Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival Unites Jewish and Chinese Communities on New York's Lower East Side

Last month the crowds came out to celebrate the 12th annual Egg Rolls and Egg Creams Festival centered around the Eldridge Street Synagogue and Museum on New York's Lower East Side.

As the Bowery Boogie reported:

On the street, a number of tables were serving up the egg rolls and egg creams, with all proceeds from sales benefiting the Eldridge Street Synagogue. The Pickle Guys and Zaro's Bakery, who were event co-sponsors, also had representation.  Not everything was food-oriented, though.  There were more child-friendly stations dedicated to face painting, arts and crafts, and yarmulka design.  All the while, various traditional groups provided a unique soundtrack.

Inside the synagogue proper, the scene was a bit more bustling.  A few tables were squeezed into a tiny area behind the pews.  One had a sofer (scribe) writing out Hebrew names for people on construction paper.  His was the most popular.  There was also a place for Chinese paintings, calligraphy, and rather intricate origami.

Museum hands told the story of the ornate structure (est. 1887) and a cantor sang some Hebrew hymns.  Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was also in attendance, and delivered a speech about his connections to the house of worship.  How is brother had his Bar Mitzvah there; how his family was involved in its leadership in the 1930s through the 1950s.

The Jewish Daily Forward (Der Forverts) was also there, with Yiddish reporter Shmuel Perlin delivering a running narrative of the event, interspersed with historical observations on the establishment of the two communities, their differences and similarities, and the ways they cooperate to maintain one of New York's most colorful neighborhoods.

Here is his video report, in Yiddish with English subtitles.  Enjoy!

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Comedian Mark Schiff Riffs on the Dangers of Being Too Safety Conscious

After headlining all the major casinos and clubs around the USA and appearing many times on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman, comedian Mark Schiff has taken his comedy in a new direction, going beyond traditional stand-up comedy to adapt to the new ways that media is being accessed today.

Mark has released a series of his funny observations on the way we live, called Schiff's Riffs. They're on YouTube, and linked to from his Twitter and Facebook pages. He has performed for lots of Jewish organizations and wrote an article on Why Are Jews Funny for aish.com.

We've been following Mark's comedy for a few years and blogged about his appearance in New Jersey two years ago. We wrote then about Mark's ability to stay current without resorting to foul language that is so rampant today. After each show, people always say to Mark "it's refreshing to see someone that does not have to resort to four letter words".

Schiff's Riffs range from comments about the big questions in life to observations on mothers and wives and how to lose 50 pounds. 

Do you know any couples who are so safety conscious and paranoid about flying together on the same plane? We do. In the following Schiff's Riff, Mark takes the concept one step further, then another, and another, until the logical progression reaches a hilarious conclusion. Enjoy!

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L.A. Jewish Journal Launches Campaign for Woody Allen to Film in Israel

Actor/Director/Comedian Woody Allen has been making a film every year, most recently in London, Barcelona, Paris, and this year in Rome. When he's asked in his interviews why he picked those cities, the answer is always the same: they give him money to make the films.

So Rob Eshman, Editor and Publisher of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, came up with an idea. Why not start a campaign and collect funds for Allen to make his next film in Israel?

The Woody Allen Israel Project was launched on July 4 with an editorial written by Eshman in the Jewish Journal and a YouTube video featuring Israeli actress/director Noa Tishby making a direct appeal to Allen to visit Israel and make his next film there.

As Eshman put it in his editorial,

A few weeks ago, Julie and Steve Bram hosted a dinner in their living room for 35 Hollywood movers and shakers and the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. Between the salad and the salmon, the marketing maven Gary Wexler led a very frank discussion on what it would take to get more American movie production in Jerusalem and, more generally, in Israel.

The discussion dove deep into the intricacies of tax breaks, production incentives, post-production facilities.

“This is very competitive,” one entertainment lawyer said. “You have to be very sophisticated about it.”

It’s competitive because movie production means revenue, jobs and, most important, image. A successful movie shot in your country shapes the way people around the world see that country. “Imagination rules the world,” Napoleon said — and he would know; he tried to rule with cannons and carbines.

But it’s true: There is something powerful and indelible about movies that transcends news and politics.

The New York Times Hollywood reporter Aljean Harmetz once told a story of the time Paul Newman was in Israel filming “Exodus.” Newman was being driven through an Arab town, the site of anti-Israel protests. A barrage of stones hit his car, and angry villagers soon surrounded it. Newman’s minders told the driver to race away, but the actor ordered him to stop. Newman got out of the car. And instantly, the angry mob clamored for photos and autographs of Hollywood’s leading star.

That kind of power is what prompted Israeli President Shimon Peres to meet, on his last visit to Los Angeles, with film industry titans to encourage them to make movies in Israel.

The project is soliciting funds through the crowdsourcing website jewcer.com. Jewcer is a platform that allows project managers (innovators) to finance their ideas through small pledges collected from many funders (jewcers). A project on Jewcer must meet its monetary goal by the deadline set forth by the project innovator, otherwise the project does not get funded. This all-or-nothing funding model reduces risks for all parties involved (project innovator and jewcers) and helps to insure that the project will be able to be completed by the project innovator.

With a goal of raising 9 million dollars by August 23, so far they have pledges for $16,000. Will they reach their goal in time? Stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the Noa Tishby video.

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(A tip of the kippah to Esther Kustanowitz for bringing this story to our attention.)

2nd Avenue Deli Prevails in Heart Attack Grill Lawsuit

2nd Avenue Deli's Instant Heart Attack Sandwich

Heart Attack Grill's Quadruple Bypass

In May 2011 we shared a story of a lawsuit filed against New York's 2nd Avenue Deli by the Heart Attack Grill, a non-kosher Arizona restaurant. The complaint was that the 2nd Avenue Deli stole the names of some of the Heart Attack Grill's most popular sandwiches, the Single, Double, Triple, and Quadruple Bypass Burgers.

According to Reuters, the 2nd Avenue Deli asked a federal judge last year to declare that it had not imitated the Arizona sandwiches by offering an "Instant Heart Attack Sandwich" and "Triple Bypass Sandwich" because the New York creations were kosher and used completely different ingredients.

Last week the judge sided with the 2nd Avenue Deli. As Jonathan Stempel wrote in a Reuters dispatch yesterday:

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Thursday that the 2nd Avenue Deli may keep selling its "Instant Heart Attack" sandwich and launch a "Triple Bypass" version, noting clear differences between the deli and the Heart Attack Grill.

The 2nd Avenue Deli's potato pancake- and meat-based sandwiches pose little risk of customer confusion with the Heart Attack Grill, which sells giant cheeseburgers and fries cooked in lard, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer said.

The decision is a victory for the 2nd Avenue Deli, which under the threat of litigation in May 2011 had sought a ruling that it did not infringe any Heart Attack Grill trademarks.

Engelmayer said "it is safe to say" even unsophisticated customers could readily differentiate between a Manhattan kosher deli selling latke-based sandwiches and a medically-themed Las Vegas restaurant selling "gluttonous" cheeseburgers.

The judge also noted that the 2nd Avenue Deli, being kosher, cannot serve sandwiches that include both meat and cheese, such as the Triple Bypass burger.

The 2nd Avenue Deli's $24.95 sandwich consists of two potato pancakes, known as latkes, stuffed with corned beef, pastrami, salami or turkey.

"I'm really happy that we were vindicated," said Joshua Lebewohl, co-owner of the 2nd Avenue Deli. "This is a fight that was not of our choosing, and our customers are the true victors."

Following the court decision, he said the Triple Bypass, including three latkes, was to go on sale on Friday for $34.95.

The Heart Attack Grill had conceded during the litigation that the New York deli could be entitled to "limited" use of the disputed names. Engelmayer limited the 2nd Avenue Deli's use of the disputed names to restaurants in Manhattan.

In a statement, the Heart Attack Grill said the decision confirms that it can retain "unbridled use of its trademarks throughout the entire United States."

Lebewohl said his late uncle Abe, who established the 2nd Avenue Deli in 1954 and whose 1996 murder remains unsolved, came up with the idea for the Instant Heart Attack.The case is Lebewohl et al v. Heart Attack Grill LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-03153.

It's easy to visualize some pastrami sandwiched betweeen a couple of potato latkes. But it takes some imagination to appreciate the Heart Attack Grill's "quadruple bypass." Here's a video to show what the Las Vegas restaurant serves, free to anyone who weighs more than 350 lbs. Enjoy!

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Skateboarding Rabbi Teaches Kabbalah and Spirituality Down Under

They don't teach it in Rabbinical seminaries, but Rabbi Dovid Tsap has found a pathway to spirituality and to reaching young people in Melbourne, Australia. It's skateboarding. No, we're not kidding.

As Shane Scanlan wrote in the Docklands (Australia) News:

Rabbi Tsap, 34, is a mystic who spends his intellectual energy exploring the “more conspicuously spiritual side of Judaism”.

He writes a blog called Spiritual Skateboarding and communicates his thinking with people from all over the world. And he has recently published a book exploring the depths of Kabbalah.

Being a skateboarder has dual benefits for Rabbi Tsap. Apart from the health and wellbeing benefits he derives from the demanding sport, he clearly opens a respectful channel of communication with young people.

“The kids have some degree of admiration for me and pay attention to what I say,” he said. “They think of me as a friend. There is affinity and rapport.”

And while he has been a Rabbi for many years, he has only been the “Skating Rabbi” in recent times. Rabbi Tsap explained that he skated as a kid but gave it up when he was 15 years old.

He was encouraged by his friend Raph Brous to get back into skateboarding less than two years ago. Since then he has seen the barriers between himself and young people diminish drastically.

“It was almost like they had too much reverence for me then,” he said. “It was a barrier to effective communication.”

He said it was now very easy to speak with young people about life, drugs and God.

“At last now I am starting to feel like a real rabbi,” he said.

Here's a video of Rabbi Tsap in action as reported by Australia's JNTV News. Enjoy!

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Israeli Pianist Tells Story of How Jacob Gershowitz (George Gershwin) Wrote Rhapsody in Blue

Israeli pianist, narrator, and musicologist Astrith Baltsan, Israel's most popular classical performer, tells about how Jacob Gershowitz was a poor student in school, how he was inspired by music of many cultures, and how he became George Gershwin, the most famous American composer of all time. 

Sitting at the piano with the full Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, she explains how he was able to integrate Black man's blues, White man's restlessness, and the energy of the big city filled with people trying to get ahead and reach the skyscrapers, all in one piece of music -- Rhapsody in Blue. Baltsan illustrates Gershwin's achievement by playing the one minute finale.

If you want to take the time to enjoy an energetic, uplifting performance of the full 20 minute piece, we're including a version taped in 2010 by the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, with Andrew Armstrong at the Piano and Maxim Eshkenazy conducting. Enjoy!

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Man on the Street: What Israelis Really Know About the US and Canada

On July 4 the United States celebrated Independence Day and on July 1 Canadians celebrated Canada Day. In Israel a few random Israelis got the opportunity to show their knowledge of the USA and Canada, or lack thereof, with HaHafuch's "Man in the Street" interviews with Molly Livingstone, the comedy troupe's co-founder.

HaHafuch, the comedy and improv troupe by and for native English speakers in Israel, has been performing at irregular intervals in various performance spaces in Jerusalem. In addition to staging these live performances, the HaHafuchers film stand-alone skits and staged events like this one for distribution via the internet. We posted their satire Real Housewives of Jerusalem here last December.

Molly, in addition to acting as the "man in the street" for these HaHafuch walks, takes part in the producing, writing, filming, directing and acting in the group's performances. Her main goals for the future include the group's touring all over Israel and eventually the world, teaching improvisation to locals, international students and tourists alike and showing the world the funny side of Israel.

If you're planning a trip to Jerusalem, check the HaHafuch website before you go. They just might be performing at a theater near you during your stay.  Enjoy!

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Old Jews Telling Jokes: "Tuberculosis"

After a few days of patriotic posts we figure it's time for a change of pace with another selection from the newest crop of Old Jews Telling Jokes.

This one comes to us from Howard Eichenwald, a 65-year-old software developer. Called "Tuberculosis,"it touches on two genres of these classic clips. One is the medical genre, when a visit to the doctor results in a grim diagnosis. The other is the misunderstood explanation, which was probably very common in the early part of the 20th century, when many Jews spoke (and listened) with a pronounced (or mispronounced) accent.

After you've finished groaning, we hope you'll like it, and even pass it along to some friends. Enjoy!

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God Bless America: A Jewish Gift to Our Nation

In 1918 a 30-year-old Russian Jewish immigrant named Israel Isidore Baline wrote a song for a musical show but pulled it before the show opened. It sat on a shelf for twenty years before the songwriter, now named Irving Berlin, decided to revise it. That year it was introduced to the American public by singer Kate Smith on her radio show.

The song, God Bless America, written as a solemn prayer, became an instant hit. The introductory verses, sung by Kate Smith in 1938, are seldom heard today. They are:

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

One of Berlin's revisions was to replace the original line "Stand beside her and guide her to the right with a light from above" with "Stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above." The story goes that Berlin was concerned that the original lyrics might be construed as a call to the political right. 

Today the Jewish immigrant's song will probably be heard "from sea to shining sea," to borrow a phrase from America the Beautiful, another American hymn which will be sung together with The Star Spangled Banner" to round out Independence Day tributes to what writer and talk show host Michael Medved calls "the greatest nation on God's green earth."

In the video below, we show Kate Smith introducing "God Bless America" on her 1938 radio show.  Enjoy!

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A Seder to Celebrate the Fourth of July

For the last few years, talk show host Dennis Prager has been promoting the idea of celebrating the Fourth of July, America's Independence Day, with more than just hot dogs and hamburgers. His idea was to include a short ritual during the meal to make the holiday more meaningful, especially to younger members of the family. 

The idea was to include readings by young and old about American independence, the asking of questions by the children, and the eating of symbolic foods that remind us of the significance of the day. If this sounds familiar, it is. Dennis modeled the ceremony on the Passover Seder. It has successfully kept the memory of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt alive for over 3,000 years, and the Fourth of July declaration ceremony is designed to keep the memory of American independence alive for future generations.

The declaration ceremony is explained in a four-page document that can be easily downloaded from the Prager University web site. It includes instructions for the host, the narrative, questions, and a list of materials and food needed for the ceremony. These include iced tea to remember the Boston Tea Party, salty pretzels to remember the tears shed in the Revolutionary War, a bell to recall the ringing of the Liberty Bell, and strawberries and blueberries dipped in whipped cream to celebrate the red, white, and blue of the American flag.

The ceremony ends with everyone signing their names on a clean copy of the Declaration of Independence, also downloadable from the site.

The video below shows Dennis Prager conducting the declaration ceremony at a Fourth of July barbecue picnic. We plan to do something similar tomorrow and hope that you will incorporate some of these elements in your own celebration. Enjoy!

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Comedy Classic: Billy Crystal as Muhammad Ali Converting to Judaism

In 1977, Billy Crystal was an actor in a TV series called Soap. Harry Shearer, who would become the voice of Mr. Burns and many other characters on The Simpsons 12 years later, was a member of a radio comedy group. Rob Reiner, son of comedian-director Carl Reiner, had just finished a five year run as Archie Bunker's son-in-law, the Meathead, on All in the Family.

The three comics got together one night that year in a hilarious skit on the Tonight Show, where Reiner, as guest host, introduced Crystal as boxer Muhammad Ali and Shearer as Tom Snyder, a late-night TV show host.

Ali, who years earlier had changed his name from Cassius Clay and converted to Islam, was portrayed by Crystal as deciding to change his name and religion again, this time to Izzy Yiskowitz, a Hasidic Jew.

Crystal, in a deadpan imitation of Ali speaking in black dialect, manages to toss out about 20 Jewish references in six minutes in explaining elements of his "conversion." Fifteen years later, Crystal appeared again as Ali, this time without the Jewish references, at a tribute to the boxer on his 50th birthday. Ali was in the audience this time, smiling at Crystal's tribute.

Enjoy!

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

Israel Hosts First Miss Holocaust Survivor Contest

This week marked the first beauty pageant of Holocaust survivors as 14 women, aged 73 to 89, walked the runway in Haifa, Israel, as contestants for the title of Miss Holocaust Survivor. 

Only ten percent of the score was based on beauty, and 90 percent was based on their stories of survival.

As Jodi Rudoren wrote in The New York Times,

It was the first time down the runway for all 14 finalists, in what was billed as the first-ever pageant of Holocaust survivors.They wore sensible shoes, and no swimsuits. Personal stories counted as much as poise.

But this pageant was of greater consequence than to serve up a feel-good moment. It tapped into a core conflict that bedevils this society, where most everyone agrees on the need to keep the memory of the Holocaust central and alive, but not everyone agrees on how.

Some criticized the celebration for trivializing a tragedy, a reminder that in Israel the Holocaust is both omnipresent and ever-contentious.

Avrum Burg, author of the 2009 book “The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise From Its Ashes,” said in an interview that “what you see in Haifa is a struggle over the strategy of the memory.”

“Will it be permanently victimizing ourselves, and whining, whining, whining? Or will it be something else: the something else is the syntax of life, the vocabulary and the lexicon of the Holocaust survivors saying, ‘Remember us positively.’ ”

Shimon Sabag, director of Helping Hand for a Friend, the nonprofit group that organized the event, said it was important because “we have to remember history but also have to let these survivors think about the present. When people take an interest and pamper their outside or external beauty, this makes them feel better physically and then has a positive effect on their soul.”

But the struggle seeped through even in the two minutes each contestant was given to tell her story Thursday night. Each spoke of hunger, beatings and loss in Europe, but also of books written and prizes won in Israel. The survival theme was underlined as each listed her progeny: two children, three grandchildren; three children, six grandchildren; three children, seven grandchildren, nine great-grands. 

The crown, and a weekend in a five-star hotel, went to Hava Hershkowitz, 78, who wore an ankle-length black skirt and long-sleeved jacket, her bright-red lipstick matching her toenail polish. The oldest contestant was 89, the youngest 73. Most, including Ms. Hershkowitz, were from Romania, and many avoided the camps. 

On Thursday afternoon, professional hairdressers and makeup artists donated their services to help the women primp. Heli Ben-David, runner-up in 1979’s Miss Israel contest, spent the last two weeks teaching them how to prance.

After an elegant dinner in a room decorated in black and white save for tall centerpieces topped with balls of red roses, the women walked gingerly down the red carpet, many needing help ascending and descending the stage. Then they danced in a circle, singing along with Israeli standards.

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Old Jews Telling Jokes: Crying Old Man, a Classic Joke Told by Bea Slomin

The old jokes and the old Jews keep coming. The Old Jews Telling Jokes off-Broadway show is doing well and one of these days we'll get around to seeing it. But the web site keeps adding new jokes each week, and it looks like they will never run out of new old jokes.

We'd love to share all of them with you, but we'd have to break our pledge to keep the Jewish Humor site family-friendly. So we keep an eye on our friends over at OldJewsTellingJokes.com and whenever they post a clean or mildly off-color joke we give them an extra few thousand hits by reposting it here.

Today's old joke is The Crying Old Man, a classic, retold with great feeling, by Bea Slomin.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: An Upside-Down Kosher L'Pesach Tombstone in Namibia

Photo: Moshe Silberhaft

Last week we posted a story about a tombstone that appeared in a British sitcom with Hebrew lettering that was backwards and inadvertently stated that the occupant of the grave was "pickled at great expense."

Now comes a kindred story far removed in time and space that was published yesterday in the Washington Jewish Week. It seems that in the country of Namibia, formerly called Southwest Africa, there is a tombstone in a cemetery in the capital city of Windhoek that once was engraved with the Hebrew words "Kosher L'Pesach" upside down. 

This has been a sort of urban legend for the last few decades, with various versions appearing on the internet, sharing the basic story line but with conflicting details such as the name of the man who was described as Kosher L'Pesach. But out of the mists of history the true story has finally come out, thanks to Harvey Leifert, who served at the American embassy in Namibia twenty years ago, and who wrote the article in the Washington Jewish Week.

As Leifert reported yesterday in the paper,

Photo: Moshe Silberhaft

The Jewish community was small when I lived in Windhoek, and has dwindled since, but some Jews have always lived far from the capital, in small towns and on farms. One such person was Walter Galler, a resident of Swakopmund, then a small German port on the Atlantic, up the coast from the larger and better situated British port of Walvis Bay. We know little of Galler, who was born on Aug. 8, 1888, and died on Sept. 28, 1939.

Galler was married to a non-Jewish "colored," or mixed-race, woman, and when he died, the story goes, his widow arranged for a Jewish burial in the Swakopmund Cemetery, on the edge of the Namib Desert. Mrs. Galler then ordered a simple tombstone to mark her husband's grave, and she felt it must include an acknowledgement of his Jewish faith. She somehow knew that a Hebrew inscription was appropriate, but the only Hebrew text in her home was the certification "kasher l'Pesach," found, along with a Star of David, on the label of a bottle of wine.

Mrs. Galler apparently cut out the Hebrew words and star and handed them to the stone mason. He chiseled the letters into the tombstone, but, not knowing the Hebrew alphabet, he inscribed them upside down.

There the story might have ended, but decades later, word of a "kasher l'Pesach" tombstone in a far-off cemetery was circulating in Windhoek's Jewish community. Almost uniformly, from what I have heard, members praised Mrs. Galler for making an effort to recognize and respect her late husband's religion, regardless of the, er, unorthodox result. One day in the 1970s, however, a visiting rabbi from neighboring South Africa drove to Swakopmund and inspected the grave. He determined that the upside-down Hebrew inscription must go, and so it was done. The Star of David remains, now flanked by two blank rectangles.

But, why was the inscription excised? According to Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, the current country communities rabbi, who was not involved in the decision, "the reason it was removed is that the gravesite was becoming a tourist attraction, and it was felt that it was 'unsettling' and disrespectful for the deceased." 

Over the years, Swakopmund developed into a lovely seaside resort town, attracting both Namibian and foreign visitors. Some still find their way to the local cemetery and leave a pebble on the grave that once was kosher for Pesach.

Oy Vey! What a Way to Start Your Day! Decor Tips From Rona and Devorah

Rona Oyveyski and Devorah Schlepperstein are a more extreme version of the team of Ronna and Beverly, the politically incorrect yentas whom we profiled in December 2009. They just posted their first 10 minute web video in what looks like a new series. It's called Episode Three, so there may be prequels on the way.

The loud, overbearing pair refer to themselves as the most fashionable, glamorous, witty women out there. And they also claim to be very intelligent.

Follow them as they guide us through their house, offering their very own decoration and organizational tips. This episode includes Powerful Pillows, Knick Knacks Galore (you can never have too many tchochkes), The Elegance of Animal Prints, and Secrets of Organizing a Pantry and Closet.

We'll be carefully watching your "like" and "don't like" votes for this one. Enjoy!

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Kosher Comedy Returns With Fourth Episode of "Verplanck"

In February, we posted the first three episodes of Verplanck, a new "kosher comedy" series that follows the exploits of four different types of Orthodox Jews, as they act on their plans to build a new Orthodox Jewish community in Verplanck, an actual city in upstate New York with just a few hundred residents. The locals are portrayed as hicks who have no clue as to what Orthodox Judaism or these newcomers are about.

The main characters include Mitch, a "left-center" Orthodox type; Avi, representing the "right-center"; Feishy, the chassid; and Yechiel Michel Raphael Menachem, the yeshivish (hareidi) guy who insists on using all four of his names.

The first three episodes, which you can see in our February blog post, include some funny confrontations between the foursome and the townies, some of whom are confrontational, some accepting, and some neutral, and highlight some differences in observance within the Orthodox circle. 

The show is presented as if it were a documentary but the viewer knows it’s fake. This format is referred to as a mockumentary. The genre can also be categorized as a dramedy -- a blend of drama and comedy.

If you have the time, we recommend watching the first three episodes before seeing the fourth episode below, but this new episode includes enough of a recap to let you enjoy it as a standalone episode. 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.)

Actress Mayim Bialik on Her Journey to Jewish Observance

 

Mayim Bialik, 36, an American actress famous for her TV roles as Blossom Russo on NBC's Blossom and as Amy Farrah Fowler on CBS's The Big Bang Theory, has been on a lecture tour of synagogues and other Jewish venues. She's also a neuroscientist and a professor of neuroscience. Hayim Nahman Bialik, Israel's national poet, was Mayim Bialik's great-great-grandfather's uncle.

A year ago, she spoke at the Tribefest conference in Las Vegas about her early life, her education, and her journey from the Reform world of her Bohemian leftist parents to a growing appreciation and observance of halachic Judaism.

Only last week she delivered a lecture at The Jewish Center in Manhattan that we posted here in its entirety, more than an hour in length. Unfortunately the owner of the video, who originally posted it on YouTube, had second thoughts about sharing it and removed it. So we're posting instead the 14 minute talk at Tribefest, a talk that covers much of the same ground.

At the Jewish Center she told of how she now practices something close to modern Orthodox Judaism, but bends the rules when strict Orthodoxy comes into conflict with the realities of starring in a TV series produced in Hollywood.

If you haven't seen The Big Bang Theory or want to revisit a favorite scene, check out the short video just below Mayim's speech. 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.)

Latma TV, Israel's Saturday Night Live, Keeps Them Laughing

If you're a regular watcher of Saturday Night Live like we are, you're probably missing some of the biting satire of its Weekend Update segment now that the show is over until the fall. But the Israeli equivalent, Latma TV's Tribal Update, is still going strong.

We're always on the lookout for current episodes that have English subtitles, two of which we brought you last year. Now it's time for a new one.

Latma TV was created to serve as a vehicle for lampooning Israel's left-leaning media. It, too, has a regular weekly news segment called Tribal Update, which is used to sock it to institutions and individuals that take leftist positions, especially in the ongoing conflict between Israel and its neighbors.

Latma was awarded the Israel Media Watch 2011 prize, given to "organizations that made courageous, meaningful, and quality contributions to the criticism of the media in Israel". It was chosen by an online poll involving over 4,000 voters.   According to Israel Media Watch, Latma brings balance to the left-wing bias of mainstream Israeli satire.

Today's ten minute segment is a mock news show that the anchors call the most objective news on television, without bias.  American viewers might find the political commentary a little rougher and the satire a little more edgy, but that's what comes with living in a tough neighborhood.

Topics covered in this episode include the Egyptian elections, deportation of illegal Eritrean and Sudanese immigrants, and picking a European soccer team to root for that is not anti-semitic or anti-Israel.
 
You may want to watch the show more than once because the dialogue moves fast.  Very fast.  And remember, it's a parody, not real news.  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.)

 

The Old Jokes Fly on Comedy Night for Old Jews in Boca Raton

No, it's not the cast of the off-Broadway show, Old Jews Telling Jokes. And it's not the lineup of seniors who were recruited to deliver the short jokes on the popular website, book, CD, and DVD of the same name. But the concept of old Jews standing in front of a microphone and retelling some very old jokes seems to be catching on.

Last month An Evening of Old Jews Telling Jokes was presented before a live audience at the Adolph and Rose Levis JCC in Boca Raton, FL. Amateur comedians from their mid 60s to their late 80s performed in front of a packed house for an evening full of laughs and smiles. 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.)

 

How Eve and Adam Met - A Very Modern Version

Limmud (learning) is a Jewish education conference that's been going on in England for the past 30 years, with spinoff versions taking place in more than 24 countries on six continents.

Taking their inspiration from the Limmud festival, a grassroots group of Jewish young adults in Montreal created a version that they named LE MOOD, taking a very modern approach to explore Jewish life as they define it.

To generate interest in last year's conference, the LE MOOD organizers produced a short video purporting to show a modern view of how Eve and Adam met. You'll recognize the basic characters in the story, but probably not the clothes they're wearing, or Cain and Abel's, the cafe where they tell some of their friends about their first meeting in a garden.

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.)