Coming in July: Tevye Served Raw, Fiddler As It Was Written by Sholem Aleichem

Tevye Served Raw, an evening of stories by Sholem Aleichem., is coming to Broadway for only 18 performances in July and August. But it's not a musical.

Some of them are Tevye stories, and they’re beautiful and dramatic and funny.

Some of them are not Tevye stories, and those are just funny.  

But they all come right from the pen of Sholem Aleichem, who is pretty much universally considered the greatest Jewish writer ever.  

The Tevye stories are most famous, of course, as the basis of Fiddler on the Roof.  But the musical watered them down to make them more acceptable to the Broadway audience of its day.  Tevye Served Raw goes back to Sholem Aleichem’s original, and it shows you what they left out of Fiddler.  

It’s about authenticity.

Tevye Served Raw goes much deeper into what life in the shtetl -- where most American Jews’ ancestors come from -- was really like.  Plus you find out what happened to the characters after the plot of the musical ends.   

 

Tevye Served Raw is performed in English and Yiddish-with-English-supertitles.  And unlike the cast of the Yiddish Fiddler that will be playing at the Museum of Jewish Heritage from July 5 through August 26, the cast of Tevye Served Raw can actually speak the language.

Tevye Served Raw has been in development for over two years, and has been performed in Toronto, in Los Angeles, in Kiev, Ukraine, in Bethesda, MD, and in Massachusetts, among other places.  This is its first run in New York.

Enjoy!

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Remembering Another Side of Charles Krauthammer: Bringing Jewish Music to the Concert Hall

Most of the obituaries and news reports about Charles Krauthammer, the Pulitzer Prize winning conservative political columnist who died last Thursday, focused on his political commentary and his love for baseball and chess. 

What they didn't write about was the great love that this outspoken supporter of Israel had for classical Jewish music. Together with his wife Robyn, an Australian convert to Judaism, they founded Pro Musica Hebraica in 2008, a project to revive forgotten Jewish classical music from a century ago.

Pro Musica Hebraica’s first concert (on April 10, 2008) featured musicians from the Juilliard School and Itzhak Perlman as a special guest. It celebrated the centenary of the 1908 Society for Jewish Folk Music in St. Petersburg, a group of self-defined Jewish composers from Russia and the first association devoted to Jewish musical traditions. 

Responding to the challenge of European nationalism, the St. Petersburg Society “gave rise to what would become known as Jewish art music—music that deliberately melded Western and Russian classical music with Hasidic melodies, Yiddish folk songs and synagogue chants, capturing the sounds of the towns and villages of the Pale of Settlement.” 

As Charles Krauthammer explained, “It's music that's either consciously or unconsciously drawn from the folk, the klezmer, the liturgical, the shtetl,” and reinterpreted in the spirit of “modern classical sensibility.” 

Here is an excerpt from a Pro Musica Hebraica concert a few years ago to focus on the role of the clarinet in Jewish music.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "The Missing Teaspoon"

Another Monday, another Joke to Start the Week. Today's joke is more of a story, because it's about five minutes long, longer than most of our weekly jokes. We hope you'll have the patience to watch it through to the end, because we think the payoff is worth it. 

The joke teller is retired real estate agent Norman Ginsberg, one of the original joke tellers at Old Jews Telling Jokes.

Here's the setup: It's Avremel's Bar Mitzvah day, and after services, all the guests are invited back to his house for the reception. And then...

Enjoy!

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Yiddish Under the Stars - Excerpts from a Folksbiene Night in Central Park

Yiddish Under the Stars, an evening of Yiddish and klezmer music sponsored by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, has become an annual event at Summerstage in New York's Central Park. Last week the stars came out again and gave the lucky New Yorkers in attendance a free concert.

A production of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, hosted by the riotously funny Emmy Award-nominated actress Jackie Hoffman – who plays the role of Yente in the Folksbiene’s upcoming Yiddish version of “Fiddler on the Roof” – the three-hour extravaganza featured over a half-dozen acts which, while all rooted solidly in Yiddish and klezmer tradition, approached it from a variety of angles such that it was almost a mini-version of an entire SummerStage season.Read more: https://forward.com/culture/music/403198/yiddish-under-the-stars-turns-central-park-into-fabulous-panoply-of-sounds/

A production of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, hosted by the riotously funny Emmy Award-nominated actress Jackie Hoffman – who plays the role of Yente in the Folksbiene’s upcoming Yiddish version of “Fiddler on the Roof” – the three-hour extravaganza featured over a half-dozen acts which, while all rooted solidly in Yiddish and klezmer tradition, approached it from a variety of angles such that it was almost a mini-version of an entire SummerStage season.Read more: https://forward.com/culture/music/403198/yiddish-under-the-stars-turns-central-park-into-fabulous-panoply-of-sounds/

A production of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, hosted by the riotously funny Emmy Award-nominated actress Jackie Hoffman – who plays the role of Yente in the Folksbiene’s upcoming Yiddish version of “Fiddler on the Roof” – the three-hour extravaganza featured over a half-dozen acts which, while all rooted solidly in Yiddish and klezmer tradition, approached it from a variety of angles such that it was almost a mini-version of an entire SummerStage season.Read more: https://forward.com/culture/music/403198/yiddish-under-the-stars-turns-central-park-into-fabulous-panoply-of-sounds/

Performers included
– Frank London & His Klezmer All Stars
– Andy Statman
– Cantor Magda Fishman
– Pharaoh’s Daughter with Cantor Basya Schechter
– Golem
– Daniel Kahn & the Painted Bird
– Eleanor Reissa
– Zalmen Mlotek

Here's a sampling of the evening's entertainment:

Enjoy!

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Kommon Kiruv Kwestions: A Guide to Hosting Guests on Shabbat

First of all, let's understand that today's video is parody, spoof, satire. If you can tolerate it, there is a payoff at the end. This is one in a series of sketches aimed at sharing the Shabbat experience with guests who don't observe Shabbat regularly.

It's an exaggerated case of kiruv, a word that signifies outreach, usually from the Orthodox Jewish perspective. In this sketch the MC is standup comedian Modi Rosenfeld, who introduces the "annoyingly friendly host" Kloynimus Kakelstein.

It's in the format of a TV game show, with the contestants asked to answer the question "What do I say if my guest asks me why we make a blessing on two loaves of challah? You'll recognize one of the contestants as Menashe Lustig, the chassidic actor-comedian who recently starred in the acclaimed film Menashe.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: President Ronald Reagan Tells Soviet Jokes

Every Thursday we've been turning the clock back a few decades to revisit some of our favorite comedy routines by the great comedians of the 20th century. 

But not all the funny jokes were delivered by professional comedians. One of the best jokers was the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who was in office from 1980 to 1989.

He was fond of telling some of his favorite Soviet jokes in many of his speeches. Let's go back about 30 years for a few of his favorites. Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT
Does your organization want to book Al for one of his 20 Jewish humor programs? Click here to check out all the details and program choices at www.JewishSpeakersBureau.com.

Brooklyn's Brighton Beach Baths Evoke Memories of Catskills Comedy

The Borscht Belt era of comedy in the Catskill mountains ended in the 1980s, although Kutsher's, the last of the big hotels, managed to hold out until 2013. After the closing of most hotels, the comedy scene shifted to the Brighton Beach Baths until they also closed in 1995.

Some years later, comedy veterans Freddie Roman, Stewie Stone, and Dick Capri were interviewed by the website thatsbrooklyn.com (now on Facebook) and they reminisced about the good old days. It's a great nostalgia piece and we think you'll enjoy hearing their stories about the long-gone hotels and entertainers.

Here's the video that we found on YouTube. Enjoy!

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Does your organization want to book Al for one of his 20 Jewish humor programs? Click here to check out all the details and program choices at www.JewishSpeakersBureau.com.

Jewish-Muslim Iranian Rabbi Blends Two Cultures with Music

 
Eyal Mani grew up as Eyal Said, a Muslim in Iran. One day, when he flew to accompany his mother for medical treatment in Israel, she told him that he was half Jewish, and following the discovery, he decided to settle in Israel, become religious and become a rabbi.  

"I was born in Persia in 1961 and grew up as a Muslim in everything," he says. "My father was a Sufi Muslim, and I knew Judaism only through the 'Jewish' parts of the Koran, from the creation to the revelation at Mount Sinai, I believed the Muslim version that the Jews were originally the chosen people but later betrayed God, so he left them and chose the Muslims.

"My mother raised me as a Muslim too, but over the years she was careful to tell me the stories of Judaism and various midrashim through the Koran. I never asked myself why my father was a musician who was considered an admirer of traditional Persian music, and I drew on his love and understanding of music. He taught me a lot. People would come to our house to play with him and learn from him."

Rabbi Mani established the Mekhilta ensemble, one of the most moving secular and orthodox Jewish musical collaborations.

 

in 2015 he was awarded an Ofir award (the Israeli 'Oscar' award) for writing the score of the film Baba Joon.

Enjoy! 

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Locker Room Cellphone"

It's Monday again and time for another Joke to Start the Week.

Here's the setup:

There are a few guys in the locker room of a golf club and they just finished showering when a cellphone on a bench starts to ring. Sheldon picks it up and says "Hello." And he hears a woman's voice, and then...

Enjoy!

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Does your organization want to book Al for one of his 20 Jewish humor programs? Click here to check out all the details and program choices at www.JewishSpeakersBureau.com.

Comedian Steve Solomon's Jewish Grandmother Teaches Kosher Laws to His Italian Mother

Steve Solomon is one of America's best story tellers and dialecticians. He delivers his comedy built around the premise that his mother is Italian and his father is Jewish. That's the perfect setup for delivery of a barrage of nonstop jokes and situations involving multiple dialects.

We saw his show My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish, and I'm in Therapy in Florida in February. The show originally opened off-Broadway in 2006, and he has been performing it in many locations ever since.
 
His show has been called one part lasagna, one part kreplach and two parts Prozac. Solomon wrote and stars in this one-man show, combining comic voices, sound effects and astounding characterizations to tell stories of the wacky side of the human condition.

In this excerpt he tells about how his Jewish grandmother tried to teach his Italian mother the rules of keeping kosher.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Shalom Aleichem by Georgian Folk Group

Geo Folk Tour is a music and touristic project which hosts musical tours around Georgia,

accompanied by Georgian Polyphony. How they came to sing Shalom Aleichem is anybody's guess, but we accept it as another example of Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places.

They posted it on YouTube to mark recognition of Georgians' and Jews' relationship

as a subject of intangible cultural heritage with wishes to Israel for a Happy Independence Day.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

 

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Caesar's Writers Remember Picking the Funniest Number

Caesar's Writers was a two hour reunion of writers from Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, that took place on January 24, 1996 at the Writer's Guild theater in Los Angeles.

In this clip from the reunion, Neil Simon explains why he titled his play Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and Carl Reiner recalls the writers trying to come up with the funniest number for a roulette wheel sketch with Imogene Coca.

Enjoy! 

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Hevenu Shalom Aleichem Flashmob Greets Birthright Arrivals in Tel Aviv

On May 24, 2018, 2,000 young Jews from around the world arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv as part of Birthright Israel's 18th year.

Marking 85 years of activity, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance decided to celebrate Israel's 70th anniversary and surprise them with a very warm welcome.

And they were surprised and happy to see the dancers and singers rejoice in Hevenu Shalom Aleichem. 

Enjoy!

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The Jewish Roots of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

Did you ever hear of Henry, Herman and Hillel Hassenfeld? The three Polish-Jewish immigrant brothers were legendary in the world of toys back in 1952 when they sold the first of millions of Mr. Potato Head, and later, his mate, Mrs. Potato Head.

The Hassenfeld Brothers formed a company that they called Hasbro, now the world's third largest toy company. 

As Avishay Artsy wrote in Jewniverse,

Hassenfeld Brothers sold the first Mr. Potato Head as a kit of facial parts. It came with a Styrofoam head and instructions that suggested using real vegetables and fruits instead. After parents complained about rotting vegetables and new government safety regulations restricted toys with sharp pieces, Hasbro began selling the plastic potato body in 1964.

Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on television, and it sold more than a million units in its first year. The next year Mrs. Potato Head was introduced, followed by Brother Spud and Sister Yam, along with cars, trailers and other accessories.

Mr. Potato Head has become an American cultural staple. And it all started with vegetables in a Brooklyn kitchen.

Here is one of the first black and white TV commercials for Mr. Potato Head.
 
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A Joke to Start the Week - "The Anniversary Wish"

It's a new Monday, and time for another joke to start the week. 

Here's the setup: Sheldon and Marlene are both 65 years old and they're celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. They have a big party in their back yard, and then...

Enjoy! 

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OU Certifies Kosher Impossible Cheeseburger, But Where Can You Find It?

According to the website of the Orthodox Union, the kosher certification agency has given its certification to the Impossible Burger, a meatless creation that mimics the taste and look of a beefburger and even "bleeds" like the real thing.

The OU website says:

As kosher Jews, the cheese burger, or even eating dairy following a burger, have always been off limits. That is, until Tuesday, May 22, when Impossible Foods partnered with the OU to certify their Impossible Burgers as OU Kosher’s newest kosher products.
The Impossible Foods Company differentiates itself from other vegetarian companies by making especially authentic tasting meat, cheese and fish that can fool even the sharpest tongues.

The Impossible Burger, their first kosher product, is made using wheat, coconut oil, potatoes, and special ingredient, Heme, a molecule that gives the burger its meaty taste. Heme contains iron and can be found in every single plant and animal. The Heme molecule in plant based Heme is identical to the Heme molecule found in meat. That’s what allows for the richness of the Impossible Burger.

What chefs say differentiates the Impossible Burger from other veggie burgers is simple: the Impossible Burger really does bleed like a meat-based burger.

“Getting Kosher certification is an important milestone,” said Impossible Foods CEO and Founder Dr. Patrick O. Brown. “We want the Impossible Burger to be ubiquitous, and that means it must be affordable and accessible to everyone–including people who have food restrictions for religious reasons.”

With this meat free technology, kosher Jews can finally enjoy a burger with whatever toppings they want, including cheese!

It sounds great, but where can you find it? It's not yet available in supermarkets -- only in select (so far not kosher) restaurants. According to Dani Klein, creator of the YeahThat'sKosher website, the only kosher restaurant that carries the product is Shilo's in Los Angeles.

The downside?
Shiloh’s is a meat restaurant.

Much of the excitement for the Impossible Burger was to mimic the taste and texture of real meat and add real cheese for a near-authentic cheeseburger. Shiloh’s can’t offer that unfortunately.

Numerous kosher restaurants around the country are testing the Impossible Burger in their restaurants, and YeahThatsKosher will be updated as more kosher places add this hot new item to the menu.

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Welcoming Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh with Psalm 104 by the Yamma Ensemble

On this Shabbat, we say Birkat Hachodesh, the blessing for the upcoming month of Tammuz, which falls on Wednesday and Thursday. On these days it is customary to add the Borchi Nafshi prayer at the end of the morning service.

To get into the mood, today we're sharing a musical version of this prayer performed by the Yamma Ensemble, Israel’s leading delicate world music ensemble. They present original contemporary Hebrew music that remains true to the character of the Middle East, the region where they were born and raised. 

The soulful, exotic music is accompanied by ancient musical instruments (kopuz, duduk, hand drums), which are typical of the Middle East.

In addition to this unique art, Yamma also performs the traditional music and material of the various Jewish diasporas. Songs of the Jewish communities from Yemen, Babylon, and Sepharad, as well as Hasidic music, with the fascinating forms and rhythms that have been preserved by generations of Jewish traditions. 

The song begins with a long instrumental introduction, with the lyrics and subtitles coming in around the two minute mark.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom. 

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Throwback Thursday Special: Groucho Marx Steals the Show on "What's My Line?"

Today we're turning the clock back 60 years to 1958 when Groucho Marx was 68 years old. He was a panelist on the popular show "What's My Line?" with Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, and Dorothy Kilgallen.

Host John Daly introduced a guest named Judy Grable whose line was professional wrestling. Cerf started off by observing that she was a blonde and that got Groucho started. And he kept going strong throughout the segment.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday   #TBT

Comedy Showcase: Sarge, Black Jewish Comedian, Keeps Them Laughing

Last year we introduced you to Sarge, a comedian, entertainer, and motivational speaker, who was born in Miami Beach, Florida during the Civil Rights Movement to a Jewish mother and black father, but given up for adoption soon after birth.

Fortunately, he was quickly adopted by a couple who then raised him in Great Neck, Long Island. Sarge was brought up by his parents in a middle to upper middle class environment, attending the best prep schools in the region. All the while, he lived with some sense of confusion because his adopted parents raised him in a Jewish household without much exposure to his black heritage.

Sarge is keeping audiences laughing everywhere he goes. He has a full calendar of performances scheduled, many in Jewish areas of South Florida. We found some excerpts of his shows on the internet to share with you. Here's another one for you to enjoy.

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Thousands March in New York in Sunday's Celebrate Israel Parade

Thousands of marchers and observers turned up on Fifth Avenue on Sunday to celebrate Israel's 70th anniversary.

As CBS News reported,

The parade encouraged lots of blue and white to flow along Fifth Avenue. The celebration, with music and cheering, observed the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel. The parade started at 57th Street and stretched north to 74th.

Ambassador Dani Dayan, consul general of Israel in New York, told CBS2’s Dave Carlin he was eager to help put the day in historical perspective.

 “When you compare where we were 70 years ago from the ashes of the holocaust, it’s simply miracle what we’ve achieved in 70 years and we want to share that celebration,” Dayan said.

Talia Hazan of Kew Gardens said Queens is where she was born but Israel, which she visits often, feels like home.

“It’s just like a very happy country. The vibes there and the energy is so bright and happy,” Hazan said.

The same could be said of Sunday’s parade, celebrating Israel.

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A Joke to Start the Week - "The Centerpiece"

Have you ever been to a wedding or a Bar Mitzvah reception where the centerpiece on each table is given to a lucky guest who finds a note under their plate? Well, you'll find today's joke by stand-up comedian Shaun Eli Breidbart very relevant.

Shaun is just back from touring in South Africa, where he performed at all three comedy clubs on the entire African continent. He's also the Executive Director of The Ivy League of Comedy which performs at theatres and at corporate and charity events including for synagogues and other Jewish organizations. For almost two decades he was a freelance contributor to the opening monologues of three late-night talk show hosts.

Enjoy!

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Jerry Seinfeld Reflects on His Career and His Love for Standup Comedy

Jerry Seinfeld is obsessed with cars, and was inspired to produce an Internet series featuring comedians in cars talking about comedy. But finding a platform for his "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" was a hard sell. 

In this interview he talks with correspondent Anthony Mason about the nuts and bolts of comedy, and about the series which has proven to be a mega-hit. The interview was originally broadcast on CBS Sunday Morning on May 31, 2015.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by The Sound of Klezmer

The Sound of Klezmer is an Israeli musical ensemble that includes soloist Maxim Solniker (clarinet), Omri Rivlin (accordion), Amir Kovalsky (keyboards), and Nir Segal (drums). 

This ensemble plays a purely Jewish soul music and it continues a long tradition. The ensemble often performs ceremonies, celebrations and festivals throughout Israel and the world. The soloist is a student of clarinetist Giora Feidman, two of the band members are graduates of the IDF band, and the fourth is a musician and arranger.

In this video The Sound of Klezmer plays a rousing version of Adon Olam that you're not likely to hear in your synagogue tomorrow, but it gets us into a freilach mood for Shabbat.

Enjoy!

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