Lag B'Omer is Celebrated in Israel but Coronavirus Dampens the Bonfires and Crowds

Today is Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer that is counted for 49 days from Passover to Shavuot. In Meron, in northern Israel, about 500,000 chasidim make an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi) to sing, dance, and light bonfires.  

Rashbi's tomb is the epicenter of the Lag B'Omer celebrations because he was one of the students of Rabbi Akiva who survived a terrible plague that killed thousands of them, and he went on to write the Zohar, the book of Kabbalah.

In most years, thousands of buses make their way from all over Israel to the small town of Meron. This year the coronavirus pandemic has drastically reduced the number of buses, chasidim, and bonfires. 

As reported by JTA,

Traditional bonfires and other events that are held yearly at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron will be canceled this year. Instead, the Religious Services minister will allow three separate bonfires, each led by a prominent rabbi, in the area of the tomb to be held by special permit at different times. No more than 50 people will be permitted to participate in each bonfire, and women must be allowed equal participation. 
Last night they lit the bonfires, and though the numbers were limited, the enthusiasm of the groups that were able to dance around them was not diminished. 

Happy Lag B'Omer! Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "The Best Hearing Aid"

It's Monday again. Time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're sharing a quickie by standup comedian Modi (Mordechai) Rosenfeld.

A regular performer at the New York and Los Angeles comedy clubs, Modi also headlines around the country and across the globe. He has toured in the United Kingdom, Holland, and Israel and performs in comedy festivals and special venues, including Montreal’s Just for Laughs Comedy Festival and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. 

Here's the setup: Two elderly Jewish men in Miami are talking. One turns to the other, and then...

Enjoy!


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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: NJ Chabad Rabbi Gets Stumped by Ugandan Teenagers

 

A few days ago, Rabbi Avrohom Rapoport, who runs the Chabad Chai Center in Ventnor, New Jersey, received an Instagram message from a young Orthodox Jewish man in Puti, Uganda.

He was the leader of a Ugandan youth group in their synagogue and asked Rabbi Rapoport to give a class to the group via Zoom. The rabbi agreed, and soon found himself being questioned by a group of 15 teenagers. He played "Stump the Rabbi" with them, and he was stumped.

We noticed that the group did not practice social distancing and we wondered how they were dealing with the coronavirus. As of yesterday, Uganda had 116 confirmed cases, 55 recovered, and 0 deaths.

So maybe they know something that we don't. 

Enjoy and stay safe.

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by the Moscow Male Jewish Cappella

This Shabbat we're posting our 58th version of Adon Olam since starting Jewish Humor Central in 2009. 

It's a rendition by the Moscow Male Cappella choir, sung at their 30th anniversary concert at the Small Hall of the Moscow State P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatoire last November.

The artistic leader and conductor is Alexander Tsaliuk. The cantor is Uriel Granat, the cantor of the Voronezh Synagogue and a soloist in the Voronezh State Theatre of Opera and Ballet.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Harpo and Chico Marx in "A Night in Casablanca"

It's another Throwback Thursday. Today we're turning the clock back 74 years to revisit a comedy classic.

In the 1946 Marx Brothers film A Night in Casablanca Ronald Kornblow (Groucho Marx) takes over as the manager of a luxurious hotel in Casablanca, in the aftermath of World War II.

After discovering that both of his predecessors had been murdered, Kornblow begins to fear for his safety -- especially when Nazi Count Pfefferman (Sig Ruman) tries to take over Kornblow's job in a bid to get his hands on valuable items that were stashed in the hotel by the Nazis at the tail end of the war.

In this funny clip from the film, Harpo Marx overhears a plot to kill Kornblow and uses his skills at pantomime and whistling to tip off Chico Marx (Groucho's bodyguard) about the plot.

Enjoy! 

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#Throwback Thursday     #TBT

British Comedian Ashley Blaker is Meshuga Frum When it Comes to Televison

We've become big fans of Ashley Blaker, the British Orthodox comedian who's been getting rave reviews on his stand-up tours and requests for more video clips from our readers.

 

He has previously performed two sell-out tours of the UK (Ungefiltered and Meshuga Frum)to great acclaim and toured his comedy across Israel and South Africa. He started performing in USA with a sold-out show at New York's Gramercy Theatre.

 

Here's a clip from his Meshuga Frum show where he talks about his favorite American TV show and how he would remake it. 

Enjoy! 

 

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Shtisel Season 3 is Coming, But Filming Has to Wait for Coronavirus to Pass

To all Shtisel fans who are anxiously awaiting the third season of this popular TV series, we have good news and bad news.

The good news is that season 3 is in the planning stage and will definitely be broadcast in the near future. The bad news is that the cast has been under lockup in their own homes in Israel and can't start filming until conditions improve.

If you miss seeing the cast members on TV, here's a teaser. It's a Passover greeting from all the leading actors in the show. OK, we should have posted it before or during Pesach. But we didn't find the video until today, so consider it a belated Passover wish for good health.

As reported by JTA,

The video includes virtual and verbal hugs from series producer Dikla Barkai and actors Dov Glickman (who portrays Shulem); Michael Aloni (Akiva); Neta Riskin (Gitti);  Sasson Gabai (Nukhem); and Zohar Strauss (Lipe).

“We’ll be back soon, as soon as this whole thing is over,” Riskin says, referring to the coronavirus crisis.

The London-based Jewish News organized the video.

“We’ll see you all on the other side of this,” Glickman says, warning those holding seders to stay six feet away from Elijah the Prophet when he visits on seder night.

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A Joke to Start the Week - A Jewish Mother Riddle

The rabbis and cantors of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles have been adding a series of jokes to the videos on their website over the last few weeks. We're sure that their members join us in appreciating this welcome opportunity to share some laughs in the midst of the coronavirus stay-at-home world that most of us are experiencing.

We have a few lined up to share with you on the next few Monday mornings as our Joke to Start the Week.

One of America’s most highly respected congregations, Wilshire Boulevard Temple has been serving the Los Angeles Jewish community since its founding in 1862 as Congregation B’nai B'rith, the city’s first synagogue. Today, Wilshire Boulevard Temple carries out the mission through a variety of ways, as a center for Jewish spirituality and celebration, a place for lifelong learning and friendship and home to an engaged congregation where every person can make a difference.

Today Senior Rabbi Steve Leder tells a Jewish mother riddle.

Enjoy!

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Yiddish Word of the Day - A New Series by the Forverts - Four Terms of Endearment

As people continue to spend their days and evenings at home, due to coronavirus social distancing restrictions, the Forverts has decided to launch 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.

Today she explains not one, but four Yiddish terms of endearment. Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat with Rabbi Dario Feiguin

Darío Feiguin is a multi-faceted rabbi, educator, liturgical cantor, musician and pastoral counselor. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he lives in Bainbridge Island, WA, USA, and since November, 2019 is the Rabbi of Congregation Kol Shalom, affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism.

 

He officiates at weddings and Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies in traditional and natural settings surrounded by the beauty of nature and was invited with a band to officiate around the world. Special Kabalot Shabbat, with "Latinoamerican Flavour", and for 10 years was leading Shabbat Shirah, a special Musical Shabbat at the Westchester Reform Temple in New York.

Rabbi Feiguin was ordained at the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, and obtained two academic degrees at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he lived for seven years. He completed his BA and his Master of Arts with honors in Education, Counseling and Jewish Philosophy.

 

He is one of the disciples of Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer. He was the Rabbi of Congregation B'nei Israel, in San Jose, the only non-orthodox Congregation in Costa Rica (2015-2019) and Founder Rabbi of Comunidad Amijai in Buenos Aires, Argentina, an institution that he co-created and developed for 21 years. 

 

In today's video Rabbi Feiguin sings Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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