Storyteller Noa Baum Reads "Trotsky's Telegram" (Inflection is Everything)

It's not what you say that counts. It's how you say it. And when you add a Yiddish inflection, anything can happen.

Noa Baum, an expert storyteller who was born and raised in Jerusalem, has a unique approach to storytelling in communities and organizations. Since 1982, she has inspired and educated audiences of all ages with her performances, keynotes, and workshops.

Noa holds a BFA in Theater from Tel Aviv University and was an actress with the Khan Repertory Theater of Jerusalem. She continued to combine storytelling and drama while working in a school for emotionally disturbed boys in Tel-Aviv. Noa also taught early childhood and special education teachers at several colleges, including Levinsky Teachers College.

Noa has been living in the U.S. since 1990 and touring internationally. She has presented at hundreds of venues including: The World Bank, The Mayo Clinic, The Kennedy Center, The US Defense Department, GWU Law School, Brandies and Stanford Universities, and Hebrew University.

Her one-woman show for adults, A Land Twice Promised, received a grant from the National Storytelling Network. She has also received several Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County Maryland. She won a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award for her CD, Far Away and Close to Home.

In the video below, Noa performs one of her stories, "Trotsky's Telegram."

The scene: Red Square, near the Kremlin. Stalin addresses a roaring crowd, reading a telegram that he just received from Trotsky. A little Jewish tailor, standing in front of the podium, suggests an alternate reading. Enjoy!

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Plans Made For Movie About Mickey Katz, King of Not-So-Kosher Yiddish Parody

Anyone who was tuned in to Jewish comedy in the 1950s was tuned in to the hilarious Yiddish song parodies of Mickey Katz.  During that era Katz released dozens of songs that made fun of most of the pop songs that deserved to be made fun of.

Hernando's Hideaway became Hermendel's Koch-Alein, Cry of the Wild Goose became Geshray of De Vilde Kotchke, Ghost Riders in the Sky became Borscht Riders in the Sky, Shrimp Boats became Herring Boats, Wheel of Fortune became Shlemiel of Fortune, Doggie in the Window became Pickle in the Window, and Kiss of Fire became Kiss of Meyer. And the list went on and on.

Now, filmmaker Eric Krasner is working on a documentary to bring Katz's shtick to a wider audience and generations who, if they heard of him at all, recognize his name as the father of actor Joel Grey and the grandfather of Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey.

Contributing to the hilarity of Katz's songs was the Yiddish lyrics, which had a risque nuance that was only apparent if you had a good command of Yiddish slang. In the video below, Phil Fink, Cleveland radio host of Shalom America, reminisces about Katz's lyrics, and Peter Sokolow, also known as Klezmer Fats, takes to the piano to play and sing a few examples.

Enjoy!

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"Big Business" - A Comedy Classics Tribute to Sid Caesar on His 90th Birthday

Sid Caesar is turning 90 on September 8, and we haven't seen him performing his zany comedy for a long time. But thanks to YouTube and the internet, we still have access to much of his classic work. Much of it is in the field of comedy sketches, in which he is arguably the master.

Caesar was funny by himself, but when he got together with Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, and Imogene Coca in skits on the 1950s TV program Your Show of Shows, it was always classic gold.

We came across a sketch called Big Business that had us, in today's internet shorthand, ROTFL. (If you don't know what that means, look for the small type below the video.)

This sketch also features Reiner and Morris, but not Coca, probably because in 1950 there were few women attending power meetings in the world of big business. 

The group starts out having a serious business meeting, but when the issue of having lunch comes up, everything starts to get out of control, especially when the sandwiches are delivered and Howard Morris starts waving his pickle in view of the now starving Sid Caesar.

We've heard that some corporations actually use this sketch as an introduction to training sessions on how not to run a meeting.

Enjoy, and Happy Birthday, Sid!

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(ROTFL = Rolling on the floor laughing)

Rare Video Shows Composer Marvin Hamlisch Was Funny, Too

Renowned composer Marvin Hamlisch, who passed away last week at the age of 68, had a funny side that surfaced when he performed music and comedy shtick at Congregation Beth Tzedec in Toronto Canada.

A rare video appeared a few days ago that showed Hamlisch, who was famed for writing the music for A Chorus Line, The Way We Were, The Sting, and James Bond movies, singing, playing the piano, and doing shtick with Simon Spiro, the cantor of Congregation Beth Tzedec.

In this nine minute clip, after four minutes of kidding around, Hamlisch and Spiro launch into a new version of Irving Berlin's "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" with special lyrics by Aliza Spiro.

Enjoy! 

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(A tip of the kippah to Sheila Zucker for bringing this video to our attention.)

British Comedy Showcase: Insurance Against Becoming Jewish

We've shared lots of comedy sketches among the almost 900 posts since Jewish Humor Central started in October 2009, and most of them are either American or Israeli. But Jewish comedy isn't limited by geography. So we're going further afield to find some funny shtick that comes from other countries.

The Two Ronnies was a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.

Their satire reminds us of some of the classic sketches of Monty Python and Saturday Night Live.

One of the most popular sketches performed by the Two Ronnies was a scene in an insurance company office where Barker, dressed in full chassidic regalia, asks Corbett if he can buy a policy against becoming Jewish. The audience ate it up, and we hope you enjoy it, too.

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Musical Showcase: Meet SoulAviv and Their Uptempo Spiritual Jewish Music

We've been showcasing new Jewish comedians and revisiting some classic old-timers in the three years that Jewish Humor Central has been visible online. Now we think it's time to do the same for Jewish musical groups that are new on the scene and who make music that we like a lot.

Even though SoulAviv was formed in 2007, we just came across them this week and we wanted to share their beautiful music with you.

In the past five short years SoulAviv has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting new vocal groups in Jewish Music. Named as one of the top 12 Jewish music groups in the world, they are equally at ease singing in English, Hebrew, or Yiddish. Their unique and original repertoire is infused with the sounds of Motown, gospel, Memphis soul, and a particularly affinity with the great harmony groups of the 60's and 70's. Socially conscious lyrics mix with deep spirituality; combined with jubilant celebration, and a little California sunshine thrown in for fun.

The four band members have deep musical roots and one is the granddaughter of a rabbi and a cantor. Lots of information about them appears on their website.

As we head into Shabbat, we'd like to share their interpretation of Hashkivenu at  a Valley Outreach Synagogue outdoor Reform Shabbat service in Woodland Hills, California.

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom.

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Aly Raisman Wins Gymnastics Gold and Honors 1972 Israeli Munich Athletes

Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast Alexandra (Aly) Raisman was a double source of nachas for the Jewish community worldwide on Tuesday when she became the first American to win the gold medal for the floor exercise in gymnastics. 

After receiving the medal, she said that it was a special victory because it came on the 40th anniversary of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.

As Agence France-Presse reported:

Alexandra Raisman said winning a gold medal on the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre made her achievement "special" after she triumphed in the Olympic women's gymnastics floor final on Tuesday.

Raisman, who is Jewish, performed her floor routine to the backing of Hebrew folk song 'Hava Nagila' and earned a score of 15.600 points to claim her third medal of the London Games at North Greenwich Arena.

The 18-year-old American said that she had not selected the music specifically to coincide with the anniversary, but added that she was proud to have marked the occasion.

"Having that floor music wasn't intentional, but the fact it was on the 40th anniversary is special and winning the gold today means a lot to me," she said.

"If there had been a moment's silence, I would have supported it and respected it."

Here's the video of Raisman's winning performance. Enjoy!

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Just When You Thought You'd Seen It All -- Announcing Kosher Diapers!

As big fans of Purim humor, we feel threatened whenever true stories appear that seem to be Purim jokes but are very real. How can we come up with funny make-believe products and headlines when funnier ones appear in the news every day?

After yesterday's post about blurry eyeglasses to prevent the wearer from seeing immodestly dressed women, we thought we'd seen it all. But no, we hadn't, because today's unbelievable but true story is the announcement of Kosher Diapers.

We're not kidding. Apparently some diaper users were concerned that using the tape on the tabs to attach the two halves of the diaper is somehow related to sewing, one of the 39 categories of work that was used to build the Temple and is therefore forbidden on Shabbat. Or that the bond was so strong that once applied, the only way to remove the diaper was to tear it, another forbidden task.

So some ingenious marketer came up with the idea of using only Velcro tabs, which can be hooked together and separated again and again, without violating any Shabbat laws. Presumably, the new kosher diapers will be sold wherever you can buy kosher pacifiers and kosher toilet seats.

The boxes have a seal stating that the diapers are approved for Shabbat and Holidays, but no rabbi's name appears as the approver. We suspect that they're planning to announce it on Purim.

A Real Invention From Chelm: Blurry Glasses to Prevent Looking at Women

We had to check our calendar today to be sure it's not April Fools' day or Purim. We came across a piece of breaking news on the Vos Is Neias Haredi website that brings us to restate our observation that you just can't make this stuff up.

What's the news? That a startup company in Jerusalem is selling eyeglasses with blurred lenses so that wearers will not have to look at immodestly dressed women when they are walking in the street. Evidently they have not been able to black out all of the billboards and put stickers on all consumer products that show images of women in all states of dress and undress.

As Allison C. Witty wrote in VIN News,

The glasses contain blurry lenses that obscure the wearer’s vision and do allow men not to see more than three meters.  For those who already wear glasses, the company has designed stickers that can be affixed to the existing pair of glasses which will obscure the vision.

Yedioth Ahronot reports that the glasses, designed for the charedi community, are intended for charedi men who must go to places where women will be present. The new patent cost the inventors only NIS 25. The patent includes non-prescription glasses and the obscuring stickers. The glasses with the blurry lenses contain perforations at the bottom of the lenses enabling charedi men to look down at the ground through the perforation and still see where they are walking.

Readers of VIN News have been quick to comment, and they are almost all ridiculing this new head-in-the-sand initiative.  Here are a few of the best comments:

- The Torah says that you should not put a stumbling block in front of a blind person.

- What a wonderful idea! It also enables us to cross the streets without looking since the cars can't hit me if i cant see them!!

- Does this mean that if men are wearing these glasses, women won't have to move to the back of the bus?

- Actually, this is good. add a set of ear plugs and they can serve in the army. no more excuses.

- It's funny because now they're going to bump into the women instead of seeing them.

- Yup. now they can feel their way around.

- Yep, this could easily lead to mixed dancing.

Another Great Old Jewish Joke to Start the Week - "Go to Florida"

Charlie Seibel is 92 years old but he still knows how to tell a good old Jewish joke.

This is a real oldie but goodie, and the folks at Old Jews Telling Jokes have found a master story teller to deliver it.

It's a family-friendly classic about one old friend advising another about where to travel safely and the hazards of not taking his advice. We consider it family-friendly even though it centers on a word that was avoided in mixed company for many years, but that now even The New York Times finds fit to print. Enjoy!

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Hava Nagila is Alive and Well in Buenos Aires Flash Mob

The Abasto de Buenos Aires was the central wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1893 to 1984. Since 1999, it has served as a shopping mall.

In June, shoppers in the Abasto Mall were treated to a spontaneous outpouring of Jewish song and dance to the music of Hava Nagila by a flash mob brought in by YOK, a project of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The dance was in celebration of Dia de la Bandera, an annual holiday to celebrate the Argentinian national flag. Because it was performed in Argentina, the dancers couldn't resist incorporating elements of the tango, and while they were at it, also included a few measures of To Life, L'Chayim!

Today a vibrant Jewish population is integrated into the towns and business of Buenos Aires. The neighborhoods of Once, Villa Crespo and Belgrano have the highest concentration of Jewish businesses and families, and Abasto even holds the only kosher McDonald’s outside Israel.

There are city fairs for Jewish holidays, hosted by YOK Time, a non-profit organization that encourages approaching Judaism “in your own way”. YOK’s Rosh Hashana fair offers attendees free apples and honey to celebrate the New Year and goods from local Jewish artists, and on Passover you can participate in a gefilte fish contest and listen to Klezmer music, all in the barrio of Palermo. 

YOK, which stands for ‘Yo OK’ or ‘I am OK,’ creates these urban festivals to “establish a space where people can gather to share their Jewish culture and traditions with the whole community,” according to Dana Jones of Project YOK.

Enjoy!

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Looking For a Date on Tu B'Av, "Jewish Valentine's Day"

Today is Tu B'Av, the 15th day of the Jewish month of Av. And it's a holiday. A very ancient holiday that went almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries. But in recent decades, especially in Israel, it has taken on the trappings of Valentine's Day -- a Hebrew-Jewish day of love and romance.

Originally a post-biblical day of joy, it served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the second Temple period (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.).

The website MyJewishLearning.com explains the origins of the holiday:

There is no way to know exactly how early Tu B'Av began. The first mention of this date is in the Mishnah (compiled and edited in the end of the second century), where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted saying, "There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)?"(Ta'anit, Chapter 4).

The Gemara (the later, interpretive layer of the Talmud) attempts to find the origin of this date as a special joyous day, and offers several explanations. One of them is that on this day the Biblical "tribes of Israel were permitted to mingle with each other," namely: to marry women from other tribes (Talmud, Ta'anit 30b). This explanation is somewhat surprising, since nowhere in the Bible is there a prohibition on "intermarriage" among the 12 tribes of Israel. This Talmudic source probably is alluding to a story in the book of Judges (chapter 21): After a civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and other Israelite tribes, the tribes vowed not to intermarry with men of the tribe of Benjamin.

After moving to Israel a few years ago, American-Israeli comedian Benji Lovitt took to the streets of Jerusalem with his roving microphone to look for a date for Tu B'Av. Was he successful? Watch the video and see.

Benji, who now lives in Tel Aviv, will be on a comedy tour in North America between October 27 and November 15. He is now booking shows where he will share his hilarious perspective about life in Israel. You can contact him by clicking here.

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Funniest Tweets from Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium

Last night 90,000 Jews, mostly, but not all, ultra-Orthodox, gathered at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the twelfth Siyum HaShas - the completion of the seven and a half year cycle of reading all 2,711 pages of the Talmud, one day at a time. The first cycle began on Rosh Hashanah in 1923. The cycle is known as Daf Yomi (Daily Page.)

Yesterday's turnout was more than double the all-ultra-Orthodox crowd that filled Citi Field on May 20th to protest the evils of the internet. Like the anti-internet asifa (gathering), this one was live streamed over the internet and by telephone audio hookup. If population and learning trends continue in this direction, we wonder where they will find a venue for the completion of the next seven and a half year cycle, which starts today.

The rain didn't stop the enthusiastic crowd from attending the spectacle, which didn't end until 1 am this morning. Watching the sea of black hats, black suits, and white shirts over a blurry, jumpy connection, we were hoping for a spectacular opening ceremony with revered rabbis doing a parachute jump into the stadium like Queen Elizabeth and Daniel Craig did at the Olympics in London last week, but alas, all they did was give long speeches, mostly in Yiddish.

Just like the Citi Field gathering, yesterday's Siyum was followed by a host of volunteer commentators tweeting away on their smartphones, tablets, and computers. 

The tone of the tweets last night was very different from the tone at the asifa, where many of the tweets were critical of the attendees' negative attitude toward the internet, perhaps the greatest innovation in facilitating Jewish education since the invention of the printing press. The siyum hashas tweeters deserve credit for understanding that this was a worthy event celebrating a real educational achievement and the start of another. Most of the tweets were very positive, expressing joy in seeing so many happy Jews united in a good cause.

Another difference from the May gathering was that this time women were present, if not very visible. As Debra Nussbaum Cohen wrote in The Forward,

There will be lots of women at the big Siyum HaShas — which is the celebration of the completion of the daily study of the entire Talmud, which takes about 7½ years — on Wednesday evening. But they’ll be hidden behind a 25-foot high mechitzah, being installed at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey at a cost of $250,000. Agudath Israel of America, organizer of this mega-event, which some 92,000 people will attend, says that, at 2.5 linear miles, it’s the longest mechitzah in the world.

There will also be women at the smaller Siyum HaShas being organized by Rabbi Dov Linzer, the rosh yeshiva of “open Orthodox” rabbinical school Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. At that siyum, which will be held on August 6th at Congregation Shearith Israel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, women will be at the evening of learning and celebration not only as full participants, but also as teachers.

But it was refreshing to see that the tweeters haven't lost their sense of humor and irony. So we present a sampling of what we think are the funniest tweets of the night. Enjoy!

Ok so now Michael Phelps ran into MetLife stadium carrying a torch, looking very lost.@cholentface

New York siyum set a Guinness World Record for largest mechitza. @adamkaroly

"I drove ALL THE WAY HERE from VERMONT, & this is the FIRST SIYUM I've been to that doesn't have any cake!" - Angry man at the Siyum HaShas. @cholentface

Dear Frum rappers, "Daf Yomi" rhymes with "Macaroni." You're welcome. @cholentface

i feel like a party crasher. you're suppose to do WHAT for 7.5 years beforehand? @jacobgoldman

When does the music start playing like at the Oscars? @acposen

If someone hasn't suggested it already, iit would be a great bit if someone dressed up in a Waldo costume ... @alicht
 
So. Let me be the first to ask. Where can Siyum Hashas go in 7.5 years to outdo 100,000 people in one location? @chaimshapiro

The gist: they tried to kill us, we survived, and now we're ridiculously smart. @SidBridgeComedy

Before the #Siyum ends SOMEONE needs to start the wave! @chaimshapiro

You think I'd get kicked out if I screamed out J E T S JETS JETS JETS!!! ? @edistenfeld

What's 4 hours of traffic when your ancestors wandered in the desert for 40 yrs? :) @JenMaxfield7

‏These Tzeduka collecters here are probably going home with a nice amount. Imagine just 100K $1 bills. @LChaimMusic

Hashem took us out of Egypt, gave us Israel, then he gave us MetLife Stadium. @SidBridgeComedy

Lost kid - yisroel meir section 148. Reply if he's yours. @mtydhd

Best announcement heard at Siyum HaShas: "The Rabbis at the dais should enter through the Bud Light gate." @RabbiStrul

The Siyum HaShas is like the Talmud Olympics. Marathon of 2711 pages studied. 7.5 years. 90,000 people. Global event. More stamina than speed. @bradlander

‏

Somebody'd better turn off the TV screens in the bathrooms at the Siyum HaShas broadcasting divrei Torah. @urielheilman

I heard someone get up in the John and start dancing he must have got inspired from the live feed in the stalls. @bulsh4thebirds

Sorry you weren't there? Be a fly on the wall by watching this video of 90,000 Jews singing and dancing at MetLife Stadium just after the completion of the Daf Yomi cycle. Enjoy!

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(A tip of the kippah to MrMennyg for posting this video on YouTube late last night.)

What's the Capital of Israel? Just Ask a Tel Avivian

What's the capital of Israel? Does anybody know? Last week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked that question by a reporter at the daily press briefing. Here is his answer:

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Back in March, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland was asked the same question at another press conference. Here is her answer.

The British newspaper The Guardian, said in April that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel. Honest Reporting, a website that defends Israel from media bias, protested to the British Press Complaints Commission that Jerusalem is, in fact, the declared capital of the State of Israel.

In May, the commission issued its decision, stating that, "While it is correct to say that Israel classes Jerusalem as her capital city, this is not recognized by many countries and those nations enjoying diplomatic relations with Israel have their embassies in Tel Aviv. As such, the Commission was of the view that the newspaper was entitled to refer to Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel. There was no breach of the Code in this instance."

To get to the bottom of all this, Honest Reporting sent its reporter Yarden Frankl to interview Tel Aviv residents and its mayor, Ron Huldai, and ask them if they know the answer to this seemingly difficult question. The results?  Watch the video below.

(A tip of the kippah to Sheila Zucker for bringing this video to our attention.)

Wall Street Journal Says Hava Nagila Has Fallen on Hard Times

Hava Nagila, that old musical standby, the song that used to be played at every Jewish gathering, is increasingly becoming musica non grata at weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and other festive occasions. 

As simchas, or joyous affairs, include longer dance sets playing a variety of Hebrew music, Hava Nagila is rarely played, unless it's a special request from the hosts or guests. The song is becoming an unwelcome cliche among those who listen to a lot of Hebrew music. 

Its popularity hasn't diminished in circles where it's played as the token Jewish dance at events where most of the music is American pop and rock. And it remains an iconic symbol of Jewish life as seen in an upcoming exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and in a documentary that premiered last week at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

Since starting Jewish Humor Central almost three years ago, we have shared 21 videos of traditional and off-beat versions of Hava Nagila showing up in such places as India, Estonia, Korea, Italy, Russia, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, and the Shetland Islands. And we're not done. You can expect to see more examples of this enduring song performed in still more unexpected places.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal carried a front page report about the backlash. As Lucette Lagnado reported,

"Hava Nagila," Hebrew for "Let Us Rejoice," has been a staple of Jewish—and some non-Jewish—celebrations for decades. The song often accompanies the hora, a traditional dance-in-the-round that is performed at weddings, bar mitzvahs, engagement parties and other joyful occasions.

As American Jews assimilated, "Hava Nagila," with its dizzying tune that incorporates major and minor modes, became one of the last cultural touchstones of the past. Even the most secular Jews craved it.

It became "the equivalent of a knish," says Henry Sapoznik, an ethnomusicologist at the University of Wisconsin. Incidentally, he considers it to be "a really crummy little tune."

Crummy or not, the melody rang off the walls of catering halls, echoed in big suburban synagogues that sprouted up after World War II and broke into the musical mainstream in the 1950s. Crooner Harry Belafonte made it one of his signature songs. Chubby Checker danced the twist to it. Lena Horne used the melody to deliver a powerful message against racism in a song called "Now." In 1961, Bob Dylan sang his own version—"Talkin' Hava Nageilah Blues"—in a Greenwich Village club.

Some of those earlier interpretations may have boosted "Hava Nagila" into an improbably cool range. Now, a backlash is in full swing.

"It is the cliché of Jewish music," insists Neshoma Orchestra leader Elly Zomick, which does some 200 wedding and bar mitzvah gigs a year. He avoids playing it—along with "The Macarena," "YMCA," and "Sunrise, Sunset"—unless specifically asked.

Among other tunes from the annoyingly redundant banquet-hall repertoire: "The Electric Slide" and the "Chicken Dance."

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Kehilath Jeshurun, a large Orthodox congregation on Manhattan's Upper East Side, isn't one to be moved. The body of Jewish musical works, he says, "has gone leagues beyond" the familiar ditties. Yet "no one sings it unless someone in the wedding party has a nostalgia for the old days."

The Journal has posted a video about the worldwide popularity of the song that surprisingly omits any reference to the backlash reported in the front page article. But it's a nice piece of nostalgia that's worth seeing. Enjoy!

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The Yiddish Chefs Cook Up a Peasant Meal on the Yiddish Farm

Earlier this month we featured a video about the Yiddish Farm in Goshen, New York, and how it has become a destination for volunteers who were looking for a back-to-the-earth farming experience and also immersion in the Yiddish language.

Now, our favorite Yiddish chefs have journeyed to the farm to use its produce and kitchen to create a peasant meal featuring white beets and spinach, while chatting with each other in Yiddish (with English subtitles, of course.)

Here are today's Yiddish words and their English translations:

Goyshen (Goshen)

Berikes (Beets)

Shpinat (Spinach)

Shrotzim (Bugs)

Shrotzimlach (Little Bugs)

Opgossen (Sink)

Grintzen (Veggies)

Skorinkeh (Bread Crust)

We assume you already know the Yiddish words for garlic, dill, and frying pan from previous recipes. If not, check them out here, here, and here. The list of ingredients and quantities appear below the video. 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.)

Sauteed White Beets

6 white beets, sliced

1 small red onion, sliced

A handful of dill

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Spinach with Garlic

3-4 bunches of spinach

1/4 cup olive oil

10 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Meeting the Tisha B'Av Challenge: Being Serious and Funny at Once

Today is Tisha B'Av -- the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, the saddest day of the year in the Jewish calendar. It marks the day when the Holy Temples were destroyed, and, over the years it was also adopted as the day to commemorate other tragedies that occurred on the same day.

So the question is what to post on a day like this. In previous years we explored Jewish history, particularly with regard to Jerusalem, and reflected on the destruction of the Temples.

But in keeping with our belief that no day, no matter how serious it is, should pass without a light moment, today we're sharing a lesson in how to put on tefillin spoken to the beat of an a cappella rap. Incidentally, the tefillin, or phylacteries, worn on weekdays for the Shacharit morning service, are worn on Tisha B'Av in the afternoon Mincha Service.

Our thanks go out to the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs (FMJC) for producing and posting this video on YouTube. 

(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.)

Olympic Gold(stein) in London: Orthodox Jew Carries the Torch

Long after all the medals are distributed at the Summer Olympics now underway in London, the Jewish community there will proudly remember the role played by Efrayim Goldstein, a Chassidic Jew. Goldstein was chosen as one of 187 carriers of the Olympic torch as it made its way to the Olympic Stadium.

As Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu reported in Israel National News,

Chassidic London Jew Ephraim Goldstein carried the Olympic torch Monday. He has worked with seven charities and runs a soup kitchen.

Many members of the London Jewish community turned out in the early morning to watch Goldstein carry the Olympic Torch for 330 meters, approximately 1080 feet, in southeast London.

The British Jewish Defense League website described Goldstein as being so excited he felt like was in “flames.”

He is 22 years old, and has started up and worked with charities since the age of 16, including the London Shomrim organization, which has 300 volunteers.

The League noted he carried the torch in memory of the 11 Israelis who were massacred in the Munich Olympics in 1972. The International Olympics Committee, which includes more than 40 Muslim representatives, has refused to allow the opening ceremony next week to include a one-minute silence in memory of the murdered athletes.

Goldstein told the League, “He told us he wanted people to know that he wanted to pay homage to the 11 Israelis that were murdered by the Palestinian terrorists during the Munich games in 1972, so we designed a banner to express his wishes.”

“It’s an honor and a privilege to carry the torch,” Goldstein said. “It’s a unique opportunity in life and I’m very happy to be part of it.”

This video follows Goldstein as he travels by bus to the starting point of his run, the lighting of the torch, and his run for almost a quarter of a mile until he hands off the flame to the next runner. 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.)

(A tip of the kippah to Sheila Zucker for bringing this story to our attention.)