avenue Synagogue Cantors Share Their Favorite Passover Songs

Like the seder itself, this medley packs in a whole sequence of events. 

Sing along with your favorite tunes and enjoy the ones that are new to you as Cantors Azi Schwartz and Mira Davis of New York's Park Avenue Synagogue share their favorite Passover melodies.

Songs include:

- Order of the Seder

- Ma Nishtana

- Vehi She'amda

- Dayenu

- Ki Lo Ya'eh

- Adir Hu

 

Enjoy!

Throwback Thursday Movie Showcase: Pharaoh Loves the Jews in "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb"

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is a 2014 American fantasy comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and written by David Guion and Michael Handelman. 

It is the third (and final live-action) installment in the Night at the Museum film series, a sequel to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), and the final installment in the original trilogy. 

The film stars Ben Stiller in the lead role, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Dan Stevens and Ben Kingsley as the Pharaoh.  

In the film, security guard Larry Daley must travel to London to return the Tablet of Ahkmenrah, an Egyptian artifact which causes the exhibits to come to life, before the magic disappears. 

In an encounter with the Pharaoh Ben Stiller has a funny exchange with Ben Kingsley in which they make oblique references to the Jewish enslavement in Egypt, the Exodus, and the Passover Seder.

Enjoy!

 

   #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

Here Come the Passover Videos: Avi Ganz and Michael Bogart Sing a New Version of Adir Hu

Pesach is coming, and it's coming soon. In six days we will be sitting down to the seder in Israel, and the first of two sedarim in the diaspora. To get in the mood, we will be sharing some new music videos for the holiday right here on Jewish Humor Central. Today we start with a new modern version of Adir Hu, one of the songs from the Hagaddah.

Rising Jewish music star Avi Ganz is back with his second single, a fresh and electrifying take on a classic Passover melody composed by the legendary Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Infused with an infectious funky groove and a bold fusion of Balkan, Middle Eastern, and R&B flavors, this new track is the perfect soundtrack as we prepare for Pesach.  

The single features a powerhouse collaboration with Michael Bogart, former lead trumpet and trombonist of the iconic band Tower of Power. His fiery brass work, combined with Avi’s signature energy, brings new life to this timeless Passover text.

Accompanying the release is a vibrant, high-energy music video shot in the heart of Shuk HaTikva, Tel Aviv. The video captures Avi and Michael trading harmonica and trumpet solos, igniting an electrifying jam session filled with spontaneous crowd interaction and unstoppable rhythm.  

Whether you’re cooking, cleaning, or getting in the Pesach spirit, this track is sure to get you moving. A modern holiday bop with deep roots and explosive energy, it’s a must-add to every Passover playlist. 

Enjoy!

We Join Israeli Actress Noa Tishby in Wishing You a Happy Tu B'Shvat,

Today is Tu B'Shvat, the Israeli holiday that marks the New Year for Trees. We're joining Noa Tishby, Israeli activist, actress, model, producer, and writer in welcoming the holiday and publicizing some of its features and traditions.

Tu B’Shvat is a holiday which is deeply tied to the land of Israel. It’s a reminder that Judaism is an indigenous faith rooted in the seasons and the fruits of this land. The seven species mentioned in the Bible, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates, aren’t just symbolic. They represent a tangible connection to an ancient agricultural heritage and the physical land that shaped Jewish identity. 

In the Middle Ages, the custom developed to celebrate Tu B’Shvat with a feast of fruits. And in the 16th century, the Kabbalist rabbi, Yitzchak Luria, instituted a Tu B’Shvat seder, which is similar to the Passover seder, in which Jews all over the diaspora were able to reconnect to the land of Israel through eating her indigenous fruits. 

According to Kabbalah, when you eat fruits from the trees, it helps a human soul evolve. And Judaism is about being present to every single thing that you do and everything that you eat as well. Tu B’Shvat reminds us that Judaism and the land of Israel are inseparable. The roots of the Jewish people are right here. And to celebrate Tu B’Shvat is to celebrate Zionism, not as a modern political movement, but as a profound acknowledgement of a people’s enduring bond with the land of their ancestors. 

The land of Israel isn’t just a backdrop to Jewish history. It’s part of the story itself. And every seed sown, every tree planted, and every fruit harvested and eaten is a continuation of that story. 

Chag Tu B’Shvat Sameach, everyone.

V'hi She'amda - Timeless Haggadah Song Illusrated in Sand Drawing by Aharon Bernstein

The artist and painter Aharon Z. Bernstein paints scenes in sand to accompany a music video of Yonatan Razel's song V'hi Sheamda.  

The sand drawings illustrate the way that God saves us from our enemies, from the evil pharaoh through Haman, Greeks, Romans, Inquisition, the Holocaust, to our present day.  

And this is that (promise)
which sustained our fathers and us.

That it is not one (enemy) alone
that stood up against us to destroy us.

But that in each generation there are those
standing up against us to destroy us.

But the Holy One Blessed Be He
saves us from their hand. 

We will be celebrating the first days of Pesach with family and friends at home and in the synagogue, so we will not be posting tomorrow and Wednesday. We'll be back on Thursday with more Passover content.

Enjoy, and have a happy and kosher Pesach! 

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A Yiddish Dayenu from the Folksbiene "Third Seder"

 

As we get ready for the first (and in Israel, the only) Passover seder next Monday evening, we're sharing a version of Dayenu from The Third Seder, a long standing Yiddish cultural tradition.

 

The event, convened in 2021 by Rabbi Avram Mlotek at the Marlene Myerson JCC of Manhattan, featured the leading stars of the Klezmer and Yiddish stage. 

 

The performers included Bob Abelson, Michael Alpert, Alan Bern, Nicole Borger. Joanne Borts, Josh Dolgin, Sarah Gordon, Adrianne Greenbaum, Elmore James, Craig Judelman, Daniel Kahn, Yeva Lapsker, Leon Lapsker Kahn, Yanky Lemmer, Marilyn Lerner, Shura Lipovsky, Frank London, Sasha Lurje, Avram Mlotek, Ravi Mlotek, Sarah Mlotek, Zalm, n Mlotek, Eleanor Reissa, Merlin Shepherd, Polina Shepherd, Ilya Shneyveys, Dinah Slepovitch, Zisl Slepovitch, Lorin Sklamberg, Steven Skybell, Eric Stein, Theresa Tova, Susan Lankin-Watts, Tatiana Wechsler, Steven Weintraub,  and Michael Winograd.

 

The event was sponsored by The National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene

in partnership with Base MNHTN, KlezKanada, The Forward, Forvertz, Kadimah – Jewish Cultural Centre , Yiddish Book Center, Sholem Aleichem College, Jewish Labour Bund Melbourne, Penina Zylberman Yiddish Cultural and Educational Foundation, Kleztival, Ashkenaz Festival, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Shalom Foundation and I. B. Singer Yiddish Festival in Warsaw, YUNG YiDiSH Tel Aviv, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Museum of Jewish History – Living Memorial to the Holocaust, The Workers Circle, Vaybertaytsh, Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, and Jewish Music Institute – Instituto da Música Judaica -Brasil.

 

Enjoy!

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CNN Anchor Jake Tapper Talks About Passover and a One Man Seder in Ukraine

In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, CNN anchor Jake Tapper reminisced about his trip to Ukraine where he interviewed president Vlodomyr Zelenskyy and gave him a box of matzot for Passover.

Tapper explained that it was the first time he didn't have a seder for Passover, but the local Chabad rabbi gave him the seder essentials in a box so he could have a one-man seder in Ukraine.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Passover Videos: A Dysfunctional Family Dayenu Parody by the Menschions

It's never too early to start posting funny Passover videos. With the first seder only ten days away, we're getting a jump start with an early entry from the Menschions, an online company that sells uniquely hilarious and heartfelt Jewish greeting cards and gifts for the holidays.

For this Pesach they posted an original Dysfunctional Family variation on Dayenu, one of the central songs from the Haggadah for seder night. 

Enjoy!

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Saturday Night Seder: A Passover Special Event from the Entertainment Industry

Why is this Jewish Humor Central blog post different from all other Jewish Humor Central blog posts? For one thing, it's the longest post that we have shared.

For another, it brings together 59 actors, singers, writers, and producers from across the entertainment industry gather to tell the story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt.

It was broadcast yesterday as a live stream event to raise money for the CDC Foundation’s Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund.

Dozens of Jewish celebrities attended the virtual benefit event, including Idina Menzel, Ben Platt, Andy Cohen, Billy Porter, and more. Because if you can’t celebrate Passover with your extended family, at least you can celebrate with Hollywood’s finest.

“A Passover seder with the family you never knew you had,” teases the Saturday Night Seder website. “The fourth night of Passover will be different from all other nights as we gather around our digital table to share stories, songs, and support the CDC Foundation’s Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund. Dayenu, already!”

StoryCourse has recruited 59 Jewish (and not-so-Jewish) stars to participate in the event, including legends Richard Kind and Henry Winkler, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s Rachel Brosnahan, Broad City‘s Ilana Glazer, and many, many more. 

“In a time of confinement and uncertainty, a rag-tag team of Jews and non-Jewish Passover enthusiasts felt it was more important than ever to channel creative energies and gather community,” head writer Alex Edelman told Playbill. “We’re thrilled to be reinterpreting the timeless story of liberation and renewal while raising money for those on the front lines enduring — and fighting — an actual plague.”

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Passover Videos: The Maccabeats Take a Cappella and Ma Nishtana to a New Level

The Maccabeats, originally formed in 2007 as Yeshiva University’s student vocal group, have entertained and inspired hundreds of audiences worldwide, from Alabama to (New) Zealand and everywhere in between.

Until now, they have been using nothing more than the unadulterated human voice, a clean-cut presentation, and a little Jewish humor,

With the release of their latest music video for Passover, the Maccabeats have added a new twist to a cappella. They still don't use musical instruments, but include sound effects from the seder table -- wine glasses filled to different levels to produce different notes, a Haggadah with pages ruffled to make sounds, a bowl of karpas to make a dipping sound, and matza to provide a crunch.

Pesach is almost upon us. Tomorrow's Joke to Start the Week will have a Pesach theme, and then we'll be taking the first two days of Passover off to spend time with our family in Jerusalem, returning with more Jewish Humor on Thursday.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the 2016 Passover Videos: Let's Start With a Safer Seder

It's that time of year again. Only ten days until the first seder. We'll be sharing the best of this year's Pesach videos as they come in.

Let's get started today with a video produced by the Shusterman Foundation. 

Written by Israeli comedian Benji Lovitt and set in the style of an airline safety announcement, it's a series of reminders and tips on having a happy holiday.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  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.)

Israel's Technion Students Give Us a Rube Goldberg Seder

Technion students are always eager to demonstrate their scientific and engineering talents, and the Jewish holidays give them the opportunity to apply their knowledge in humorous ways.

Their creativity flourishes on Chanukah, and we have posted some of their funny videos on Chanukah and also on Rosh Hashanah.

This year, as they get ready for Passover, the festival of freedom, they let their imagination run wild. Watch closely as this Rube Goldberg Machine created by students from the Faculties of Mechanical Engineering and Architecture and Town Planning relates highlights of the Passover story.

The video was produced in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in The Sydney & Shirley Gendel and Emanuel Friedberg Family Creative Design Student Laboratory, a Project of the American Technion Society, Cleveland Chapter

You can also watch Behind the Scenes to see how it was made: https://youtu.be/pOpryQ_tmUs

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Jackie Mason's Passover Seder - A Different Kind of Stand-Up

It's almost time for the Passover seder. Tomorrow night Jews all over the world will sit down for the first (and in Israel the only) seder. 

We don't know how many sedarim comedian Jackie Mason will attend, but if this video clip is a sample, it looks like it will be a stand-up affair. But surprisingly, not stand-up comedy.

Jackie shows that he can conduct a seder standing up, even though he moves the afikoman up from its place at the end of the seder to an earlier appearance. There are a few other missteps, but for the most part, he follows the traditional sequence as outlined in the Haggadah.

We were surprised to see that he went through the basics of the seder without cracking a joke or even a smile. To to his credit, he showed a basic knowledge that he acquired in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and on the Lower East Side of Manhattan when as Yacov Moshe Maza he followed his brothers into the rabbinate.

This may well be the only serious video of Jackie Mason. We'll be back in future posts with funny ones. Be sure to watch for tomorrow's Joke to Start the week, even though it's Erev Pesach.

Enjoy!

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Dayenu in the Desert - By the Boys of Boys Town Jerusalem

With the first night of Passover rapidly approaching, we still have a few new videos to share that relate directly to the Pesach seder. 

Here's a rendition of Dayenu that just came in from the boys of Boys Town Jerusalem. Produced in the Judean hills outside Jerusalem, it features the boys dressed in appropriate attire and a cast of camels to complete the picture.

Established in 1948 to provide a home and education for young immigrants to the newly-created State of Israel, Boys Town Jerusalem has become one of the country's largest and most respected educational institutions. 

Boys Town was founded by Alexander S. Linchner, a Brooklyn-born rabbi who, after the Holocaust, devoted his life to building a school for the children of immigrants who poured into Israel from countries around the world. His goal: providing them with a quality education that would prepare them to build the State of Israel with technological skill and traditional Jewish idealism.
 
Today, the beautiful 18-acre Boys Town campus in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem is one of Israel’s major technological training centers. Approximately 800 students, ranging in age from 12 to 20, live on the campus, with a capacity to house up to 1,000. 
The children and grandchildren of immigrants from 45 countries on six continents, they mirror the ethnic diversity of the Israeli population. More than 75% come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and require substantial scholarship assistance. No student is ever turned away from Boys Town due to inability to pay tuition.

In addition to receiving a fine technological and academic education, Boys Town students are deeply imbued with traditional Jewish values and ideals, and pride in their Jewish heritage. As a result, Boys Town graduates are proud to serve in the Israel Defense Forces and then go on to build fine Jewish homes and families, while making important contributions to their communities and the State of Israel. Among Boys Town’s more than 6,200 graduates are many engineers, technicians, educators, fine craftsmen and professionals.

Enjoy the video,and Shabbat shalom from Yerushalayim.

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Don't Sit on the Afikomen - Singalong Fun for Seder Night

Tonight we celebrate the first Seder of Passover, for which preparations have been in process in many households since well before Purim. In Israel there is only one Seder, while everywhere else, tomorrow night presents a second opportunity to extend the festivities.

The faculty and students of Beth Tfiloh, an Orthodox Day School in Pikesville, Maryland, are sharing their holiday spirit this year with a rousing rendition of Don't Sit on the Afikomen, a funny song that can be sung by everyone around the Seder table just for laughs, and as a reminder of how late the Seder could run if the hidden half matzah is not found in time for dessert.

We wish all of our readers a happy and a kosher Pesach. Enjoy your family and friends, sing the traditional songs and new ones like this, and feast on the specialties of this season, some of which we shared recipes for in recent days. We'll be celebrating this Passover in Jerusalem, and we'll be back with our usual mix of jokes, humor, music, and funny happenings on Thursday.

The lyrics for Don't Sit on the Afikomen are shown below the video. You can print a colorful copy of the lyrics by linking to the pdf at this address.

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Don’t sit on the Afikomen

Don’t sit on the Afikomen; Don’t sit on the Afikomen,

Don’t sit on the Afikomen or the Seder will last all night!

The leader at the Seder breaks a Matzah piece in two.

And hides the Afikomen half, a game for me and you.

Everyone must have a bite, the Seder isn’t through,

Till you find the Afikomen!

Don’t sit on the Afikomen; Don’t sit on the Afikomen,

Don’t sit on the Afikomen or the Seder will last all night!

One year someone hid it beneath a pillow on a chair

But just as I raced over, my Aunt Sophie sat down there.

She sat herself down upon it, awful crunching filled the air

And crumbs flew all around!

Don’t sit on the Afikomen; Don’t sit on the Afikomen,

Don’t sit on the Afikomen or the Seder will last all night!

There were Matzah crumbs all over, oh it was a messy sight.

We swept up all the pieces, though it took us half the night.

So if you want your Seder ending sooner than dawn’s light

Don’t sit on the Afikomen!

Don’t sit on the Afikomen; Don’t sit on the Afikomen,

Don’t sit on the Afikomen or the Seder will last all night!