The Weird Jewish Hats of Medieval Art

Throughout the middle ages, Jews have been depicted in stained glass windows, paintings and illustrations as wearing a funny looking hat, looking like a flying saucer topped with a knob, or a variation of the Phrygian hat, now mainly worn by the Smurfs.

Most of medieval art was Christian, and questions have been raised as to whether these were merely depictions of what Jews really wore or whether they were antisemitic caricatures.

The Judenhat ("Jewish hat") can be traced back to medieval Europe. You can even find it in the Bird’s Head Haggadah and some other Jewish books of the time. Originally a marker of eastern learning, antiquity and authority, and even fashionable with 12th century aristocracy, things took a dark turn as Jews were depicted wearing the hat while stabbing Jesus. Paired with a “Jewish nose”, the hat can even sometimes still be seen in antisemitic depictions of Jews today.

So is it an antisemitic trope or a fashion statement? In her book Dark Mirror, Sara Lipton analyzes these graphic depictions. The YouTube channel Unpacked has posted a video that looks at this complex topic from many angles and tries to untangle it.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "The Magician"

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: A really adept and world famous magician was hired by a cruise company to entertain all the passengers. He had a parrot on his shoulder. And then...

Enjoy!

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A Minute of Yiddish: Cookie Kibitznik on the Etymology and Use of the Word "Nebbish"

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 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 traces the etymology and gives many examples of when it's appropriate to call someone a nebbish.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with V'Shamru by Cantors of the Stephen Wise Temple of Los Angeles

Stephen Wise Temple is a large Reform Jewish congregation in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1964 by the late Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, with 35 families, the congregation grew rapidly. At various times in its history it has been stated to be the largest, or one of the largest, Jewish congregations in the world.  

At one time it had a membership of about 3,000 families, six rabbis, two cantors and two cantorial interns, and four schools on three campuses. As of 1994 it was the second-largest synagogue in the United States.

As we get ready to observe another Shabbat, Cantor Emma Lutz and Cantorial Intern Josh Goldberg sing V'Shamru from the Kabbalat Shabbat Friday evening service. 

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Another Rodney Dangerfield Routine From The Ed Sullivan Show

It's Throwback Thursday again and we're going back 54 years to get another dose of Rodney Dangerfield explaining why he "don't get no respect."

Born Jacob Rodney Cohen on Long Island, Dangerfield (he took the name from a character in a skit on the Jack Benny Show) had a career that went beyond standup comedy to the movies and to his own comedy club, Dangerfield's, in Manhattan.

In this video clip from The Ed Sullivan Show in June 1967, Dangerfield delivers monologues and tosses out one-liners about being thin, his New York neighborhood, and his wife.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: Jack Benny and "The Landrews Sisters" in 1957

Back in 2012 we posted a comedy clip from The Jack Benny Show from 1957 in which Jack was conducting a talent show to give a break to new performers. Of course Benny's shows were comedies and so were the talent performances. 

The memorable clip that we posted featured Mel Blanc as Stanley Gropff, who created a spray every time he pronounced his name. Gropff (Blanc said his original name was Shpritzer) was the first contestant in this show. 

Today we're posting a continuation of this show, with the second contestants a trio called The Landrews Sisters, obviously a take-off on The Andrews Sisters. Not believing what he's seeing, Benny takes off his glasses, shpritzes "Gropff" onto the lenses, and proceeds to clean them.

The "sisters" were in reality three actress/comedians: Muriel Landers, Iris Adrian, and June Earle. The patter between Benny and the girls was funny in 1957 and is still funny today, but would likely be banned in today's cancel culture.

Enjoy!

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Hava Nagila Around the World: RedBricks Harmonica Ensemble Performs in Hong Kong Reservoir

Today we're adding a 97th version of Hava Nagila to our series of its performances all around the world. This one is a rendition from Hong Kong.

The RedBricks Harmonica Ensemble was formed by five enthusiastic musicians from King’s College, a secondary school for boys in Hong Kong. They have been frequent winners in the World Harmonica Festival in Germany. However, winning trophies and awards are only the very start of their music journeys. They have performed as members of Hong Kong Harmonica Association in Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia and Germany and Bahrain. 

In the same year, RedBricks was the 3rd runner up in World Harmonica Festival Trio Category. In August 2018, the group was the 1st runner up in the 6th Seoul International Harmonica Festival Trio Category. In October 2018, RedBricks was invited by the Hong Kong Home Affairs Bureau to join the 1st China International Import Expo in Shanghai, showcasing Hong Kong harmonica music in the National Exhibition Area. During the tour to Shanghai, RedBricks also performed at the Hong Kong Dinner hosted by the Chief Executive Mrs. Carrie Lam, demonstrating harmonica music as the soft power of Hong Kong.

In this video, RedBricks performs Hava Nagila in the Shing Mun reservoir in Hong Kong.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Barber Shop"

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: Rose band Mary are two middle aged women who happen to be sitting next to each other on a long distance flight. To pass the time they started to converse. And then...

Enjoy!

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A Minute of Yiddish: Cookie Kibitznik on When to Call Someone a Pisher

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 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 gives many examples of when it's appropriate to call someone a pisher.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by the Nangolo Stern Girls' Choir of Uganda

A Jewish community in Uganda has put together a series of 64 videos comprising the Shabbat morning service. Now posted on YouTube, they are available for everyone to see how Shabbat is celebrated among the Jews of Uganda.

 The series is called We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Prayers.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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70-Year-Old Gwen Goldman Becomes NY Yankees Bat Girl After 60 Year Wait

In 1961, ten-year-old Gwen Goldman wrote a letter to the New York Yankees asking to be a bat girl. The response she got would make modern girls bristle. Team manager Ron Hamey wrote:

“While we agree with you that girls are certainly as capable as boys, and no doubt would be an attractive addition on the playing field, I am sure you can understand that in a game dominated by men a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout.”

As Julia Gergely wrote yesterday in The Forward,

Although it wasn’t the response she had hoped for, a note with the Yankees letterhead was still exciting, and Goldman remained a fan.

She never expected the Yankees to reach out after all these years to right their wrong.

Brian Cashman, the Yankees GM since 1998, reached out to Goldman after hearing the story from her daughter. “A woman belongs everywhere a man does, including the dugout,” he read out loud to Goldman from a new letter on a surprise Zoom call with her family.

As part of the Yankees HOPE Week Initiative, Cashman invited Goldman to work as a bat girl for a game. “Some dreams take longer than they should to be realized,” his letter finishes, “but a goal attained should not dim with the passage of time.”

After 60 years, Goldman's dream was realized in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.

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Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: Allan Sherman Joins Andy Williams in a Parody of Chim Chim Cheree

Allan Sherman dominated the world of song parody during the 1960s and recorded eight albums, starting with My Son the Folksinger.  

Listening to or reading his lyrics is a crash course in pop culture of the 1960s, with Sherman taking satiric swipes at summer camp, psychiatry, fad diets, Hadassah ladies, school dropouts, and upward mobility.

The popularity of his parodies got him many guest appearances on TV variety shows. In this video clip, Sherman joins Andy Williams in a take-off of Chim Chim Cheree that pokes fun at all the special ingredients touted in 1960s commercials, such as teflon, orlon, banlon, marfac, melmac, fluoristan, lanolin, and many others.

Enjoy!

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Wishing Mel Brooks a Happy 95th Birthday

Mel Brooks turned 95 yesterday and his birthday triggered good wishes from other big names in the entertainment industry. 

Born Melvin Kaminsky in 1926, Brooks is known as a creator of broad film farces and comedic parodies. Brooks began his career as a comic and a writer for Sid Caesar's variety show Your Show of Shows (1950–1954) alongside Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. Together with Carl Reiner, he created the comic character The 2000 Year Old Man. He wrote, with Buck Henry, the hit television comedy series Get Smart, which ran from 1965 to 1970.

In middle age, Brooks became one of the most successful film directors of the 1970s, with many of his films being among the top 10 moneymakers of the year they were released. His best-known films include The Producers (1967), The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). A musical adaptation of his first film, The Producers, ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007 and was remade into a musical film in 2005. 

Here are two short birthday greeting videos from Sarah Silverman with Conan O'Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel.

Happy Birthday, Mel !!!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Engine Trouble"

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: After a meeting at Camp David between Israelis and Iranians, the Israeli chief negotiator and the Ayatollah find themselves in a plane that develops engine trouble. And then...

Enjoy!

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A Minute of Yiddish: Cookie Kibitznik on How to Wear a Schmatte, Not How to Be One

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 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 shows how to wear a schmatte, and how not to be one.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Yedid Nefesh by Beit Tefilah Israeli

Beit Tefilah Israeli (BTI) is a fast-growing community in Tel Aviv that is renewing and revitalizing the notion of prayer. Services at BTI combine live music, modern poetry and literature with the traditional prayer book. 

In recent years BTI became famous for its Summer Kabbalat Shabbat service at the Tel Aviv port, which attracts up to 800 worshippers each week. This phenomenon—attracting many secular Israelis who once felt marginalized by the Jewish community—is now being replicated in Jerusalem and throughout Israel. 

Today we welcome Shabbat with the BTI version of Yedid Nefesh, a liturgical poem at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat service.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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