Di Mamme Iz Gegangen - Delightful Animation of a Classic Yiddish Song

"Almonds and Wine" brings a Yiddish folk song to life, as the animated journey of a young bride and groom from Eastern Europe to North America is set to rollicking klezmer music. 

Fleeing the threat of war, the couple arrive in Canada, establish a new life together and hand down their traditions to the generations that follow. This film is set to a classic Yiddish folk song, Di Mamme iz Gegangen in Mark Arayn (My Mother Went to Market.) It was produced, directed and animated by Arnie Lipsey.

The animation is inspired, but the characters move through the story so fast that you'll have to watch it more than once or keep your finger on the pause button to catch all of the details and read what's written on the store signs and protest signs. 

How do we know that the couple settles in Canada and not the U.S.? Notice that the boy is running around with a hockey stick, not a baseball bat.

The depiction of the Jewish wedding ceremony is very detailed. Be sure to watch for the expression on the bride's and groom's faces when they are lifted onto chairs for the traditional handkerchief dance.

The Yiddish lyrics and English translation 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.)

Oy di mamme iz gegangen in mark arayn noch keyln,

Oy hot zi mir tzurik gebracht a meydele fun Peyln.

Oy iz dos a meydele a sheyns un a feyns,

Oy Mit di shvartse eygelach, oy ketsele du mayns.

Oy di mamme iz gegangen in mark arayn noch kreyt,

Oy hot zi mir tzurik gebracht a meydele fun beyt,

Oy iz dos a meydele a sheyns un a feyns,

Oy mit di shvartse eygelach, oy ketsele du mayns.

Oy di mamme is gegangen in mark noch a katchke

Oy hot zi mir tzurik gebracht a meydele, a tzatzke

Oy iz dos a meydele a sheyns un a feyns,

Oy mit di vayse tzeyndelach, oy ketsele du mayns.

Ich hob gegesn mandlen, ich hob getrunken vayn,

Ich hob gelibt a meydele un ken on ir nisht zayn,

Oy iz dos a meydele a sheyns un a feyns,

Oy mit di roite bekelach, oy ketsele du mayns.

My mother went to market to buy some coal,
She brought me back a lovely girl from Poland.
Oh what a girl she was, how beautiful and fine,
Ah, those black eyes of hers, ah, you kitten of mine.

My mother went to market to buy some cabbage,
She brought me back a girl just off a coach.
Oh what a girl she was, how beautiful and fine,
Ah, those black eyes of hers, ah, you kitten of mine.

My mother went to market to buy a duck,

She brought me back a girl - what a handful! 

Oh what a girl she was, how beautiful and fine,

Ah, those white teeth of hers, ah, you kitten of mine.

I have been eating almonds, I have been drinking wine,
And I have loved a lass and could not part from her.
O what a lass she was, how lovely and how fine,
Ah, those red cheeks of hers, ah, you kitten of mine.

(A tip of the kippah to Malka Edelman for bringing this video to our attention.)

Hagbah (Torah Lifting) Presents Challenge for Egalitarian Shuls

On Friday the Wall Street Journal featured a front page story about Hagbah. No, we're not kidding. 

Hagbah (more correctly, hagbaha) and Gelilah are the lifting and rolling/covering the Torah at the end of the Torah reading in synagogues. So why would the Wall Street Journal write about it at all, and of all places, on the front page?

The Journal has always run a funny or light story in the middle or bottom of the front page. They encourage their writers to occasionally let their creative juices flow and produce articles that include puns you wouldn't expect to see in the columns of a serious newspaper. 

The column is known as an A-Hed and Friday it focused on the moments in a shul service when a congregant lifts the Torah high, walks a few steps (carefully) to sit on a chair or bench and holds it upright for a fellow congregant to roll the two halves together and tie them securely. The tie has traditionally been a strip of cloth that's tied in a knot, but increasingly today is a length of velour fabric secured by a metal clip or Velcro strip.

As Lucette Lagnado wrote in the Journal,

Lifting the Torah scroll during Sabbath services—a ritual known as "Hagbah," which means to lift in Hebrew—is considered a tremendous honor. It can also be a perilous undertaking.

The average Torah scroll, which contains the Five Books of Moses, handwritten by a quill on parchment, can weigh about 25 or 30 pounds. Scrolls are mounted on long wooden poles; they are often hard to handle, and even harder to hoist. Some scrolls, encased in wood and silver, weigh 40 or 50 pounds or more.

Accidents happen, and when they do, custom calls for significant acts of contrition, including fasting. Lots of fasting.

"If you drop the Torah, the implications are dire—the shame is enormous—and traditionally one needed to fast for 40 days," says Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. The offender has plenty of company in hunger, as anyone who witnesses the Torah tumble must also refrain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset.

The article, and the video below, describe the horror stories of Torahs almost and actually falling to the ground and the conflicts in egalitarian synagogues where the rabbi and the congregants strive for full participation of women, but are stymied by the difficulties presented by the weight (up to 60 pounds) of the Torah. The author, in true A-Hed pun form, says that to some, the weight issue is "a bit of a tempest in a kiddush cup." 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 Jack Kustanowitz for bringing this story to our attention.)

Jewish Humor Central Profiled by New York's Jewish Week

This week's edition of New York's The Jewish Week has a feature article about the past, present, and future of Jewish humor that includes a profile of Jewish Humor Central and comments by Al Kustanowitz, its Blogger-in-Chief.

The article, by Gary Rosenblatt, the newspaper's editor and publisher, reflects on the state of Jewish humor, wondering if it still has a future given the demise of most of the Catskill Mountain resorts that gave so many Jewish standup comedians their start in decades past.

Even though the article is titled The Ever-Dying Art of Jewish Humor, it offers hope that a new generation will find new sources of Jewish humor and rediscover the timeless old jokes that seem to have been around forever.

Rosenblatt cites the success of Old Jews Telling Jokes, first the website, and then the book, CD, DVD, and now the off-Broadway comedy based on it that debuts in May. We have run a few blog posts on this success story over the past two years. The website, which has been rerunning some of its old material, is returning with a new season on May 1, featuring a new cast of standup comics from Boca Raton, Florida.

The article concludes with a profile of Jewish Humor Central and comments by its creator:

Al Kustanowitz, 72, of Fair Lawn, N.J., is more optimistic. A 36-year-veteran of IBM, he now spends an average of an hour a day updating a popular website he launched from home in 2009, a labor of love called Jewish Humor Central (www.jewishhumorcentral.com), which features an entertaining mix of jokes, odd news items (“Gaza Zoo Adds Stuffed Animals”), music, new comedy videos and clips from classic routines.

As “blogger-in-chief,” he says he has written close to 800 blog posts, and admits “it’s getting harder to find clean material” to use on the site. (He includes a warning if a video has language “from the George Carlin list” of seven words you can never say on TV.)

Kustanowitz says his muse was his late wife, Shuly, who served as his “gentle censor.” Now he often runs material by his daughter, Esther, a prolific blogger and Jewish culture queen in her own right. (“The tree doesn’t fall far from the fruits,” Al jokes of his own talent.)

For some 25 years he published a family newsletter with funny news items around Purim time each year, noting that “you can’t make this stuff up.” Over time he sent it out to hundreds of family members and friends, but he abandoned the print edition now that his website has about 2,300 subscribers.

Besides, he says, “I started the blog because I couldn’t wait until Purim.”

Based on his success, Kustanowitz now offers a series of one-hour lectures. His talks include video clips and commentary, with more than two dozen topics to choose from.

“I don’t worry about theories” about Jewish humor and its sociological implications, he says.

“These jokes last forever.”

Here's a video clip of Daniel Okrent and Peter Gethers, the creators of the new Off Broadway show Old Jews Telling Jokes, discussing plans for their new show. 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.)

We've Gotta Live Together - A Musical Tribute to Jewish Unity

 

As we observe Israel's 64th Independence Day today, it's fitting that we focus on  the many streams of Jewish culture that fit together to form the mosaic that we call Israel. 

These streams are varied in national origin, language, culture, and degree and style of religious observance. But they have more in common than the factors that separate them and sometimes bring them into conflict.

As the Aish.com website points out:

Jewish unity was a precondition for entering the Covenant at Sinai. And Jewish unity – pooling all our diverse talents and strengths – is likewise key to fulfilling our national destiny of creating a more spiritual and perfect world.

That does not mean we all need to be identical. Rather, unity means showing respect to each individual and appreciating their unique contribution to the collective whole. According to the Midrash, there are “seventy faces to Torah” and each of the Twelve Tribes had their own “gate in Heaven” through which their prayers entered. We are all on the same team – and each of us adds positively to the mix.

Especially in these challenging times, it is crucial that we build unity among Jews by engaging in acts of kindness, caring and tolerance toward others. The Talmud says that it was baseless hatred amongst Jews that brought about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Only through unconditional love will it be rebuilt.

The Aish.com team has put together a little video set in Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda mall that illustrates the beauty of performing small acts of kindness that bring people of different backgrounds together. In this video one seemingly insignificant act of picking up and returning a dropped glove leads to one act after another that form a chain of smiles that lights up the popular thoroughfare. The video is set to the 1968 song Everyday People by Sly and the Family Stone.  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 Prayer for the State of Israel on Independence Day

Tonight at sundown marks the start of Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel's 64th Independence Day. It's a day filled with ceremonies and festive celebrations.

The major State Ceremony for Yom HaAtzmaut takes place tonight at Mount Herzl, Israel’s National Ceremony in Jerusalem. This event marks the end of Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s memorial day, which falls immediately before), and the beginning of the celebration for Yom HaAtzmaut. The ceremony involves performances, speeches, and a ceremonial lighting of twelve torches which symbolizes the Twelve tribes of Israel by twelve citizens who have made a great impact upon the country.  At the same time, towns and cities across the country have parties and firework displays.

Tomorrow, parades and events take place across Israel including military fly-pasts, parades, a famous International Bible Competition, and the ceremony for the Israel Prize which is Israel’s highest award and honor. The Israel Prize is given each year to about 10-15 people in the presence of the presence of the President, Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the Supreme Court president.

Yom HaAtzmaut is a real family day, and Israelis flock to Israel’s National Parks, hiking trails, and beauty spots, for barbecues and picnics.

It's also a day when the Prayer for the State of Israel, said on Shabbat in most synagogues around the world, will be sung as part of the ceremonies and celebrations. Here is a video of the prayer being sung by Shai Abramson, Chief Cantor of the Israel Defense Forces (How many other countries have a chief cantor?) The video includes film clips from the 64 years of Israel's existence, from David Ben-Gurion to the Six Day War to the release of Gilad Schalit last year.

The Hebrew prayer and its English translation from the Sim Shalom siddur appear below the video. Chag Sameach!

(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.)

Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of the people Israel; Bless the State of Israel, with its promise of redemption. Shield it with Your love; spread over it the shelter of Your peace. Guide its leaders and advisors with Your light and Your truth. Help them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our Holy Land. Deliver them; crown their efforts with triumph. Bless the land with peace, and its inhabitants with lasting joy. And let us say: Amen.

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

Regina Resnik in "Thirst" - A Classic Jewish Joke

Regina Resnik, a dominant mezzo-soprano with the Metropolitan and other operas from the 1940s throgh the 1970s, has also had a career as an actress and director. Together with her son, Michael Philip Davis, she recently produced Colors of the Diaspora, a compilation of three full-length concerts offering a kaleidoscope of Jewish classical song and operatic excerpts.

The collection, in addition to many musical compositions, includes a comic dialogue between Resnik and Davis called "Thirst," in which they act out dramatically what amounts to a very old Jewish joke.

The sketch runs about seven minutes in length, but we think it's worth watching to see the punch line coming. And we don't have to warn you about the punch line, because unlike the punch lines of other Jewish jokes, it is very family-friendly.  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.)