Sukkot Shopping in Israel with Malkah Fleischer

Sukkot shopping in the USA can be very different depending on where you live. In communities with large Jewish populations like New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Miami Beach, you may find a few items. 

Nothing like the displays of matzot, gefilte fish, and grape juice that we see for Pesach, but at least there is some recognition of the holiday. In areas with small Jewish populations signs of Sukkot and Simchat Torah simply do not exist.

In Israel, however, Sukkot shopping can be a surreal experience with an overwhelming selection of products -- not only food and drink, but an endless supply of the four species and sukkah accessories and decorations, and lots of toys made just for the holidays.

A few days before Sukkot, Malkah Fleischer made a video on her phone of her journey to an Osher Ad supermarket in Israel. Just as she did in a Pesach shopping video and a Sukkot shopping video that we posted last year, she documented the vast number and variety of products filling the many aisles of the cavernous space stocked with endless piles of merchandise, organized for Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews based on their respective customs and traditions.

After a dizzying tour of the supermarket, you'll either be jealous of the many choices offered to Israeli customers, or grateful that your choices are limited to a manageable number of products.

We will be celebrating Sukkot from tonight through Simchat Torah next Sunday, so Jewish Humor Central is taking the week off and will return on Monday, October 5 with a very special announcement. Watch for it!

We wish you Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sukkot Sameach!

A Busy Day in Jerusalem - Sukkot Shopping with Malkah Fleisher

In America, shopping for special foods and Judaica items for the Sukkot holiday varies from easy to impossible, depending on what neighborhood you live in. Not so in Jerusalem, where the whole city is a Sukkot marketplace, especially in stores like Osher Ad, Israel's answer to Costco and similar large stores.

Just before Sukkot, Malkah Fleisher, wife of Yishai Fleisher, the international spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron, went shopping. 

In this video, recorded a few days before Sukkot which starts tonight, Malkah takes us on a tour of the Osher Ad store in Jerusalem, where everything you might want for the holiday and items you didn't know existed are available. 

Yishai is a podcast host, pro-Israel advocate and political advisor. Malkah is an Israel-rights activist, host on the Yishai Fleisher Israel podcast, and a marketing communications strategist at JNS. She is a graduate of Cardozo Law School and a wife and mom raising three kids in Judea.

We will be celebrating Sukkot from tonight through Simchat Torah next Wednesday, so Jewish Humor Central is taking the week off and will return on Thursday, October 16. 

Enjoy, and have a very happy Yom Tov!

Bingo Grocery in Boro Park Now Selling Shtreimels for $499

Are you heading to the supermarket with your shopping list? Let's see what's on it....oranges, apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, shtreimels??????

What? Shtreimels in a supermarket? If you're shopping in the Bingo wholesale kosher grocery in Boro Park, Brooklyn, you'll find Bingo's latest sale item -- Fur shtreimels for the bargain price of $499 each.

It kind of makes sense. Shtreimels, the fur hats worn by many married haredi Jewish men, particularly (although not exclusively) members of Hasidic groups, on Shabbat and Jewish holidays and other festive occasions, can cost $1000 to $5000. So why shouldn't you be able to toss a $499 model into your shopping cart along with gefilte fish and challah?

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.  

19 Types of Shoppers You Meet at the Supermarket - Which One Are You?

It happens almost every time you go to the supermarket. You can't help running into him or her. And it's always annoying. Who are we talking about? 19 typical shoppers who drive you nuts. 

There's the checklister, the calorie counter, the helpless husband, the snacker, the shopper blocker, the taste tester, the overstocker, and 12 more who test your patience while shopping.We hope you're not one of them.

Filmmaker Meir Kay created this video at Aron's Kissena Farms kosher supermarket in Flushing, Queens, New York. 

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.