Welcoming Shabbat with Yedid Nefesh as an Israeli Folk Dance

Yedid Nefesh is a piyyut (poem) usually sung on Friday night just before the Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat) service begins.
 
According to Wikipedia, this beautiful poem is commonly attributed to the sixteenth century kabbalist, Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (1533-1600), who first published it in Sefer Charedim (published in Venice 1601), but Azikri did not claim authorship of it and there have been other suggested authors (e.g. Judah Halevi, or Israel Nagara).
  
The first letters of each of the four verses make up the four letter name of God, known in English as the tetragrammaton.

We're very familiar with Yedid Nefesh as a song for Shabbat but were surprised to find out that it is also a popular folk dance in Israel. We hope you enjoy this performance choreographed by Yonatan Gabai and sung by Gad Elbaz.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!


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.

A Joke to Start the Week - "Four Children"

Because yesterday was a national holiday and most of us had a day off from work, today we're starting the work week a day late with a Joke to Start the Week.

Once again dipping into the archives of Sam Hoffman's Old Jews Telling Jokes, we came up with this gem told by retired Certified Public Accountant Sara Ross.

Here's the setup: One Sunday after church, these four people go into a diner to have a cup of coffee. And then...

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.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Harpo Marx and Lucille Ball in the Mirror Scene

The Marx Brothers were a great team in all of their movies, but each brother was a comedian in his own right. Harpo got a chance to show off his comedic talents in this sketch that he did with Lucille Ball in an episode of I Love Lucy.

This episode, originally in black and white, was colorized. It's a takeoff on the famous scene with Groucho Marx in the 1933 film Duck Soup, one of the Marx Brothers' funniest. It comes from an old vaudeville routine used by other mimes.

The premise of the episode is that Lucy promises nearsighted Carolyn Appleby she’ll meet some Hollywood celebrities. To fulfill the boast she dresses up as a few such as Clark Gable, Gary Cooper as well as Harpo Marx. The real Harpo shows up for this great mirror scene.

Harpo, born Adolph Marx in 1888, got his stage name during a card game at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg, Illinois. The dealer called him "Harpo" because he played the harp. He learned how to hold it properly from a picture of an angel playing a harp that he saw in a five-and-dime store.

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.



 #Throwback Thursday   #TBT

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin Tells the Fifty Best Jewish Jokes at Chautauqua

Last Thursday Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews, delivered a 45 minute speech at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York on The Fifty Best Jewish Jokes and What They Say about the Human Condition.  

As part of Chautauqua's Week Six, “The Spirituality of Humor,” Telushkin connected humor in Judaism to society at large.

The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit education center and summer resort for adults & youth located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York, about an hour from Buffalo. It offers programs in the arts, education, religion and music. 

We don't usually post such long videos, but we think this one is worth your time. If you don't have 45 minutes to spend on it now, we suggest that you take it in 10 minute bites over the course of a few days. At the end of the lecture, Telushkin takes questions from the audience, whose members used the opportunity to tell some of their favorite jokes.

We watched the whole lecture and enjoyed it thoroughly. We didn't count the jokes, but Telushkin easily wove many old favorites into his talk.

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.

"The Womens' Balcony" Adds Delightful Comedy to Israel Film Festivals

The Women's Balcony (Hebrew title: Yismach Chatani) a comedy from Israel, has been playing to sellout audiences at Jewish Film Festivals from Maine to California. We saw it on Sunday night at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal, New Jersey. We recommend it highly. Here is a synopsis:

Women fight for their rights in unexpected ways in this warm and funny film. When the women’s balcony in an Orthodox synagogue collapses, leaving the rabbi’s wife in a coma and the rabbi in shock, the congregation falls into crisis.

Then young rabbi David arrives and they think they’ve found a savior. But when he starts pushing fundamentalist ways – suggesting the women’s immodesty might have caused the accident – a rift emerges between the sexes!

This intimate portrait of a community trying to maintain its traditions while resisting extremism, set to a lively soundtrack amid the evocative back alleys of old Jerusalem, is sure to leave you smiling.

The film, in Hebrew with English subtitles, was made in the Bukharian quarter (Shechunat Habucharim in Hebrew) a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem. 

This trailer will give you a taste of the film, but we urge you to find it and see it for a delicious evening of  Jewish humor at its best. It's playing now at the Lincoln Center Cinema in New York City and other selected theaters. Be sure to watch for it at a theater or at a Jewish/Israel Film Festival near you.

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.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Buddy Hackett on The Johnny Carson Tonight Show in 1973

We thought that we had run out of Buddy Hackett videos and were pleasantly surprised to find a mother lode of Buddy's appearances on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show. It's rare to find a Hackett video these days, especially one that's clean. 

So go back with us 44 years to 1973 when Buddy made one of his visits to Carson's late night show.

In this episode, Buddy tells of his scouting days when he raised rabbits for a merit badge in animal husbandry, how his father converted a would-be robber into an upholsterer, his antics as a cook in the army, and how he met his wife Sherrine duBois, daughter of Esther Cohen, at the Concord Hotel.

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.

Bob Mankoff, New Yorker Cartoon Editor, Picks His Favorite Jewish Cartoons

Last week JTA profiled Bob Mankoff, retiring cartoon editor at The New Yorker, and asked him to pick his favorite Jewish-themed cartoons from over the years, and he was happy to oblige.

As Gabe Friedman wrote for JTA,

Bob Mankoff has been the cartoon editor at The New Yorker for 20 years. But he’s been a Jew for 72.

The celebrated cartoonist, who is stepping down from his prestigious perch in May, has therefore had a long time to formulate his thoughts on Judaism and Jewish humor. For example, he once wrote an essay about how Jews have become the “People of the Joke,” as opposed to the “People of the Book.”

“The Jews of the Bible aren’t funny,” he told JTA. “[Judaism] is a decent first draft of how to behave. It’s a really good try for 4,000 years ago.”

In this video clip from a Moment magazine symposium, Mankoff shares his observations on Jewish humor. His seven favorite Jewish cartoons appear below the video.

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.



 

 





 

 

 
 

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Victor Borge on The History of Pianos

We never get tired of watching the mischievous piano comedy antics of the great Victor Borge, the Danish comedian, conductor and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the United States and Europe.

His blend of music and comedy earned him the nickname "The Clown Prince of Denmark","The Unmelancholy Dane", and "The Great Dane."

He was born as Borge Rosenbaum to a Jewish family in Copenhagen. His parents were both musicians. He began piano lessons at the age of two, and it was soon apparent that he was a prodigy.

Much of his comedy has been preserved in his concerts and TV specials that are available on DVD, VHS, and now on streaming media. We laughed our way through many of the video clips available on YouTube before settling on this one to share today. It's called The History of Pianos, and has Borge delivering a tongue in cheek history lesson about the origins of his favorite instrument. It includes his explanation of how Beethoven was inspired to compose his Minuet in G. 

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.



#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

The Pope and a Rabbi Walk into the Vatican and...Dance (?)

No, this is not another rabbi, priest, and minister joke. This is a true report of what happened when a group of Hasidic Jews led by 80-year-old Brooklyn Rabbi Edgar Gluck went to the Vatican after being invited by Pope Francis.

On Monday the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported that Pope Francis danced with the group and discussed with them issues including the protection of Jewish cemeteries in Europe and combating child sex abuse.

As JTA reported,

A video on the Yeshiva World News website and also posted to YouTube shows the pope swaying to the music as members of the delegation dance and serenade him with the song “Long years shall satiate him.”

Born in Germany, Edgar Gluck, 80, divides his time between Brooklyn and Poland, where he holds the title of chief rabbi of Galicia. In the United States, where he has long been politically active, he was a co-founder of Hatzolah, one of the largest volunteer ambulance corps.

Gluck and Pope Francis met and discussed the plight of Jewish cemeteries last year when the pontiff visited Krakow for Catholic World Youth Day and, according to Yeshiva World News, the pope invited Gluck to continue the discussion at the Vatican.

The Hebrew words of the song are "Orech yamim asbieihu v'areihu biyeshuati"

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.