"What Kind of Person is a Mentsh?": Philip (Fishl) Kutner on Preserving the Yiddish Language

Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexner Oral History Project has recorded hundreds of in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture. 

The interviews in the growing collection are conducted in Yiddish and/or English with narrators of all ages from a variety of backgrounds. 

In this video excerpt from an interview, Philip (Fishl) Kutner, founder of "Der Bay" a website for Yiddish networking information, explains why he thinks people should learn Yiddish today, and how its rich culture and unique terminology make Yiddish a language worth preserving. 

Fishl is also the founder of the International Association of Yiddish Clubs (IAYC). Jewish Humor Central's publisher Al Kustanowitz is a member of the IAYC Advisory Board.

 

To see the full interview and learn more about the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, visit: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/interviews/woh-fi-0000861/philip-fishl-kutner-2016.

 

Fishl also runs an hour-long Zoom Yiddish discussion every Tuesday at 2pm Eastern Time. If you're interested in joining FYG (Fishl's Yiddish Group) you can register and get more information at this link: Join Fishl's Yiddish Group.

Enjoy!

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Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: The Gat Brothers Sing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" in a Beit Shemesh Forest

Aryeh and Gil Gat, known as The Gat Brothers and The Breslov Brothers and to some, The Amazing Rabbis, made a big hit on the Israeli TV talent show Rising Star in 2013 when they performed Simon and Garfunkel's hit Sounds of Silence before a cheering audience. 

When we posted the video here we got some of the highest ratings from our readers since we started Jewish Humor Central. We've been keeping an eye on Aryeh and Gil, looking for their performances on stage or in the streets of Jerusalem, where they sometimes take up residence on Jaffa Road and in the Mamilla Mall.

Last year they found a new location for their jam sessions -- a forest near Beit Shemesh, a city 19 miles west of Jerusalem.

In this video, they play Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, complete with harmonica accompaniment.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week: "A Priest, a Minister, and a Rabbi Go to the Dentist"

It's been a long time since we posted a "priest, minister, and rabbi" joke. So when we came across this one by Dr. Jay Orlikoff, we couldn't resist sharing it with you even though we may have posted a variation years ago with a barber instead of a dentist.

Jay Orlikoff is a retired dentist from Centereach, New York, a community on Long Island in Suffolk County.

After a distinguished and meritorious dental career, he is shifting his focus to telling and posting jokes on YouTube. We were fortunate to find some of his jokes and we're sharing one of the family-friendly ones with you today. 

Here's the setup: A priest comes into a dental office and the dentist asks him what the problem is. The priest tells him that he has a toothache. And then...

Enjoy!

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Yiddish Word of the Day - The Theater

Last year the Forverts launched 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.

We posted the first of this series in May 2020. Now that the Forverts is continuing the series, we'll continue sharing some of the words and phrases as a regular feature of Jewish Humor Central.

Today's subject is the theater and words and expressions related to the theater.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Ana B'Cho'ach by Jerusalem Street Performer Rabbi Tomer

This week we welcome Shabbat with Ana b'Cho'ach, a liturgical poem from the Kabbalat Shabbat service that appears in the siddur just before Lecha Dodi. It's a Kabbalistic prayer composed by Rav Nehunia Ben Hakannah.

Known as the 42-letter Name of God, Ana b'Cho'ach is a unique formula built of 42 letters written in seven sentences of six words each. Each of the seven sentences correspond to the seven days of the week, seven specific angels, and to a particular heavenly body. The letters that make up Ana b'Cho'ach are encoded within the first 42 letters of the book of Genesis.

The kabbalists explain that this combination of letters takes us back to the time of Creation, and each time we meditate on a particular sequence, we return to the original uncorrupted energy that built the world. By performing the Ana b'Cho'ach meditation, we enrich our lives with unadulterated spiritual Light and positive energy.

This version of Ana b'Cho'ach is sung by Rabbi Tomer, a Jerusalem street performer who can often be found entertaining passers-by in Zion Square.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Groucho Marx Sings Duet with His Daughter Melinda

In the 1950s when quiz shows were the rage on television, one of the most popular was Groucho Marx's show You Bet Your Life.

In one of the episodes announcer George Fenneman introduced an 8-year old schoolgirl as one of the contestants. She happened to be Groucho's daughter Melinda, who joined her father in singing a duet from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Top 20 Weird, Wacky and Remarkable Things about Israel

Did you know that Israel is a global leader in medical clowning, a group of Netanya artists made the world's largest mosaic made of 12,000 socks, and that Israel is roughly half the size of Lake Michigan.

These and other wacky and remarkable facts have been posted by Facto Me, a YouTube channel that posts interesting fact-based videos every day.

Enjoy!

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Israel's Linoy Ashram Wins Gold Medal for Rhythmic Gymnastics in Tokyo Olympics

Israeli athlete Linoy Ashram has won the gold medal for rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics.

As reported by the staff of The Times of Israel,

Rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won Israel’s third-ever Olympic gold medal on Saturday, beating out tough competition to take the top spot on the Tokyo 2020 podium and ending over two decades of Russian dominance in the sport.

Ashram is the first Israeli woman to win a gold at the Olympics.

“It’s what I dreamed of for all my life,” Ashram said after the win.

“It’s an amazing feeling to stand in this place, at this time, on the podium and in first place,” said the 22-year-old gymnast who has now been picked to carry the flag at the closing ceremony.

“It’s a crazy experience that I still haven’t fully digested and with peak levels of excitement,” Ashram said.

She was visibly moved as Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, rang out through the gymnastics center as the flag was raised.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week: "Astronomical Angst"

It's another Monday, and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're bringing you another joke told by David Apfel.

Now living in Modiin, Israel, David Apfel is an accomplished entertainer and chazzan. He sings in several languages with repertoire ranging from the musicals to opera. He has officiated internationally at several orthodox synagogues and he also specializes in ''Kosher Komedie''.

Here's the setup for today's joke: Goldstein went to an astronomy lecture. The professor said "I have reason to believe that at the end of 50 billion years the earth will be swallowed up by a massive universal explosion." And then...

Enjoy!

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Yiddish Word of the Day - Parts of the Face

Last year the Forverts launched 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.

We posted the first of this series in May 2020. Now that the Forverts is continuing the series, we'll continue sharing some of the words and phrases as a regular feature of Jewish Humor Central.

Today we get to learn the Yiddish word for parts of the face.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Shalom Aleichem by the Navarrete Sefardi Project

Music fusion is probably the best description of the artists who jointly created the Navarrete Sefardi project: Magda Navarrete and Grzech Piotrowski

The melodies of the ancient world intersect in a fascinating way. This version of Shalom Aleichem has flamenco influences. 

Flamenco is said to have originated when the Jewish melodies of people expelled from Spain grew out with Arabic influences. This Shalom Aleichem was performed in Warsaw in 2020 by Magda and her quintet: Kalixt Cajon, Marek Fedor, Maciek Szczycinski, Wojtek Braszak, and Mateusz Pliniewicz.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Jackie Mason Does His Ed Sullivan Imitation on the Ed Sullivan Show

Today we're continuing our tribute to legendary comedian Jackie Mason, who died two weeks ago. While his humor didn't appeal to all, and made some people uncomfortable, there's no denying that he was funny and topical in his political incorrectness. 

Mason had a special insight into societal trends, attitudes and actions that defied common sense. His matter-of-fact observations played out to large appreciative audiences on highly rated TV shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show.

His appearance on the show almost cost him his career when he gestured to Sullivan in a way that Sullivan interpreted as obscene. But two years later they reconciled and Mason appeared on the show to give an inspired impersonation of Sullivan strutting around the stage.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Ashkenazi vs. Sephardi - A War of Words

Ashkenazi and Sephardi/Mizrachi Jews have many language and cultural barriers to bridge. This video, posted by the outreach organization Aish HaTorah features great banter and comedy as Ashkenazim have to guess the meaning of Arabic and other Sephardi (in the loose sense of Sephardi) words, while their counterparts have to struggle with Yiddish! Who will win the war of words? 

Beneath the fun and games, Eli Birnbaum, Moshe Levy, Shloimie Gertner, Mark Jacobs and some Chassidic guests from Stamford Hill navigate: Feshnogges (an Ashkenazi Jewish Jelly delicacy), Allah Ma'ak (Middle Eastern blessing), Schmaltz herring (European Jewish fish delicacy), Ich faf dich uhn (Yiddish for 'I whistle on you!'), Mabrouk (Arabic version of 'Mazel Tov'), Mimulaim (Syrian Jewish stuffed cabbage), Ich hob dich in dem boidem (even one of the Ashkenzis struggles with that one!) Kubaneh (OK, that's actually Yemenite, a traditional yeast bread), Ful Medames (so is that, and its a bean dish) Pashkevilim (Yiddish poster announcement), Yoch (East European Jewish word for soup), Farglivet (Yiddish for 'greasy'), Farblondjet (Yiddish for 'lost' or 'hopeless'), Mahasha (Indian stuffed peppers), 

But behind the hilarious struggles to understand each others words, is a message of Jewish unity. Whatever the words, and whatever cultural differences Asheknazi Jews and Sephardi / Mizrahi/ Yemenite Jews have developed, we can laugh together, and celebrate that what unites us is far greater than those funny moments that make our communities unique. 

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: California's Bullis Charter School Choir Sings "Hinei Ma Tov"

Charter schools such as the Bullis Charter School in Los Altos, California are unique public schools that offer an additional educational choice to California families. 

Charter schools are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. As a public charter school, BCS is free to innovate and implement new programs and teaching methods in order to provide the best education possible for our students.

The K-8 school has four choirs comprising more than 145 students. The Spring concert of their Cambiata choir included a virtual rendition of the Hebrew folk song Hinei Ma Tov.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Morris and Stella"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with another good one.

Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt received degrees from Columbia (BA and BS in Flight Sciences), a DC from Von Karman Institute (1963) and his PhD from Princeton in Aerospace Sciences. He worked as a researcher for NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

With four other scientists, he founded Fusion Systems Corporation, which invented microwave-powered UV lamps for drying coatings. He founded and served on the boards of technology companies and is active in volunteer work. He served on the executive committee of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington for many years.

Mickey also loves Jewish jokes and sent us this one to share with you. Here's the setup: My elderly neighbor Morris and his wife Stella were so happy when the pandemic restrictions were eased that they decided to celebrate at a fancy restaurant.  And then...

Enjoy!

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A Minute of Yiddish - Cookie Kibitznik Explains "Farpotchket"

Cookie Kibitznik, your favorite Jewish mother, is back. She's a tell-it-like-it-is, unfiltered, power-walking, pool-jogging, brisket-making giver of sage advice! She's here to teach you Yiddish, and you'll be plotzing from laughter!

These videos are not meant to compete with serious Yiddish language tutorials such as the new Duolingo  course or Rukhl Schaechter's Word of the Day lessons from the Forward. They focus on Yiddish words that you probably already know, but illustrate their use in hilarious ways. They are produced and acted out by a woman who reveals only her first name, Perri. In her Minute of Yiddish videos, she assumes the identity of Cookie Kibitznik, a yenta if we ever saw won.

In this episode, Cookie gives lots of examples of how to use the word farpotchket.

We previously posted Cookie's explanation of the word ongepotchket, which sounds very similar to farpotchket, but there is a difference in their usage, as explained by Phil Fleischmann in his website, boardgamegeek.com.

Farpotchket may seem similar to ongepotchket, and it is, but there's an important difference. Ongepotchket implies excessive complexity, perhaps due to poor planning, or too many attempts to "improve" something. Whereas farpotchket doesn't imply any complexity at all, just laziness or incompetence. Yes, there is a bit of overlap between the two.

A farpotchket thank-you letter suggests insincerity, while an ongepotchket thank-you letter goes into minute detail that you didn't need.

Farpotchket work is done as quickly as possible. Something ongepotchket probably took way too long.

And they can overlap by both having come about due to an attempt to fix or improve something. Something farpotchket is ruined after one such attempt. Something ongepotchket has had many such attempts, and might actually "work" in a sense after all that, but it's been made complicated and ugly in the process.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Yedid Nefesh Sung by Meir Barchichat

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.

In today's video, Yedid Nefesh is sung by Rabbi Meir Barchichat. Rabbi Barchichat is the founder of Netiv Meir, whose primary activity is organizing Bar Mitzvah celebrations for underprivileged children in Israel. 

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Jackie Mason on Luxury Apartments 59 Years Ago

Today we're continuing our tribute to legendary comedian Jackie Mason, who died last Saturday at the age of 93. While his humor didn't appeal to all, and made some people uncomfortable, there's no denying that he was funny and topical in his political incorrectness.

Mason had a special insight into societal trends, attitudes and actions that defied common sense. His matter-of-fact observations played out to large appreciative audiences on highly rated TV shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show.

We've already posted some of these appearances over the years, but there are others that we hope to share with you in the coming months. 

Today we're sharing a routine about luxury apartments that Mason presented 59 years ago in 1962.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday     #TBT

A tip of the kippah to Meyer Berkowitz for bringing this video to our attention.

Israel's Baseball Team Hopes for Olympic Medals in Tokyo

Israel's i24 news is reporting that the Israel baseball team is heading to Tokyo to be one of six countries competing for medals in the sport that few Israelis follow or even know about. The Israeli team will be playing against the United States, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

Most of the more than 40 members of the team are Jewish Americans who played in the big leagues. They got their citizenship and passports and qualified to represent Israel in the games.

As Cody Williams wrote in the New York Post,

Amid a group of stalwarts in the world of baseball, Israel has been a nation on the rise in the sport in recent years. They have shot up into the top 25 of the world rankings in recent years, including making a run in the World Baseball Classic back in 2017. However, this will be the country’s first appearance ever in the Olympics.

The major factor differentiating the 2017 WBC squad from the group heading to Tokyo is that the Olympics have stricter eligibility requirements, essentially requiring all players to be naturally born Israeli citizens or to have made aliyah (Jewish return to Israel to become a citizen). For the WBC, The Law of Return allowed virtually any Jewish baseball player to join Team Israel.

The first game between Israel and the USA is scheduled for 6 am on Friday.

Play ball!

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A Minute of Yiddish - Cookie Kibitznik Goes Noshing (and Noshing and Noshing) at Costco

Meet Cookie Kibbitznik – your favorite Jewish mother! She's a technically-challenged Boomer fashionista – a tell-it-like-it-is kind of unfiltered gal ... a power-walking, pool-jogging, brisket-making, mah jongg maven ... your new favorite Funny Girl and giver of sage advice! She's here to teach you Yiddish, as you fall out of your chair, laughing! 

These videos are not meant to compete with serious Yiddish language tutorials such as the new Duolingo  course or Rukhl Schaechter's Word of the Day lessons from the Forward. They focus on Yiddish words that you probably already know, but illustrate their use in hilarious ways. They are produced and acted out by a woman who reveals only her first name, Perri. In today's video and other that we will be sharing in the coming weeks, she assumes the identity of Cookie Kibitznik, a yenta if we ever saw won.

In this episode, Cookie pays a lunchtime visit to her local Costco and takes advantage again and again of the free samples that the store provides to shoppers.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Day: "Insurance"

Since 2010, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has recorded hundreds of in-depth video interviews that provide a deeper understanding of the Jewish experience and the legacy and changing nature of Yiddish language and culture. 

The interviews in the growing collection are conducted in Yiddish and/or English with narrators of all ages from a variety of backgrounds. 

Hyman Batalion, Yiddish speaker and Montreal native, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on August 16, 2016, at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  

 

Last year we posted a clip from the interview, in which Batalion, father of YidLife Crisis co-creator Eli Batalion, reflected on some of the early Yiddish speaking Montreal comedians and retold some of the old jokes.

In this clip from the interview, Batalion tells a joke in Yiddish with English subtitles. Here's the setup: A guy calls an insurance company and asks for insurance. The salesman asks him "How old are you?" And then...

Enjoy!

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Remembering Jackie Mason: Legendary Borscht Belt, Broadway, Film and TV Standup Comedian

The world of Jewish humor lost one of its brightest stars yesterday with the death of 93-year-old Jackie Mason, a fifth generation Orthodox rabbi who traded the pulpit for the stage.

As Mark Kennedy wrote for the Associated Press,

The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.

“Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe,” he once joked. Another Mason line was: “Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.” About himself, he once said: “I was so self-conscious, every time football players went into a huddle; I thought they were talking about me.”

His Wikipedia biography fills in some of the details of his career change from rabbi to comedian:

As a teenager, Mason worked as a busboy at resorts in the Borscht Belt in New York's Catskill Mountains. He recalled: "Twenty minutes, at the Pearl Lake Hotel. I broke all the dishes. They made me a lifeguard. 'But I can't swim', I told the owner. 'Don't tell the guests."

At age 18 he became a cantor, and at age 25 he received semikhah from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and was ordained a rabbi (as his three brothers, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been), in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.He led congregations as their rabbi in Weldon, North Carolina, and Beth Israel Congregation in Latrobe. He said that in synagogue, "I started telling more and more jokes, and after a while, a lot of gentiles would come to the congregation just to hear the sermons. "Three years later, after his father died, he resigned from his job as a rabbi in a synagogue to become a comedian because, he says, "Somebody in the family had to make a living."

In this video clip from his August 31, 1969 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Mason goes on a hilarious rant about doctors. Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by the Nahariya Hospital Chorus

Once again it's time to welcome Shabbat with one of the most popular songs from the Shabbat service. This is the 70th version of Adon Olam that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central 11 years ago.

This version is sung by the chorus from Nahariya Hospital in Israel.

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.

 

Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Victor Borge's Presidential Humor and Language by Numbers

Victor Borge (1909-2000) was a 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. He gave his first piano recital when he was eight years old, and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

When the Nazis occupied Denmark during World War II, Borge was playing a concert in Sweden, and managed to escape to Finland. Even though Borge did not speak a word of English upon arrival, he quickly managed to adapt his jokes to the American audience, learning English by watching movies. He took the name of Victor Borge, and, in 1941, he started on Rudy Vallee's radio show, but was hired soon after by Bing Crosby for his Kraft Music Hall program.

Most of his humor centered on his relationship with his beloved piano and the funny variations on classical music that he created and performed to the delight of his audiences.

In this 1965 video clip from The Ed Sullivan Show, Borge doesn't get to the piano but offers clever commentary on President Lyndon Johnson and introduces his unique numeric twist to the English language.

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