Yiddish "Fiddler" Actors Form New Sexy Yiddish Singing Group Called "Mameles"

A trio of actors who met while members of the cast of the Yiddish version of Fiddler on the Roof have created a new singing group that brings back memories of The Barry Sisters.

As Julia Gergely wrote in the New York Jewish Week,

The women who make up the trio, Maya Jacobson, Raquel Nobile and Jodi Snyder, had gotten together for a night of fun and to reminisce about the 2018 production of “Fiddler on the Roof” (“Fidler afn Dakh”) at the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, where they met as members of the cast.

Jacobson had been listening to The Barry Sisters — a duo whose Yiddish covers were wildly popular in the mid-20th century —  and realized it was time for the next generation to carry on the tradition.

“I heard The Barry Sisters’ version of ‘Abi Gezunt’ and I knew I wanted to record this with these two, my favorite people and some of the best performers I know, and make a trio,” Jacobson, 25, told the New York Jewish Week. “I knew people in the Jewish community would be really into this. Yiddish is such huge part of Jewish culture stomped on by the Holocaust that is really being found again.”

Despite acting in Yiddish productions and singing Yiddish covers, none of the women speaks Yiddish fluently, though Jacobson bragged that she had a continuous 71-day streak in Yiddish on the language-learning app Duolingo.

The name of the group, The Mamales, is an homage to the 1938 Polish Yiddish film “Mamele.” It starred Molly Picon, “Second Avenue’s longest-reigning queen and the best-known Yiddish actress/singer later on Broadway,” according to the Milken Archive of Jewish Music. Picon wrote the lyrics for Abraham Ellstein’s melody and performed "Abi Gezunt” in the film, where it became an instant hit.

Enjoy!

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Passover Humor: Houston Texans Photo Shows Players Carrying Matzo Instead of Football

The Houston Texans football team stirred up a minor firestorm this week by posting two photos of their players carrying matzos instead of a football.

As Jason Miles wrote for KHOU-11,

Some believe the Houston Texans fumbled by posting photo-shopped images of two players holding Matzah bread instead of footballs to the team's social media.

The post includes the caption “Happy Passover to all who celebrate!”

“I think they’re trying to be funny but I can see how people would take offense to it,” said Thomas Welham of Houston.

"It’s a little jarring to see them photoshopped in there," said Charlie Nater.  "But I'm not offended by it.”

“I think there’s too much negativity in the world and people should just live and let live,” said Samantha Sutton.

“I thought it was great,” said Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston, or TORCH.  "People need to lighten up a little."

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Celebrating Passover with "When You Believe" from "The Prince of Egypt"

Today we continue our week of Passover programming with a rendition of the song When You Believe from the animated film The Prince of Egypt. It's from the Shabbat Shira service at the Park Avenue Synagogue earlier this year. 

Cantor Azi Schwartz was joined by his children Daniel and Emmy and Cantor Mira Davis on the Bimah of the synagogue.

The first feature film from DreamWorks to be traditionally animated, The Prince of Egypt (1998) is an adaptation of the Book of Exodus and follows the life of Moses from being a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny to lead the Jews out of Egypt.

The song When You Believe, written by Stephen Schwartz, became a commercially successful single in a pop version performed by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, and went on to win Best Original Song at the 71st Academy Awards.

Enjoy! 

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Welcoming Passover and Shabbat with a Seder Medley by Cantor Azi Schwartz and His Children

Tonight Jews all over the world will sit down for the first of two seders and retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt about 3400 years ago. In Israel there will be one seder. 

This year the first day of Passover coincides with Shabbat, so instead of our weekly posting of a Shabbat melody, we are posting a medley of Pesach songs from the Haggadah.

Last year Cantor Azi Schwartz of the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City joined with two of his children to sing a medley of the most popular seder songs, including Ma Nishtana, V'Hi She'amda, and Dayenu.

Tomorrow and Sunday we will be celebrating Pesach with our family at home and in the synagogue, so there will be no Jewish Humor Central posting until Monday.  

If you will be unable to attend Passover services this year, many congregations will be conducting services on Zoom and on TV. The Jewish Broadcasting Service will feature Orthodox services from The Hampton Synagogue and Reform services from the Central Synagogue. The Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue will be live streaming its Passover services on their website.

Shabbat shalom and Chag Pesach kasher v'sameach!

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Passover Musical Countdown: A Yiddish Version of Echad Mi Yodea (Who Knows One)

Lea Kalisch is a multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary New York City based performer. Originally from Switzerland, Lea moved to NYC in 2014 to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She earned a BFA in Musical Theater from The New School.

 

In this video she is accompanied on guitar by Rabbi Tobias Divack Moss, a rabbi at Temple Israel of Minneapolis, in Mu Asapru, a Yiddish version of the classic seder song Echad Mi Yodea (Who Knows One). It's a version made famous by folksinger Theodore Bikel in his record albums and personal appearances.

 

Enjoy! 

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Remembering Gilbert Gottfried and His Shrill-Voiced Stand-up Comedy

The world of Jewish comedy lost one of its shining stars yesterday with the death of Gilbert Gottfried at the age of 67. Gottfried's specialty was crude humor and delivering punch lines in an annoying, grating voice.

His numerous roles in film and television included voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin animated films and series, Digit LeBoid on PBS Kids's long-running Cyberchase, and Kraang Subprime in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Gottfried was the voice of the Aflac Duck until 2011. He appeared in the critically panned but commercially successful Problem Child in 1990. 

He was a cast member of Saturday Night Live's 6th season. Gottfried's persona in SNL sketches was very different from his later characterization. He rarely (if ever) spoke in his trademark screeching, obnoxious voice and never squinted.

In this video clip from a Just for Laughs Festival appearance in Montreal, Gottfried tells the audience of how he was the inspiration for Herman Melville when he wrote his classic Moby Dick.

Enjoy!

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Passover Musical Countdown: An a Cappella Billy Joel Passover with Six13

No collection of Jewish holiday music videos would be complete without an entry from Six13, an a cappella group that has produced videos for Chanukah, Rosh Hashana, Purim, and Passover. In previous years we posted many of their Jewish music videos.

Now, with the Passover seder only three days away, Six13 has released a video with parodies of some of Billy Joel's greatest hits.

This year they have outdone themselves with very creative parodies of Piano Man, Movin' Out, We Didn't Start the Fire, and Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "An Exceptional Dog"

A few years ago, Toronto's Koerner Hall was the site of a performance of Jewish Folks Telling Jokes, a night of comedy to benefit Jewish Family and Child, one of the foremost Jewish service agencies in North America.

Jewish Family and Child supports the healthy development of individuals, children, families, and communities through prevention, protection, counseling, education and advocacy services, within the context of Jewish values.

We previously posted a few jokes that were told at the event, a Canadian contribution to the world of Jewish humor, probably inspired by the off-Broadway show Old Jews Telling Jokes, still touring around the USA.

We were lucky to discover a few more jokes from these talented Toronto joke tellers, and we'll be sharing some of them in future posts of A Joke to Start the Week.

This week's joke is told by Chas Gordon.

Here's the setup: A guy goes into shul with his Saint Bernard dog. Instead of the usual cask of rum, this dog has a tallis bag. And then...

Enjoy!

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Passover Musical Countdown Begins with a Yiddish Jazz Version of "Go Down Moses"

With the first (and in Israel, the only) seder only five days away, we're getting ready by posting some Passover music to get into the mood.

Yisroel Leshes, Assistant Cantor at Lincoln Square Synagogue, has released Go Down, Moyshe - a video of the African-American spiritual “Go Down, Moses” in Yiddish – with a jazzy twist.

As reported by the staff of The Forward,

Leshes has previously infused Yiddish songs with jazz elements, as in his release of the song “Younger World”. In this video, he performs “Go Down, Moses” during a live performance of Yiddish jazz at The Mansion, a private venue near Union Square, that is open once a month for Jewish music.

“Go Down, Moses” was sung by African-American slaves as a song of freedom, beginning in the 1800’s. The words, quoting the Bible, re-interpreted Moses’ calls for freedom for the Israelites, as demands for freedom by enslaved Black people. It was first published as sheet music in 1861 after Reverend Lewis Lockwood heard runaway slaves singing it. The song became well-known across America since its widespread popularization during and after the Civil War.

For years, many American Jews have taken the song as emblematic of the Pesach story, and sing it at their Seder. Now Leshes’ clip may encourage some of them to sing it in Yiddish as well.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by Sephardic Music Interpreter Paco Diez

A versatile musician who plays guitar, zanfona (hurdy gurdy), gaita (Galician bagpipes) and countless other folk instruments, Paco Díez curates a musical instrument museum adjacent to his home in Mucientes, Castile. 

He is not only a performer, but also a scholar of Spanish folk music, and has collected songs, melodies, and rhythms from all over the Iberian peninsula, the Mediterranean, and northern Africa.

He is especially well known as a performer of Sephardic music, the heritage of Jewish people who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and dispersed into a diaspora where they maintained the Ladino language (closely related to modern Spanish). He performs all over the world, and in 2016 he was nominated for Spain’s highest honor in the arts, the Premio Princesa de Asturias de las Artes.

Today we're welcoming Shabbat with Paco Diez's interpretation of Adon Olam.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Sophie Tucker and "Some of These Days"

Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish) was a Russian-born American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century.

During the 1930s, Tucker brought elements of nostalgia for the early years of the 20th century into her show. She was billed as "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas" as her hearty sexual appetite was a frequent subject of her songs, unusual for female performers of the day after the decline of vaudeville.

In 1911 she introduced what would become her signature song, Some of These Days. She included this song in all of her performances until her last TV appearance in 1965 on the Ed Sullivan Show.

In her later years she waxed nostalgic about the song and often didn't sing the whole song but delivered emotional poems about the song and what it meant to her career. In this video clip from 1953 she pays tribute to the song and ends with singing a few bars.

Enjoy!

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   #Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Victor Borge and Robert Merrill in "Autumn Leaves"

Robert Merrill (born Moishe Miller in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) was an American operatic baritone and actor, who was also active in the musical theatre circuit. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993.Victor Borge (born Borge Rosenbaum in Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television.

So what did these musically talented and successful Jewish boys do when they got together? Comedy shtick, of course. In this undated video clip, Borge plays the introduction, Merrill starts to sing, and then the leaves begin to fall. Borge carries on while Merrill keeps a straight face. Hilarious.

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Alex Edelman on Getting and Paying for a Liberal Arts Education at NYU

Alex Edelman grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family and, following high school, spent a year in a yeshiva in Jerusalem. During his time, he helped to establish the city's first comedy club -- Off the Wall Comedy. 

In 2008, he moved to New York City to study English at New York University. He graduated in 2012. During college, he continued to perform stand-up and later joined Upright Citizens Brigade. 

His first show, Millennial, won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer, the first show by an American to do so since 1997. 

In this video clip, Edelman tells the comedy club audience about his experiences in attending and paying for his studies at New York University.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "A Joint Medical Practice"

It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today Mickey Greenblatt is back with one that we haven't heard before.

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: Abrams and Corman were best friends. They went to medical school together. They had their residencies at the same time. When they graduated and they were ready to set up their individual practices, they decided to rent office space together. And then...

Enjoy!

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More Israeli Standup Comedy in English with Shahar Hason and Yohay Sponder

Comedians Yohay Sponder and Shahar Hason got their start as comedians in Israel catering exclusively to Hebrew-speaking audiences. 

As the two became more and more well-known to Hebrew speakers throughout Israel, they noticed a huge demographic in the country that was missing out on the laughs.   

Sponder and Hason took the risk of crafting and re-writing their material from Hebrew to English (and from Israeli humor to American humor), all the while unsure whether or not they would even get a laugh out of an English speaking crowd. Their hard work and dedication to broadening the audience of one of Israel’s most unique cultural elements has launched the growing scene of Israeli Stand-up in English.

Sponder, Hason, and some of their friends performed regularly on Monday nights in a Tel Aviv bar and restaurant until the start of the COVID pandemic. We're watching for a notice of a re-opening. In the meantime, here's a clip from one of their shows.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Yedid Nefesh in Sydney, Australia

Today we welcome Shabbat with a beautiful rendition of Yedid Nefesh, which is sung at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday night. The singers are Rabbi Motti Feldman and his son Menachem Feldman, both Chabad emissaries in Sydney, Australia.

The song was originally performed by Yehoram Gaon. The musical arrangement is by Raymond Goldstein.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Musical Showcase: The Story of "The Lonely Bull" by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass

Today we're turning the calendar back to 1962 when American trumpeter Herb Alpert co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Ross. He recorded five No. 1 albums among 28 albums on the Billboard chart; achieving 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums; and earning nine Grammy Awards. He has sold 72 million records worldwide.

A native of California, Alpert is the son of Tillie (née Goldberg) and Louis Leib Alpert. His parents were Jewish immigrants to the U.S. from Radomyshl (in present-day Ukraine) and Romania. Alpert's philanthropic donations include the Louis and Tillie Alpert Music Center in Jerusalem, which brings together both Arab and Jewish Students.

At age 86, Alpert is still performing. He has a concert scheduled in San Antonio, Texas on June 7, 2022.

During a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Alpert happened to hear a mariachi band while attending a bullfight. Following the experience, Alpert recalled that he was inspired to find a way to express musically what he felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd, and hearing the brass musicians introducing each new event with rousing fanfare. Alpert adapted the trumpet style to the tune, mixed in crowd cheers and other noises for ambience, and renamed the song "The Lonely Bull". In the US, "The Lonely Bull" was a hit  in 1962, peaking at #6 on the Hot 100.

Originally the Tijuana Brass was just Alpert overdubbing his own trumpet, slightly out of sync. By the end of 1964, because of a growing demand for live appearances by the Tijuana Brass, Alpert auditioned and hired a team of crack session men. 

The band debuted in 1965, and became one of the highest-paid acts then performing, having put together a complete revue that included choreographed moves and comic routines written by Bill ("José Jiménez") Dana.  

Enjoy!

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  #Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Iliza Shlesinger Imagines Being a Pharmacist

Originally from Dallas, Iliza Shlesinger moved to Los Angeles after graduating from Emerson College. She is the only female and youngest comedian to hold the title of NBC'S Last Comic Standing. Most recently she was the host of CBS's syndicated comedy dating show Excused, in which she filmed 230 episodes. 

Iliza's TV credits include her own half-hour Comedy Central Presents special, as well as NBC'S Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, E! Network's Chelsea Lately and The Soup, NBC'S Last Call with Carson Daily, TBS’ Who Gets the Last Laugh?, and Showtime's Pauly Shore and Friends and Bridging the Gap Comedy Festival.

As Lior Zaltzman wrote in Kveller,

Shlesinger, who had a Bat Mitzvah and even went to Israel as a teen (she once lamented being rejected from Birthright because she had previously travelled to the Jewish state),  says that her comedy is very much inspired by Judaism’s seeking of the truth. “Judaism is so steeped in asking, ‘Why?’ Rabbis and men sit around in rooms all day questioning Torah. I think that trickles down in questioning other things,” she said in 2016 interview.

In this clip from her comedy show War Paint, Iliza acts out her fantasy of being a medieval witch doctor pharmacist.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila on Ocarina in South Korea

One of the joys of posting videos on Jewish Humor Central is discovering new versions of traditional Jewish and Hebrew songs as they are performed around the world, often in unexpected places.

Since we started Jewish Humor Central 13 years ago we have posted 103 different versions of Hava Nagila. The song has shown up in many countries, including some unexpected ones (Scroll down the left column on this page and click on "Hava Nagila" in the Keywords list and you'll see what we mean.)

Today we're posting our 104th version of Hava Nagila as played on a South Korea TV show this week on the ocarina, a woodwind musical instrument that is closed at both sides to produce an enclosed space, and punctured with finger holes. on a TV show in South Korea. 

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Something That You've Never Seen Before"

It's Monday again, and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we were digging deep into the Internet archives and found a joke that was posted some years ago that somehow we missed until now. But most of the jokes we post are older than the Jews who tell them.

Today's joke was told by Steven Levy at a joke telling session at the Mount Freedom Jewish Center in Randolph, New Jersey. 

Here's the setup: A guy comes into a bar late at night and tells the bartender "If I show you something that you've never seen before, will you give me a scotch?" And then...

Enjoy!

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A Musical Tribute to Bubbies Everywhere and to the Delicious Jewish Food They Make

Paul Finkleman is a Calgary, Canada-based songwriter, performer, humorist and recording artist who uses the stage name Paulo. 

He has earned his reputation as an accomplished writer and entertainer, with a special talent for relating to audiences of all ages. 

A true minstrel, Paulo has written over a thousand songs – on every subject matter imaginable – several musicals, three books, and recorded nine CD’s. 

In addition to starring in his own award-winning Cable Children’s Television Series, “The Wizard of Od!”, (back in the 20th century!) Paulo has performed several thousand concerts and workshops in schools, on theatre stages, and at venues ranging from major Folk Festivals to the Athletes Village at the Winter Olympics.

Paulo has created a musical tribute to Bubbies everywhere who lovingly prepare the Jewish foods that we all love. In a four-minute song, he manages to pay homage to kichel, kugel, potato knishes, rugelach, taiglach, knaidlach, chremslach, hamantashen, latkes, sufganiyot, etc. etc. etc.

We bet this song will give you a good appetite. Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi by Bluegrass Band Kol Kahol

Formed in 2019, the bluegrass band Kol Kahol  seeks to push the boundaries of contemporary Jewish music and traditional American Roots music within the context of Jewish prayer. In combining these two musical identities, they tell their story through music.

The group is proud of its Eastern European Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish traditions, but also of their American heritage and its influence on their lives and musical style. In doing so, they offer a unique spiritual experience to those who are wrestling with their own identity, particularly regarding what it means to be an American Jew.

In this video, recorded last month, Kol Kahol sings Lecha Dodi, the central song in the Kabbalat Shabbat service. 

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Rita Rudner in a 1987 TV Performance

We've been big fans of Rita Rudner ever since she started to appear on late night TV in the 1980s.

One of the hallmarks of her comedy is that it's clean, free from the vulgarity and shouting that many stand-up comics find necessary.  Her delivery is demure, tasteful, full of wry observations, and very funny.

Rudner started her career as a dancer, then switched to stand-up comedy about her dating experiences.  She married British producer Martin Bergman about 30 years ago and they have a daughter.  She is fond of Jewish humor but generally reserves it for when she performs for Jewish audiences.

 

We saw Rita on stage last month in Delray Beach, Florida, performing to a full house of 1300 masked people. She's still as funny today as she was in this 1987 TV appearance.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday     #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Showcase: Rickie Layne and his Dummy Velvel Tell Jokes on the Ed Sullivan Show

Rickie Layne (1924-2006) was born Richard Israel Cohen in Brooklyn. He was an actor and entertainer, but he was best known for his ventriloquism. In 2002 he received the Askins Award for lifetime achievement from the International Ventriloquist Association.

Layne began entertaining at age 9 doing impersonations of Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, and other stars but his act took on a new twist after an uncle gave him a ventriloquist's dummy.

Nat 'King' Cole was so impressed with Layne and his dummy Velvel that he urged Ed Sullivan to put the act on his popular Sunday night variety show and if Layne bombed, Cole said he would appear on the show himself at no charge. Layne went on to appear in 48 of Sullivan's shows.

Layne's dummy was originally named Willie, but while performing in the Catskills, he gave the dummy a Yiddish accent and changed his name to Velvel.

Here's a rare video clip of Rickie Layne and Velvel telling jokes on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1960.

Enjoy!

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