A Yiddish Word for Valentine's Day: Love

Because today is Valentine's Day, we think it's appropriate to share the Yiddish word for love, and some expressions involving love.

There always have been mixed feelings in the Jewish world about celebrating this day which originally was named in honor of Valentine, a Christian saint. And today, you can find opinions from rabbis of all Jewish denominations that approve and disapprove of its observance.

We did some searching and found that despite some views that the holiday is foreign to Judaism and should be avoided, there are a growing number of opinions, even in the Orthodox world, that not only should the holiday be observed, but that it should be embraced.

As Rabbi Benjamin Blech, professsor of Talmud at Yeshiva University, has written about Valentine's Day on the aish.com website, 

As Jews, we may not be sure whether it's proper for us to join the party. After all, for the longest time the full name of this holiday was “St. Valentine's Day” because of its legendary link with the apocryphal story of one of the earliest Christian saints. Yet academics aren't the only ones who have recognized the dubious historical basis of this connection. Vatican II, the landmark set of reforms adopted by the Catholic Church in 1969, removed Valentine's Day from the Catholic church's calendar, asserting that "though the memorial of St. Valentine is ancient… apart from his name nothing is known… except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on 14 February."

What's left for this day, as proponents of its universal celebration declare, is something that people of all faiths may in good conscience observe: A day in which to acknowledge the power of love to make us fully human.

When I am asked as a rabbi if I think it's a good idea for Jews to celebrate Valentine's Day, my standard answer is, "Yes, we should celebrate love… every day of the year."

In 2020 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.

Today we're sharing some of the Forverts' expressions of love, including "They're having a love affair" and "I'm crazy about her."

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Malawi Men's Choir Pays Tribute to Gaza Hostages Singing Israeli Song

In a video published to the X account of the Israel Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, a Christian men's choir, named ACA for Him, from Malawi in East Africa, sings the song "Home" in Hebrew, while calling for the release of the hostages in Gaza.

As the Jerusalem Post reported this week,

The video of the men's choir was filmed by Solomon Chilemba, edited by Ehud Manor, composed by Yair Klinger, and the audio was by Kingsley Tembenu. The video opens up with text reading, “On October 7 2023, Hamas conducted a terror attack on Israel and killed innocent people. They abducted over 200 people including women, children, and elderly. ACA - 4 - HIM is calling the world to bring hostages back home. Israel and Jews have the right to exist and defend themselves like any other country.”

In its X post, the Foreign Ministry wrote, “Many and diverse parties from around the world are joining the fight to return the abductees from Gaza in different and diverse ways.” The Foreign Ministry said this video, in particular, moved them. 

Malawi was the first country in Africa to open an embassy in Jerusalem.  

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Successful Therapy"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're sharing a joke by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak (YY) Jacobson, one of America's premier Jewish scholars in Torah and Jewish mysticism.

Rabbi Jacobson, an American Chabad rabbi from Monsey, New York, is one of the most sought after speakers in the Jewish world today, lecturing to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences on six continents and in forty states, and serving as teacher and mentor to thousands across the globe. 

He is considered to be one of the most successful, passionate and mesmerizing communicators of Judaism today, culling his ideas from the entire spectrum of Jewish thought and making them relevant to contemporary audiences. 

He served as editor-in-chief of the Algemeiner Journal, and as a choizer (transcriber) for Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

He also loves to tell jokes, and here's the setup: A guy comes into a bar, orders a glass, throws it at the bartender. And then...

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila with Full Band in Slovenia

We continue to be amazed by the number of countries where Hava Nagila has been performed. This is the 121st rendition of the popular Hebrew song that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central in 2009.

Here's the latest version that we just found, a concert performance last month conducted by  Tomaz Podlesnik. It's an expanded version, called Fantasy on a Hebrew Folk Song, performed at the annual concert of the Band of the Upper Savinja Valley, at the Mozirje sports hall in Slovenia.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi by Student Cantor Iris Karlin at Temple B'nai Israel in Clearwater, Florida

Iris Karlin, a native Israeli, is an internationally acclaimed soprano, song leader, worship leader, director, conductor, composer, and educator.

Iris started her musical path as a pianist and flutist, and as she started singing she moved from rock to musical theatre to operettas and operas. She was praised for her rare combination of stage presence and musicianship by critics and conductors alike. She continued to direct and conduct choirs, theater productions, and kids' shows. 

Iris is now on her path to becoming a Cantor, studying at Hebrew Union College, and serving as a student Cantor at Temple B'nai Israel in Clearwater, FL. In her years of studies at HUC Iris had been composing and distributing liturgical contemporary music to Reform Synagogues, and had won prizes for excellence in composition. 

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Musical Showcase: Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme Sing a Beatles Medley on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1970

It's another Throwback Thursday, so come with us on a nostalgia trip back to 1970 when Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show to sing a medley of love songs by the Beatles.

Included in the medley are All You Need Is Love, With A Little Help From My Friends, When I'm 64, And I Love Her, Michelle, Ob La Di, and All My Loving.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Company Implements Formal Friday and Wacky Wednesday Dress for Employees

Candid Camera was an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947. 

After a series of theatrical film shorts, also titled Candid Microphone, Funt's concept came to television on August 10, 1948, and continued into the 1970s. 

The show involved concealing cameras filming ordinary people being confronted with unusual situations, sometimes involving trick props, such as a desk with drawers that pop open when one is closed or a car with a hidden extra gas tank. When the joke was revealed, victims would be told the show's catchphrase, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera."

Peter Funt joined the show professionally in 1987 when he became a co-host with his father. During this time the show was being broadcast on the CBS television network. In 1993, Allen Funt had a serious stroke, from which he never fully recovered. This required Peter to host the show full-time. 

The show went through a few revivals. During his time on the show Peter was a producer, host and acted on the show. He also produced and hosted over 200 episodes. 

In this classic episode set in an office in 2000, a company turns the tables on Casual Friday and implements a policy of Formal Friday and Wacky Wednesday for its employees with mixed results.

Enjoy!

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13 New York City Cantors Sing Hinei Ma Tov to Oklahoma's Opening Song

Last week Park Avenue Synagogue's Cantor Azi Schwartz led a group of New York City cantors in singing Hinei Ma Tov to the melody of "Oh what a beautiful mornin'", the opening song in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

It was quite fitting for an event taking place at the site of Oklahoma's original premiere.

For the first time ever, a Shabbat service was brought to the Broadway stage. Featuring leading Broadway stars at the St. James Theatre for Shabbat Shira last week, Shabbat on Broadway was an inclusive experience that blended prayer and inspirational showtunes. Produced by Amanda Lipitz and Henry Tisch, this event fostered a sense of togetherness during a challenging time for Jews worldwide.

Cantors in this video (in order of appearance): Azi Schwartz, Mira Davis (Park Avenue Synagogue); Jenna Pearsall (Central Synagogue); Irena Altschul (Temple Israel); Daniel Singer (Stephen Wise Free Synagogue); Mo Glazman (Temple Emanuel); Shiree Kidron (Or Olam); Shimon Smith (Romemu); Shayna De Lowe (Congregation Rodeph Sholom); Todd Kipnis (Temple Shaaray Tefila); Olivia Brodsky (East End Temple); Natasha Hirschorn (Ansche Chesed); Luis Cattan (Sutton Place Synagogue) 

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Hospital Bill"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. This week we're posting another joke from Dr. Jay Orlikoff, 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: An old Jewish guy was taken to a Catholic hospital for an emergency operation. While he was registering, one of the nuns came over to him and asked him who will be responsible for the bill. And then...

Enjoy!

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Yiddish Word of the Day: Court

In 2020 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 court and other words related to courtroom proceedures.

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Welcoming Shabbat in Ladino with Sarah Aroeste Singing Buen Shabat

Tonight we welcome Shabbat with Buen Shabat, a lively song in the Ladino language, sung by Sarah Aroeste who, inspired by her family's Sephardic roots in N. Macedonia and Greece, has spent the last two decades bringing her contemporary vision for Sephardic culture- through music and books- to audiences around the world.  

Aroeste writes and sings in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish dialect that originated by Spanish Jews after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Those who left Spain, including Aroeste’s family, carried the medieval language with them to the various points where they later settled, primarily along the Mediterranean coast and North Africa. In time, Ladino came to absorb bits and pieces of languages all along the Mediterranean coast, including some Greek, Turkish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Hebrew, and more.

This exotic pan-Mediterranean language has, unfortunately, been fading away. But the continued musical legacy of Spanish Jews highlights the strength of an oral tradition that spans centuries and crosses many geographic boundaries.

American born and trained in classical opera as a teenager at Westminster Choir College and then at Yale University, Aroeste became drawn to her Sephardic musical past after spending a summer in 1997 performing at the Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv.  There, she had the fortune of studying with Nico Castel, one of the world’s great Ladino singers and coaches at the Metropolitan Opera, with whom she learned she shared a similar Sephardic background.  Continuing to study with Castel upon her return to the US, Aroeste started incorporating classical Ladino songs into her opera repertoire. She quickly realized that Ladino, not opera, was her true musical passion and soon after made the leap to studying Ladino full time.

Since then, Aroeste has been a vocal advocate for exposing new audiences to Sephardic culture and has worked tirelessly to keep Ladino alive for a new generation. Aroeste is one of few Ladino composers today who writes her own music, and whether with her original compositions or with interpreting Ladino folk repertoire, she has developed a signature style combining traditional Mediterranean Sephardic sounds with contemporary influences such as rock, pop and jazz.

Sarah sings with participation from Alan Franco and Berkshire Salsa, and members of the Latino and Jewish communities of the Berkshires, Massachusetts.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Comedian Larry David Discovers His Polish Jewish Roots and His Mother's Secrets

Comedian Larry David appeared on the PBS program Finding Your Roots and was shocked to discover family secrets about his notoriously tight-lipped mother – including her real name! 

Watch Larry’s astonishing reaction after learning about his mother’s mysterious past and origins in conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: DMV Weigh-in - A Candid Camera Classic

Candid Camera was an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947. 

After a series of theatrical film shorts, also titled Candid Microphone, Funt's concept came to television on August 10, 1948, and continued into the 1970s. 

The show involved concealing cameras filming ordinary people being confronted with unusual situations, sometimes involving trick props, such as a desk with drawers that pop open when one is closed or a car with a hidden extra gas tank. When the joke was revealed, victims would be told the show's catchphrase, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera."

Peter Funt joined the show professionally in 1987 when he became a co-host with his father. During this time the show was being broadcast on the CBS television network. In 1993, Allen Funt had a serious stroke, from which he never fully recovered. This required Peter to host the show full-time. 

The show went through a few revivals. During his time on the show Peter was a producer, host and acted on the show. He also produced and hosted over 200 episodes. 

This classic episode first aired in 2002. People renewing their driver's licenses at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Seaside, California were asked to confirm their weight by stepping on a scale before getting the license. Their reactions and interactions with Funt are hilarious.

Enjoy!

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Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews Celebrate Ladino Day in New York City

Yesterday was Ladino Day, a celebration of Sephardi culture. Yiddish instructor Moishele Alfonso attended the 7th annual event at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. There, he found several Yiddish speakers and chatted with them in order to find out what brought them there. 

Ladino Day is an educational and celebratory program that centers the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) language through story and song, and with lectures and reflections from scholars, activists, and community members.

Due to demographic displacement, the destruction wrought by the Holocaust, and the pressures of assimilation, the number of native Ladino speakers has declined rapidly in the last 100 years: UNESCO has even designated Ladino an endangered language.

The language is being kept alive by colleges such as the University of Washington and Jewish organizations such as YIVO which conduct Sephardic Studies programs and annual celebrations with stories and song.

Moishele's video is in Yiddish, with English subtitles.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Taxi Encounter"

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: One day a woman jumped into the back of a taxi cab in New York City and sprawled out completely on the back seat. And then...

Enjoy!

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Comedian Elon Gold at the West Side Comedy Club on Protests and Occupation

We've been following Elon Gold and posting some of his shtick on Jewish Humor Central for the last 12 years. 

Elon is an American comedian, television actor, writer and producer. He starred in the television series Stacked.  He also starred in the short-lived sitcom In-Laws. 

 

Known for his impressions, including those of Jeff Goldblum, Howard Stern and Jay Leno, Gold was a judge on the ABC celebrity impersonation competition series The Next Best Thing. Gold was also in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen as a cameraman from the Oprah Winfrey show.

Gold attended the Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck, NY and the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (MTA)/Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan, NY. He is a practicing Orthodox Jew.

Today we're sharing a video clip of Gold's recent appearance at New York's West Side Comedy Club where he talked about the Palestinian protests against Israel and the Jews.

Enjoy!

 

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Welcoming Shabbat with Yedid Nefesh by Brazilian Cantor Ale Edelstein

Tonight we welcome Shabbat with a version of Yedid Nefesh by Cantor Ale Edelstein of the Israelita Paulista Congregation of Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Edelstein has pop artist status in the Jewish community; he does two weddings and one bar mitzvah per week.He studied at the Tel Aviv Cantor Institute, a school run by the renowned Chazan Naftali Hershtik.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Musical Showcase: Georgia Gibbs Sings Hevenu Shalom Aleichem and Zum Gali Gali

Today's Throwback Thursday Musical Showcase takes us back to July 10, 1960 when Georgia Gibbs sang Hevenu Shalom Aleichem and Zum Gali Gali on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Georgia Gibbs, born Frieda Lipschitz in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1918, was an American popular singer and vocal entertainer rooted in jazz. Already singing publicly in her early teens, Gibbs achieved acclaim and notoriety in the mid-1950s copying songs originating with the black rhythm and blues community and later became a featured vocalist for many radio and television variety and comedy programs.

Gibbs was the youngest of four children of Russian Jewish descent. Her father died when she was six months old, and she and her three siblings spent the next seven years in a local Jewish orphanage.

In 1943, with her name changed to Georgia Gibbs, she began appearing on the Camel Caravan radio program, hosted by Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore, where she remained a regular performer until 1947. It was Moore who bestowed upon her the famous nickname "Her Nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs," ironically using the title to describe the singer of diminutive stature who had an enormous "authoritative" prominence in American pop music.

Enjoy!

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      #Throwback Thursday      #TBT

It's Another Jewish Holiday -- We Celebrate Tu B'Shvat Tonight Through Tomorrow Night!

 

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 are some Israeli children singing HaShkeidiah Porachat (The almond tree will blossom), the most popular song to celebrate the holiday.

 

Lyrics in English and Hebrew appear below the video.

Enjoy!

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The almond tree will blossom 

The sun above is awesome 

Birds on rooftops all the day singing it's a holiday 

Tu Bi'Shvat Higi'a chag ha ilanot (Tu Bi'Shvat has arrived, the holiday of the trees) 

Tu Bi'Shvat Higi'a chag ha ilanot (Tu Bi'Shvat has arrived, the holiday of the trees) 

 

The land we love is grieving 

It is a time for giving 

Everyone will plant a tree with a shovel happily 

Tu Bi'Shvat Higi'a chag ha ilanot 

Tu Bi'Shvat Higi'a chag ha ilanot 

 

 השקדיה פורחת ושמש פז זורחת 

ציפורים מראש כל גג מבשרות את בוא החג 

טו בשבט הגיע חג האילנות טו בשבט הגיע חג האילנות 

הארץ משועת הגיע עת לטעת

כל אחד יטע פה עץ באיתים נצא חוצץ

 טו בשבט הגיע חג האילנות טו בשבט הגיע חג האילנות

On Day 108 of Gaza Hostage Crisis, Shulem Lemmer Performs at Anshei Emuna in Delray Beach

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 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 Broadway and Hollywood tunes as he is with Chassidic music. As we continue to focus on the challenges that Israel faces in Gaza, let's apply the sentiments expressed in When You Believe -- a hope that all soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces accomplish their mission and bring the hostages home safely.

Shulem will be performing live in concert again at Anshei Emuna Congregation in Delray Beach, Florida tonight. We'll be there and if you're planning to be in South Florida in January, we'll see you there. 

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Young Beethoven"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. This week we're posting another joke from Dr. Jay Orlikoff, 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 young Beethoven spends every minute at the piano playing. Finally he's just getting on his mother's nerves. And then...

Enjoy!

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Yiddish Word of the Day - "Tunnels"

In 2020 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.

Tunnels have been in the news lately and the Forward, always keeping the Yiddish language up to date, is giving us examples of its use, not only as tunnels dug in the earth, but also as in such expressions as tunnel vision and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Enjoy!

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