EXCLUSIVE On-Site Report! Best In Show and Unusual New Products From Kosherfest 2018 - Part 1 (Watch For Part 2 Tomorrow)

Mediterranean Crisp Tortas from Spain, healthy mini fruit pops, kosher barbecue, and Israeli craft beer.
  
These are some of the prize winning and unusual products on display yesterday and today for the thousands of visitors representing all aspects of the food industry at Kosherfest 2018 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.
 
More than 400 exhibitors lining both sides of seven aisles are vying  for the attention of visitors (trade only -- but some kiddush aficionados seem to have found their way into the hall) who try to manage noshing and stuffing literature into the bags provided by some vendors (and rolling suitcases brought by attendees).  And there's plenty to nosh and to stuff.

Some of the samples are meat, some are dairy, and some are pareve.  But all three types are scattered around the show floor, so anyone trying to keep kosher has to make careful choices.

The vendors are hoping that visitors will make bulk purchases, and some of the newer, smaller, and foreign companies exhibiting for the first time are hoping to find distributors who will bring their wares to your local supermarket.

If you love kiddush, can make a case for being in some kind of food-related business, have a few hours to spare and don't mind walking a a quarter mile to a parking lot, this is the place for you.  It's still open all day today, Wednesday, from 10 am to 4 pm.  The on-site registration fee is $110.

We interviewed a few of the exhibitors and got closeups of some of the more unusual delicacies in this video for you to savor.  We're presenting them in two parts today and tomorrow.

We apologize for the loud background noise from the 6,000 attendees milling about the exhibit space while we were conducting the interviews. Listening with earbuds or headphones is recommended.

Enjoy!
  
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Rapping Rabbi Lights Up the Crowd at International Chabad Emissary Conference

Last week more than 5,000 Chabad rabbis and their supporters gathered in Brooklyn for their annual Kinus Hashluchim, a conference of the Chabad emissaries from around the world.

A highlight of the evening was a Wilmington rabbi who shared his personal journey to religious observance in a rap song.

As Sandy Eller wrote in Vos Iz Neias,

Rabbi Motti Flikshtein, program director at Chabad of Wilmington, Delaware, told the spellbound audience of 5,000 men how it was a single hug from Rabbi Aryeh Weinstein of Chabad of Bucks County, Pennsylvania that transformed him from an wayward teenager into a practicing Orthodox Jew.

Rabbi Flikshtein, who started rapping when he was in high school, launched into the first verse and the chorus of a single titled Coming Home that he released in 2010 as the “Rapping Rabbi” under the name Mor-To-Life.

His nearly one and a half minute long rap focused on how he realized that his life was devoid of meaning until he discovered his faith.

Despite the unconventional style of his music, Rabbi Flikshtein’s delivery was greeted with thunderous applause.

Enjoy!


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Lots of Jewish Jokes to Start the Week - "Guess the Punchline" Game

"Iceberg, Goldberg...What's the difference?"
"Who wrote this crap?"
"His brother is a doctor"
"We said we wouldn't talk about our children"
"Look! He's breathing!"
"What's a bracha?"
"That's the one I never would set foot in"

If you're a fan of classic Jewish jokes, you probably recognize these punch lines and may be able to tell the joke that ends with them. 

We usually publish an "old Jewish joke" every Monday, but today we're doing something a little different by telling lots of Jewish jokes in a format that you can use as a guessing game when you get together with friends.

We got the idea from a Limmud UK conference last December where David Benkof started telling jokes to the audience and challenging them to shout out the punch lines without hearing the rest of the jokes. The ensuing hilarity revealed how well known these jokes have become.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Standup Comic Wendy Liebman Jokes About Her Marriage on America's Got Talent

Wendy Liebman has been performing stand-up comedy for more than 20 years. We like her style. It's mostly clean and reminds us of Rita Rudner, another of our favorites.
 
Wendy has been called the master of the one-liner with subliminal afterthought. Her distinctive style includes quick, clever follow-ups after her jokes. She starts the joke leading it to one direction then changes it. As in "This Thanksgiving I made a 28 pound turkey ... pot pie," or "I really like to shop....lift."

She has appeared at comedy clubs and most of the late night TV shows. According to her website, she counts among her accomplishments the American Comedy Award for Best Female Standup in 1996, and clue #23 down in a New York Magazine crossword puzzle in 2010.

In this video Wendy appears on America's Got Talent and jokes with the panelists about her marriage.

Enjoy!


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Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi at Devotion by the Ocean in Ventnor, New Jersey

In the summertime at the New Jersey shore, two congregations have been pooling their resources in a Kabbalat Shabbat service that takes place on the beach and boardwalk. The service is called Devotion by the Ocean. It is open to all congregations and to anyone who wants to participate.

The sponsoring synagogue, Shirat Hayam, is a new congregation formed by the merger of Temple Emeth Shalom in Margate (Reform) and Congregation Beth Judah in Ventnor (Conservative). Separate religious services are under the aegis of the respective clergy. Governance, learning, social and other programming are combined.

In this video clip, the band sings a version of Lecha Dodi by Craig Taubman.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in "The Drummer"

In the early 1950s, Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca were big hits in the weekly 90 minute variety show called Your Show of Shows. We have been posting skits from this show and from its successor Caesar's Hour. In the 1960s Caesar was a host of The Hollywood Palace, where he repeated some of the most popular skits.

On this Throwback Thursday we're turning back the clock to the early 1950s when Sid and Imogene did their At the Theatre skit in which they played a couple attending a Broadway show. They were delighted to be seated in the front row, until they found out that it was in the orchestra pit and their seats were right next to the drummer, played by actor Jackie Cooper.

Some years later they reprised this skit on The Hollywood Palace, where the drummer was played by famed drummer Buddy Rich. Here is the original video from Your Show of Shows.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

60 Years Later, Violinist Itzhak Perlman Returns to the Ed Sullivan Theatre

This week famed violinist Itzhak Perlman returned to the same stage he graced sixty years earlier when he performed on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' as a 13-year-old child prodigy.

In an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, we see a black-and-white clip with Sullivan introducing him as Isaac Perlman.

In part two of the interview, Perlman combines 'Caprice in A Minor' and 'Someone to Watch Over Me' with piano accompaniment from Jon Batiste.

Enjoy!

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"The Jews Are Coming" - Controversial Israeli Sketch Comedy Series - Abraham and Seinfeld

In 2014 Israeli satire on TV took a bold step forward with the airing of a new series of sketches called HaYehudim Ba'im (The Jews Are Coming). Written by Natalie Marcus and Asaf Beiser, the show asks questions about everything, from the Bible to Ben Gurion to the Ashkenazi leadership. 

Their approach is to  go into the texts and make you think. They say that they give all their subjects a critical look, but they're not attacking, just giving the story a fresh, modern look.

The series ran for three seasons on Israeli TV, all in Hebrew. Some of the half-hour episodes were divided into video clips and published on YouTube with English subtitles. We found a few new ones and we'll continue to share them with you. Today we're posting a parody that imagines a conversation between Abraham and a character based on the Seinfeld TV show.

In the clip (in Hebrew with English subtitles) Abraham tells an idol worshipper that he has an idea about starting a new religion about nothing, a nod to the oft-quoted comment by Jerry Seinfeld that his show is a show about nothing. 

The idol worshipper venerates the goddess Ashtoret (also known as Astarte and Ishtar) but is open to following Abraham in his new religion until he hears that joining the religion requires him to "cut the tip of the thingy" and decides that he'll stay with Ashtoret. 

This video clip, like all the others in the series, may offend some readers who are not open to satirical interpretations of the scriptures and satirical views of Jewish life through the ages, but we believe that there's a place for humor everywhere and we hope you'll find the satire amusing.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "The Mother-in-Law"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week.

The Forward is producing a series of classic Yiddish jokes presented in Yiddish by Leana Jelen, a young Yiddish-speaking sign-language interpreter.

Last month we posted three jokes in Yiddish by Leana Jelen, all oldies but goodies in our collection of favorite Jewish jokes. Here's another one in the series.

Here's the setup: A groom came to meet his beautiful new bride. Besides his parents, he was accompanied by a bunch of his aunts. And then...

If you don't understand Yiddish, watch the English subtitles while Leana tells the joke in Yiddish. Who knows, you might even learn the language!

Enjoy!

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From Israel With Laughs: More Israeli Standup Comedy in Engish

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. 

Back in February we started a new series, bringing you some of the stand-up routines from the Chelsea Hotel in Tel Aviv. We know that the language that these comics use it a bit raw and uncensored, but it is typical of Israeli humor. Besides Sponder and Hason, today's video includes bits from Yossi Tarablus.
Enjoy!
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Welcoming Shabbat with Yigdal by the Portnoy Brothers

The Portnoy Brothers were born and raised in Manchester, UK and are currently living just outside of Jerusalem in Bet Zayit.

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Sruli and Mendy have been making music together for as long they can remember. Two out of nine kids in a very musical family, they released their debut album "Learn to Love" after years of hard work.

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Their sound is one that spans many genres but all of which maintain the harmony of brothers. Whether they're with their full band, or performing as a duo, their distinct sound always shines through.

Now they have a new Shabbat album in the works. Here is Yigdal, a lively adaptation of the traditional song that we sing at the end of the Friday night services.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: The Sanity Clause from the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera

On this Throwback Thursday we're going back 83 years to 1935 and one of the funniest movies made by The Marx Brothers.

"The Sanity Clause" is often cited as one of the funniest scenes in film comedy. It's a short clip from the Marx Brothers' film A Night at the Opera featuring Groucho and Chico Marx.

Anyone who has ever written or read a contract or a piece of legislation will find this scene hilarious.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Comedy Showcase: "Men vs. Women" From Rita Rudner's New TV Special

We've been big fans of Rita Rudner ever since she started to appear on late night TV in the 1980s.

One of the hallmarks of her comedy is that it's clean, free from the vulgarity and shouting that many stand-up comics find necessary.  Her delivery is demure, tasteful, full of wry observations, and very funny.

Rudner started her career as a dancer, then switched to stand-up comedy about her dating experiences.  She married British producer Martin Bergman about 30 years ago and they have a daughter.  She is fond of Jewish humor but generally reserves it for when she performs for Jewish audiences.

Rita just released a TV special called A Tale of Two Dresses. Last week we shared a clip form the show called Border Control.  Today we're posting another clip called Men and women

Enjoy!

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Brewing Tea the Yiddish Way, and in Yiddish (With English Subtitles)

So you think you know how to make a glezele tay (a glass of tea)? Do you think all it takes is to dip a tea bag into a glass of hot water? That's not the authentic Yiddish Way.

It takes Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz from Der Forverts (Yiddish version of The Jewish Daily Forward) to show you how to prepare tea the old־fashioned way and how East-European Jews used to drink it (hint: you need a sugar cube). In Yiddish with English subtitles.

The only thing that would make this "recipe" more authentic would be to serve it in a Yahrzeit glass.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Competitive Shoe Stores"

It's Monday again. Time for another joke to start the week. Today we're bringing you a joke from the Old Jews Telling Jokes touring company. The Off-Broadway show has been touring the USA after its successful two year run on West 43rd Street in New York City.

Standup comedian Bob Greenberg was a member of the cast in New Brunswick, New Jersey and other locations. Here's the setup for one of his jokes:

Riggio, Walsh, and Saperstein have been friends since childhood, but they've been rivals since about the age of eight. They've competed over everything --- grades, girls, jobs. They're so competitive that when they decided to go into business, they each opened a shoe store right next door to each other. And then...

Enjoy!

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Jewish Education: Quiz is Proof That We Still Have a Long Way to Go

OK, so this is a video post by BuzzFeed that's meant to be funny, like all of their posts. Still, it's an eye opener. A group of young Jews were asked some very basic questions about Judaism in a game show format. Their responses show that either they were asleep in Hebrew school or their teachers weren't very effective.

Even worse, if you scroll down in the YouTube link to see the comments, some of them say that they live in Israel and didn't know many of the answers to these basic and somewhat superficial questions.

So, is this really funny? Probably not, but it's a wake-up call to Jewish parents that Jewish education should be a high priority in school and at home.

Enjoy!

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