Israeli Standup Comedy: Shahar Hason on Peace in the Middle East

Comedians Yohay Sponder and Shahar Hason got their start as comedians in Israel catering exclusively to Hebrew-speaking audiences. As the two became more and more well-known to Hebrew speakers throughout Israel, they noticed a huge demographic in the country that was missing out on the laughs. 

Sponder and Hason took the risk of crafting and re-writing their material from Hebrew to English (and from Israeli humor to American humor), all the while unsure whether or not they would even get a laugh out of an English speaking crowd. Their hard work and dedication to broadening the audience of one of Israel’s most unique cultural elements has launched the growing scene of Israeli Stand-up in English.

Sponder, Hason, and some of their friends carry on each Monday at the Comedy Bar in Tel Aviv with their standup comedy show, Funny Monday. Here is a recent performance by Shahar Hason on the subject of peace in the Middle East.

Enjoy!

Chassidic Singer Shulem Lemmer Sings Frank Sinatra's Hit "My Way" in Tel Aviv

We've become big fans of Shulem Lemmer after spending a Shabbat with him in Delray Beach a couple of years ago when he was the star of a concert at Anshei Emuna Congregation.

Shulem Lemmer, known professionally simply as "Shulem," is an American Belz Hasidic singer from Borough Park, Brooklyn, in New York City. He is the first born-and-raised Haredi Jew to sign a major record contract with a leading label, Universal Music Group, under its classical music Decca Gold imprint.

Before becoming a full-time singer, Lemmer was marketing director at a technology firm start-up based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He also works as a cantor during the High Holidays at Congregation Ahavath Torah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey.

Shulem Lemmer is the most recent rising star of the Jewish musical tradition that has been intertwined in the life, faith, and culture of the Jewish people throughout their history. Whether it's prayers, psalms, or contemporary classics, this youthful Brooklyn tenor finds in music something rich and affirming, an endeavor that makes the soul soar and the spirit rise and speaks to the human condition. 

Shulem is as comfortable with popular music and Broadway show tunes as he is with Chassidic music. Today we're sharing a performance by Shulem of Frank Sinatra's hit My Way at Magen David Adom's annual event at the Heichal Hatarbut in Tel Aviv in June 2023.

Enjoy!

Prayer for the State of Israel from the Yiddishpiel Production of Dvash Nigar - With Shai Abramson

Yiddishpiel – The Yiddish Theater in Israel – is the only Yiddish theater in Israel!

Yiddishpiel was established in 1987 with the mission of restoring to Yiddish, the language that had almost disappeared, its charm, its popularity, and its glory, and to make it the focus of a rich and significant culture that is an important foundation stone in the history of the Jewish nation.  

Last October, Yiddishpiel presented a show called Dvash Nigar (Flowing Honey) which included the Prayer for the State of Israel (Avinu Shebashamayim). It was sung by Shai Abramson, Chief Cantor of the Israel Defense Forces, Sasi Keshet, Israeli actor and Yiddishpiel's Artistic Director, and singer/performer Kobi Arieli.

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It's Tuesday, But Let's Go to Tel Aviv for Funny Monday -- Israeli Standup Comedy in English

Comedians Yohay Sponder and Shahar Hason got their start as comedians in Israel catering exclusively to Hebrew-speaking audiences. As the two became more and more well-known to Hebrew speakers throughout Israel, they noticed a huge demographic in the country that was missing out on the laughs. 

Sponder and Hason took the risk of crafting and re-writing their material from Hebrew to English (and from Israeli humor to American humor), all the while unsure whether or not they would even get a laugh out of an English speaking crowd. Their hard work and dedication to broadening the audience of one of Israel’s most unique cultural elements has launched the growing scene of Israeli Stand-up in English.

Sponder, Hason, and some of their friends carry on each Monday in Tel Aviv with their standup comedy show, Funny Monday. Their English is a bit hard to understand, but it's worth a try.

Enjoy!

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While visiting wounded soldiers at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv on October 25, Cantor Azi Schwartz of New York's Park Avenue Synagogue, gave a concert of Hebrew and English songs.

During the visit he was able to give his sister, Dr Renana Eitan, a few moments of peace, and they made music together. The doctor, also a pianist, is the Director of the Psychiatric Division and is working with her incredible staff day and night since October 7th to provide a healing of body and spirit for so many traumatized people. 

Cantor Schwartz sang You'll Never Walk Alone, from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, Adon Olam, and Jerusalem of Gold.

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Israel Philharmonic Plays Concert to Salute Israel and its People: Hatikvah, Fanfare to Israel, and Beethoven's "Eroica"

On Sunday, October 22, 2023, the Israel Philharmonic, conducted by Lahav Shani, presented a special live concert to play hope-filled compositions to salute Israel and its people.

The program began with the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah”, followed by Paul Ben-Haim’s “Fanfare to Israel” and Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony, “Eroica.”

The full orchestra played to a concert hall without an audience. The seats were occupied by posters depicting the missing hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

Maestro Lahav Shani addressed all the viewers during the broadcast –

Dear audience, listeners and friends around the world,

The Israel Philharmonic, founded in 1936 in order to save Jewish musicians and their families, has witnessed all the wars in Israel. We never believed that in our lifetime we would witness the violence and inhuman atrocities we saw in the massacre on Saturday, the 7th of October. We are concerned for the safety of the hostages and hope for their swift return. Our hearts go out to those killed, to their families, to all those who are wounded in body or in spirit, and to all who have lost their homes.

We stand with the soldiers, who are protecting us in these hours. We are tremendously inspired by the many heroic stories of the volunteer soldiers, ordinary citizens, neighbors and acquaintances, stories that are gradually revealed to us daily. The solidarity of all Israeli society is a ray of light in these dark times. The resourcefulness, cooperative spirit and willingness to volunteer inspire us and give us hope.

I wish us all better days.

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Elon Gold Comedy Special: Why Most Jews Don't Speak Hebrew

Elon Gold has always been one of our favorite young stand-up comics. A practicing Orthodox Jew who attended Westchester Day School and Yeshiva University High School, he performs for Jewish and for general audiences. His Jewish routines tend to be family-friendly, and his general routines not so.

He performs in comedy clubs and has appeared at the annual Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, Canada. We're sharing a video clip of a presentation he made to and Israeli audience, explaining why most Jews don't speak Hebrew.

Why, indeed? Because after spending 15 years in a Yeshiva day school and Jewish camps, he was never taught conversational Hebrew. So finding himself in a hotel in Israel and not being able to come up with the Hebrew words for "Late checkout" Gold ridicules his own inability to apply his Hebrew knowledge to everyday situations.

Enjoy!

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Remembering Singer Tony Bennett and His Jewish Connections

When legendary singer Tony Bennett died Friday at the age of 96, it didn't take long for The Forward and The Algemeiner newspapers to come up with his connections to Jewish life.

As Dan Epstein wrote in The Forward,

Throughout his eight-decade post-war career as a singer, performer and recording artist, Bennett regularly employed his melodic gifts and mellifluous phrasing in service of songs composed by many of the 20th century’s great Jewish songwriters. In fact, quite a few of the Jewish-penned numbers in Bennett’s discography were particularly significant for him — not just as chart hits, but as key career turning points and cornerstones of his lasting musical legacy.

These songs include Rags to Riches by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, The Best is Yet to Come by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, Chicago by Fred Fisher, Our Love is Here to Stay by George and Ira Gershwin, and White Christmas by Irving Berlin.

In The Algemeiner, Shiryn Ghermezian wrote:

The I Got Rhythm singer was not Jewish but his daughter, vocalist Antonia Bennett, converted to Judaism in 2013. She married Ronen Helmann, a native Israeli, and together they gave the late singer a Jewish granddaughter named Maya in May 2016.

Bennett was drafted in the US Army at the age of 18 in 1944, and was part of the 255th Regiment that during World War II liberated the Kaufering concentration camp in Landsberg, which was 30 miles south of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

In September 2014 Bennett visited Israel and performed for 90 minutes in Tel Aviv's Mann Auditorium. Here's Tony singing The Way You Look Tonight by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields from that show.

Enjoy!

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Andre Rieu and His Orchestra Return to Tel Aviv With a Concert Including Hava Nagila and Jerusalem of Gold

Famous Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu is best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra. Together they have turned classical and waltz music into a worldwide concert touring act, as successful as some of the biggest global pop and rock music acts.

Last week Rieu and his orchestra swept into Tel Aviv for a few days of performances at the Menora Mivtachim Arena. It was the second visit to Israel for Rieu and his 75 singers, dancers, and musicians. Their first visit was in 2018, when they toured Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Rieu and his son met with Holocaust survivors who were saved from the Nazis by Rieu's wife's mother, who was active in the Dutch Resistance.

Rieu's father was conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra. Showing early promise, André began studying violin at the age of five. From a very early age, he developed a fascination with orchestra.

Rieu created the Johann Strauss Orchestra in 1987 and began with 12 members, giving its first concert on 1 January 1988. Over the years it has expanded dramatically, nowadays performing with between 80 and 150 musicians. Rieu and his orchestra have performed throughout Europe, North and South America, Japan, and Australia. The size and revenue of their tours are rivaled only by the largest pop and rock music acts.

Here is the complete concert from 2018. The musical numbers and the commentary are worth watching, but if you only have time to watch Hava Nagila and Jerusalem of Gold, they are at 18 minutes and 33 minutes from the start of the concert.

Enjoy! 

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Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi at the Port of Tel Aviv

Beit Tefilah Israeli (BTI) is a fast-growing community in Tel Aviv that is renewing and revitalizing the notion of prayer. Services at BTI combine live music, modern poetry and literature with the traditional prayer book. 

In recent years BTI became famous for its Summer Kabbalat Shabbat service at the Tel Aviv port, which attracts up to 800 worshippers each week. This phenomenon—attracting many secular Israelis who once felt marginalized by the Jewish community—is now being replicated in Jerusalem and throughout Israel. 

Today we welcome Shabbat with the BTI version of Lecha Dodi, a liturgical poem from the Kabbalat Shabbat service, recorded last week in Tel Aviv.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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More Israeli Standup Comedy in English with Shahar Hason and Yohay Sponder

Comedians Yohay Sponder and Shahar Hason got their start as comedians in Israel catering exclusively to Hebrew-speaking audiences. 

As the two became more and more well-known to Hebrew speakers throughout Israel, they noticed a huge demographic in the country that was missing out on the laughs.   

Sponder and Hason took the risk of crafting and re-writing their material from Hebrew to English (and from Israeli humor to American humor), all the while unsure whether or not they would even get a laugh out of an English speaking crowd. Their hard work and dedication to broadening the audience of one of Israel’s most unique cultural elements has launched the growing scene of Israeli Stand-up in English.

Sponder, Hason, and some of their friends performed regularly on Monday nights in a Tel Aviv bar and restaurant until the start of the COVID pandemic. We're watching for a notice of a re-opening. In the meantime, here's a clip from one of their shows.

Enjoy!

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Israel's Comic Renny Grinshpan Sends a Love Letter from Tel Aviv

We're holding on to our airline tickets to Israel, just waiting for the pandemic to be over so we can once again fly to one of our favorite places. In the meantime, we're sharing a love letter from Tel Aviv sent by Israeli comic exploring the city that never sleeps. 

Let's visit Tel-Aviv's authentic shuk and enjoy the city's stunning shores with this comic sensation as our guide. And find out just how much Israel is missing its visitors.

Enjoy!

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Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: Coronavirus Doesn't Prevent Israel from Celebrating International Yoga Day

In celebration of the sixth annual International Yoga Day, the Indian embassy in Israel organized Yoga sessions across the country.

For the past five years, Israel has celebrated in the thousands. This year amid the pandemic, India's new cultural center in Tel Aviv hosted a small Yoga session, broadcast online.

The center will eventually serve as a space for Israelis and internationals to celebrate Indian culture.

The Press Counselor of the Indian Embassy says that Yoga has tremendous health benefits for the mind and the body and can help to strengthen the immune system.

Namaste!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Shalom Aleichem by Maayan Choir of Tel Aviv

The Maayan Choir under the musical direction and conductorship of Ms. Anat Morahg is the official choir of the ​Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality Department of Performances, comprising  some 45 singers.

The choir singers are graduates of the Rubin Academy of Music Tel Aviv, the School of Choir Singing, music students and graduates of selected youth choirs, performing a varied repertoire including classical, contemporary and Israeli music. 

In this rendition of Shalom Aleichem, the Maayan Choir joined with their partner choir, the Freiburger Bachchor of Freiburg, Germany in a virtual performance.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Hava Nagila Around the World - At the World Kabbalah Convention

On February 25, thousands of friends from Israel and all over the world gathered in Tel Aviv to feel the spiritual power that connects people, and fill their lives with love and meaning. 

The World Kabbalah Convention was a high point in the attendees' spiritual development, and an extraordinary opportunity to feel the spiritual power that connects them.

Of course, singing was part of the program, and of course, Hava Nagila was one of the popular songs that were sung there.

It's another example of Hava Nagila around the world, one of 85 versions that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central 10 years ago. The singing is led by Turkish singer Gulnaz Yilmaz.

Enjoy!


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Today is Tu B'Shvat - Celebrate with Fruits and Nuts From Israel

Today is the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, also known as Tu B'Shvat.  No, it's not another fast day.  It's a real holiday, but one without any restrictions.  The holiday is known as Jewish Arbor Day and the New Year for trees.  It's a day to feel good about the bounty of nature, including trees, fruits and nuts.

 

It is customary to eat fruits on this day, especially fruits from Israel.  This includes figs, dates, oranges, pomegranates, and persimmons or Sharon fruit (afarsimonim).  All are available at most supermarkets or gourmet groceries.

Tu B'Shvat is a time for singing, feasting, and rejoicing.  So here's a video walk-through the Shuk HaCarmel market in Tel Aviv with its many aisles of all kinds of fruits and nuts.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with "Lecha Dodi" and "What a Wonderful World" at the Port of Tel Aviv

Every Friday evening at the port of Tel Aviv, as the sun sets over the Mediterranean, hundreds of residents and visitors settle into red plastic chairs on the boardwalk and get ready to welcome Shabbat with traditional (and some non-traditional) songs.

The Kabbalat Shabbat service is organized by Beit Tefilah Israeli, a multi-generational and inclusive community of committed and passionate Israelis. They have created a model for a new kind of experimental and creative Jewish-Israeli congregation, unaffiliated with any movement.  A space where children can celebrate Shabbat in a uniquely Israeli way, where adults can seek answers to life’s essential questions and where men and women can celebrate their heritage together – blending the ancient and the contemporary, the universal and the particular, the Jewish and the Israeli.

The service typically includes many of the Friday night siddur and also some popular English songs translated into Hebrew, such as Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World. Today we're sharing a video of the congregation singing Lecha Dodi and What a Wonderful World.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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