Coming in July 2013: The 19th Maccabiah Games in Israel

Every four years since 1932, thousands of Jewish and Israeli athletes from 65 countries have gathered in Israel to participate in the Maccabiah Games.

Next year, an especially festive celebration will mark 80 years since the first games were held. The opening ceremony will take place on July 17, 2013,and the games will run from July 18 through July 30. It's another good reason to plan a trip to Israel next summer.

The Maccabiah is the world’s largest Jewish athletic competition, emphasizing the centrality of the State of Israel in the life of the Jewish people. "The Jewish Olympics" as they are often called, are the Maccabi World Union's largest and most famous enterprise.

Within the Maccabiah there are four separate competitions that take place; Open, Junior, Masters, and Paralympics. Junior games are open to any qualifying athlete aged 15-18. Masters are divided into a number of different age categories mostly to accommodate older competitors and the Open division is generally unlimited in age, subject to the governing international rules in each sport, and is intended for the best athletes from each delegation. In order to participate in the Maccabiah, athletes must represent a delegation. Delegations are formed by each of the Territorial Organizations that participate, i.e. France, Brazil, Germany, United States, Canada, Hungary, Australia, etc.

The origins and history of the Maccabiah Games are described in the first video below, and a tribute to the 80 years of games is set to music in the second video.  Enjoy!

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Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek's Mr. Spock) Invokes His Yiddish-Speaking Childhood at Boston University Commencement

Leonard Nimoy, 81, best known as the half-human, half-Vulcan character Mr. Spock on the Star Trek series, delivered the commencement address at Boston University's College of Fine Arts last week.

In the 18-minute speech (click on the video below to see it all,) he travels back in time to his childhood in the Jewish and Italian West End of Boston, relishing stories of his early years of growing up in an ethnic neighborhood where he could tell the nationality by the aromas of cooking wafting through the tenement building.

He speaks freely of his Jewish roots and how proud he was to be "this Jewish kid from a Yiddish-speaking family at a Jesuit school (Boston College, where he was offered a scholarship in an 8-week summer theatre program) being blessed daily with 'Our Fathers' and 'Hail Marys.'

Nimoy gives humorous glimpses of advice that he received from actor Spencer Tracy and from President-to-be John F. Kennedy, whom he picked up at a hotel when Nimoy worked the night shift as a taxi driver to make ends meet.

He tells how he came to the role of Mr. Spock in 1966 and how his status of an alien parallels Nimoy's own role: "My folks came to the United States as immigrants (aliens) and they became citizens. I was born in Boston, a citizen. I went to Hollywood and I became an alien. Spock was the embodiment of the outsider, like the immigrants who surrounded me in my early years."

He ends his address, sprinkled throughout with funny comments and words of advice to the budding artists in the graduating class, with this request: "Please, please, for the sake of our culture, for the sake of mankind, don't create any more reality TV shows. And of course, I cannot leave without saying to you in all sincerity, Live long and prosper." (as he raises his hand in the gesture that the Kohanim make when they bless the congregation.)

Enjoy!

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Moves Like Moses - Bar Mitzvah a Cappella

Last December we posted a Chanukah video by the Pella Singers, a talented a capella group with an impressive record of performing at bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs, and also at the White House, various sporting events, and the annual Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City.

They've mastered the art of singing without using musical instruments, using only their mouths and voices to simulate the musical sounds. This comes in handy when performing musical numbers at Friday night and Shabbat simchas.

The Pella performers have released a new video called Moves Like Moses, based on the pop song Moves Like Jagger, We hope you enjoy it.

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A Shavuot Music Video - "Stay Up All Night"

It's become traditional on the first night of the holiday of Shavuot (this Saturday night) to stay up all night studying or attending lectures to mark the giving and acceptance of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The long hours of studying or listening, known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot, are often fueled by supplies of cheesecake and coffee. 

These sessions range from individual study to group study of Talmudic and other texts to lectures by professionals in their field and interested laymen on topics of Jewish interest. The program in many synagogues begins after midnight and runs until sunrise, when those still awake participate in an early morning Shacharit service.

There aren't too many songs or colorful symbols for this holiday, which ranks with Passover and Sukkot as one of the Shalosh Regalim, or three pilgrimage festivals described in the Torah. So it's refreshing to find an upbeat music video celebrating the holiday and its all-night study aspects.

We hope you enjoy "Stay Up All Night" as performed by Moshe Hamburg, David Bar-Cohn, and Mitch Rudy. The video was filmed at Kehillat Menorat HaMaor in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. It's a project of Rebbetzin Tap and Friends.

We plan to attend a Tikkun Leil Shavuot at a shul in Riverdale, New York, and spend the next two days playing with two delicious granddaughters, catching up on napping, and dining on a variety of cheesecakes. So there will be no Jewish Humor Central postings on Shabbat, Sunday, and Monday. We'll be back with our usual mix on Tuesday. Chag Sameach to all our readers.

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A Comedy Classic: Mel Brooks on Why We Have Only Ten Commandments

The holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates God's giving of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, starts this Saturday night right after the end of Shabbat. It's not easy to find jokes and funny material about Shavuot, unlike the large collection of funny stuff about all the other Jewish holidays, so we're glad that we have inspired comedians like Mel Brooks to fill the gap.

We've long been fans of Brooks' Jewish-influenced comedy, especially in his films. One of our favorites is History of the World - Part 1. In this classic scene, Brooks, acting in the role of Moses, gives us his explanation of how we ended up with only ten commandments. Enjoy!

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In The News: Tale of Two Chests: One Infiltrates Haredi Rally; One Gets Fired For Being "Too Hot"

Photo: Matthew McDermott

What a news day! On the day that Jewish Humor Central got a record number of page views by posting the funniest tweets from the anti-internet asifa at Citi Field, two articles appeared in very different publications, both relating to women taping their chests. 

In one case a female reporter did it voluntarily so she could escape detection as a woman when she infiltrated the Haredi rally to file an on-location report. In the other, an amply endowed woman was fired from her job at a lingerie store owned by Orthodox Jews.

As Rebecca Rosenberg and Dan Mangan wrote in yesterday's New York Post,

They sell sexy undies — but for the ultra-religious owners of a Manhattan lingerie company, one curvaceous clerk was too hot to handle.

Busty blond Lauren Odes says the Orthodox Jewish owners of Fifth Avenue lingerie company Native Intimates canned her because she was “just too hot” for their Midtown showroom filled with skimpy satin and lace underthings.

“I was working in a business that is not a synagogue but is instead selling thongs with hearts that are placed in the female genitalia area and boy shorts for women that say ‘Hot’ in the buttocks area,” fumed Odes yesterday in announcing her explosive Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the wholesaler.

“Given their business product, I don’t understand why I would be told I was just ‘too hot,’ ” said Odes, 29, who alleges she was sacked by Native Intimates after just a few days of working there last month.

The buxom beauty said she was “appalled” when she was given a red bathrobe to hide her ample figure — and when a female supervisor “suggested that I tape down my breasts.”

“It was very shocking, very humiliating,” she told reporters.

 

(A tip of the kippah to Phil Fink for bringing this story to our attention.)

Meanwhile, over at Citi Field, where 40,000 Haredi men attended the anti-internet rally, Adrienne Jeffries, an intrepid female reporter for the New York Observer infiltrated the stadium by taping her breasts with white duct tape and wearing her brother's dress clothes and a donated kippah.

Here are some excerpts from her first-person report, Ultra-Orthodox Jews Take a Hard Line on the Internet at Rally of 40,000 Men (And Me):

Yes, the stadium was full of men, and the women’s bathrooms were reportedly locked. Yet there were at least three females present: a ticket-taker, an usher, and me, in a pair of $15 Payless loafers, my brother’s dress clothes, and a donated kippah. Oh, and the white duct tape around my chest, G.I. Jane style.

I tested my disguise at Duane Reade and the 6 train and was relieved to see I wasn’t getting any longer-than-usual stares; but it wasn’t until the first Hasid asked me for directions that I breathed a sigh of relief. Or would have, if the duct tape weren’t so tight.

The rabbis did not seem to present a totally united front, but most took a hard line: No Internet in the Jewish home. The Internet is only to be used for business with a filter when it is necessary to earn a living. Children who have Internet in the home should not be allowed to attend school.

Some of the lines provoked applause, but the audience was seeded with subversives. This reporter was live-tweeting from the asifa, and we weren’t the only ones. We also glimpsed an iPhone, an Android phone, and saw one attendee clearly emailing from his BlackBerry—blatantly disregarding the tinny, disembodied voice of Rav Shmuel Halevi Wosner, who was speaking over the telephone from Israel. There were at least two sites broadcasting a live stream of the event. The blog JewishHumorCentral rounded up the best asifa jokes on Twitter. Someone put a video on YouTube.

Around 9:30 p.m., when the parade of rabbis showed no signs of flagging, the audience started getting restless. Attendees started shuffling up and down the stairs, and the perhaps-18-year-old sitting next to me had started rocking back and forth, though he was not in prayer. He ate the pretzels provided in the asifa goodie bag. He pulled a watch out of his pocket and looked at it. His friend started eating pretzels. Apparently, they had no phones. Outside the stadium, a Hasidic man in his mid-20s was trying to find a way into Citi Field. He’d been at the Arthur Ashe Stadium overflow venue, which reportedly had a paltry turnout and no English translation. “I didn’t really understand what they were saying,” he said.

Some were affected; a fellow live-tweeter said he planned to cut back, inspired by Rabbi Wachsman. Another tweeter mentioned he’d “lost” at least one person on BBM, BlackBerry’s private text messaging, during the rally.

Not my contact, who texted his closing thoughts: “This event really isn’t my cup of tea and won’t affect my internet usage in any way shape or form. I think this forum was a huge waste of money and time and that there are real issues of importance affecting the orthodox Jews that should be addressed instead of regulating the Internet.” The rally reportedly cost $1.5 million.

The Yiddish Chefs Make Potato Soup and Massage a Cabbage for Shavuot

The holiday of Shavuot starts on Saturday night, and the Forward's Yiddish-speaking chefs are back, this time preparing a dairy potato soup and red cabbage slaw for your enjoyment.

As usual, Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz carry on a lively conversation, all in Yiddish, while going about their food preparation. 

As in previous episodes of their cooking show, Est Gezunterheit, the English subtitles give us a painless lesson in spoken Yiddish, and a few new words to let us show off our language skills by introducing a Yiddish word into our daily conversations. Here is today's crop of Yiddish words:

Potatoes: Kartuffle

Soft: Veich

Putting in: Arain shittin

Dill: Creep
Garlic: Knubble 
Cabbage: Kroit

Pour: Geese
Sink: Oopguss

Squeeze: Kvetch

Massage: Massajieren

SPECIAL NOTICE TO USERS OF INTERNET FILTERS:

(We regret that any Haredim who attended the anti-Internet rally at Citi Field on Sunday and are using filters to prevent access to web sites that include the word "massage" may not be able to watch this video and may have to settle for frozen blintzes instead.) 

Enjoy!

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Funniest Tweets From Citi Field Anti-Internet Asifa (Rally)

Well, as we often say, you just can't make this stuff up. In case you've been asleep all week, the much anticipated kinus klal yisrael (assembly of the entire Jewish community) took place last night at Citi Field in Queens, New York, home of the Mets.

Of course, it wasn't an assembly of the entire Jewish community. It was an asifa (gathering) of about 40,00 ultra-Orthodox men from Baltimore to Brooklyn, who filled the stadium to hold a mass demonstration against what they described as the evils of the Internet. Most of the speeches were given in Yiddish, Yeshivish, and Yinglish.

Organizers of the event told the media that their goal is to save the next generation from the social ills, including pornography and exposure to secular society, that they argue the technology brings. Women were excluded from participation, due to the organizers' inability to provide separate entrances and seating for men and women.

In one of the ironies of the spectacle, the event was live streamed so that it could reach the vast number of Jews who were unable to be present in the stadium seats. What did they use to get their message across? The internet, of course.

While the event seemed to unify those who paid $10 for tickets (which also ironically were made available on eBay and other internet sites as well as through neighborhood sales), it also served as a rallying point for the many Jewish internet users of all denominations who tweeted their snappy 140-character observations on Twitter, the popular social media site.

We tracked the Twitter observations all through the evening, and selected some of the best ones to share with our readers. Some are funny, some are sarcastic and biting, but all have some measure of truth and reality that was missed by the organizers of the asifa. We hope you enjoy them. Following is a video clip of the grandstands at Citi Field coming alive with the singing of V'taher Libeinu to give you a feeling of having been there without having to cope with the hassle of crowds and parking problems. 

It's also our wish that the 40,000 who attended the asifa join the Klal Yisrael who subscribe to Jewish Humor Central, Old Jews Telling Jokes, and other web sites and blogs that strive to bring joy into lives that could use a good dose of humor to start each day on a light and happy note.

There's a double header tonite. Next up is the Amish versus the Automobiles.@shmulyt

I have an Internet filter. Works on all devices. Lives behind my eyes and between my ears.@bpchiller

No mention of children abuse scandals. Repeated mention of how the internet corrupts children. @SeanPatrickCoop

This is the Pope declaring himself inffalible in 1870. Same forces at work. @DovBear

Were it not for social media I would not be able to keep track of the asifa.   @DovBear

Overheard at Citi Field: "the worst thing about the internet is that it can lead G-d forbid to a job."@shmulyt

The fathers are all at Citi Field asifa, the mothers are all going to live Hookups, and he kids will stay Home Alone on the Computer. @mordysiegel

Citi Field Security Guards Report to the Media that this asifa is Biggest Crowd to be in this Stadium since opened. @vosiznies

Oy the Internet is evil...but I'm still watching a live stream. @The_Asifa

Too many ills in the chassidishe community and THIS is what they focus on? OY VEY. @YeahThatsKosher

I am missing my brother at the asifa. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, black jacket and hat and had glasses. @HMMMJA

Rabbonim are headed to the clubhouse for cold beers and some bubbly to celebrate their victory tonight! @LeviMargolin

A sign displayed in Citi Field memorabilia shop: "all jerseys have been checked for shatnez." @shmulyt

So let me get this straight. They Re-banned the Internet? They didn't need to spend $2 million on that. Right? @DesignsBySruly

Did anyone streak across the field during the game? And by streak, I mean, without a hat? @YeahThatsKosher
 

Anti-internet asifa could have been about accepting the net and teaching about responsible use instead of more hocking. @shtickydude

50K ultra orthodox Jews in a NY stadium protesting the internet and a solar eclipse...aren't those two of the four signs of the apocalypse? @estherk

Does buying an iTouch for my daughter's 17th birthday today go against the spirit of the asifa? @OMTorah

Best part of the asifa was that I got new followers on Twitter! @gloooopy

Take home message-No one who was sitting on the internet fence will change behavior because of the Asifa, but I bet a lot of people go OTD (Off the Derech -- leaving the fold). @chaimshapiro

Dear yeshiva students who attended the asifa: you've just ruined your shidduch and no one from Saw You At Sinai will ever set you up. @YeahThatsKosher

Was there an asifa when Gutenberg invented the printing press? @jonathankroll

Coming this week to a girl's shidduch resume near you - did your father attend Asifa? If answer is NO then NO SHIDDUCH...." @Ruchy_G

Schools from here on will only accept those without Internet and rich people. @GroynemOx

I really should've attended the asifa dressed as WALDO, and kept moving around... to give all the yeshiva students something to do. @YeahThatsKosher

Most of the people who went don't know their asifa from their elbow. @DOAAWOL

Davening from your smartphone right after the asifa is like saying "Slach Lanu" right after Yom Kippur. It feels wrong. @alfassa

There's a smoking section at Citi Field; Provided that all cigarettes have a filter. @shmulyt

Is it true they're raffling off an iPad at the asifa? @jrotem

What did one rabbi tweet to the other rabbi at the asifa?  "Wi-Fi sucks in here.” @WernerAJ

So before the internet, we did research at libraries. Where was the asifa against all the romance novels??? @yhbrooklyn

I think the next asifa should be at Yankee Stadium and it should be a JOB FAIR! @daniopp

If I'm approached for tzedakah by someone who is Hasidish, I can now state that I am an internet user and that my money is no good. @alfassa

I've decided that I am only giving tzedaka to organizations via the Internet. @hsmazin

Final score: Internet 1, Asifa 0. @joe4cpa

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One Day in Jerusalem - a Tribute to Yom Yerushalayim

Today is Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim), commemorating the day (June 7, 1967) when Israeli paratroopers stormed the Lion's Gate to enter and capture the Old City of Jerusalem.

One week later, 300,000 Jews thronged to the Western Wall to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. According to the lead story in the Jerusalem Post on that day,

Every segment of the population was represented, kibbutz members and soldiers in tallitot rubbing shoulders with Neturei Karta. Mothers came with children in prams, and old men trudged steeply up Mount Zion, supported by youngsters on either side, to see the Wall of the Temple before the end of their days.

Some wept, but most faces were wreathed in smiles. For 13 continuous hours, a colourful variety of people trudged along, stepping patiently when told to do so at each of the six successive barriers set up by the police to regulate the flow.

Now, 45 years later, the outpouring of joy has dissipated somewhat, and divisions between goups have returned, but taking a step back and seeing the totality of the city as we did on a trip only a few months ago, it's amazing to see how far we've come.

As the editorial in today's Jerusalem Post says:

In the 1930s the Jewish population in Jerusalem exceeded 50,000. By 1948 it had doubled. And 19 years later in 1967 it had nearly doubled again to 295,000.

But it was not until the reunification of Jerusalem 45 years ago today, on the 28th of Iyar, that the city truly began to flourish. No longer shackled by oppressive Jordanian rule over its eastern half, it could thrive and develop.

Though the Temple remains in ruins, the earthly, material city has truly been rebuilt. Just wander the streets around Mamilla or visit the outlaying neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Neveh Ya’acov.

Jerusalem, Israel’s largest city, was home to 801,000 at the end of 2011. Never before has Jerusalem thrived so impressively. It should not be a surprise that it is the most desired place to live among new immigrants, according to a Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies report released on Jerusalem Day.

Here's a musical and photographic tribute to Jerusalem, set to the song One Day by Matisyahu.

Enjoy!

Comedy Showcase: Alex Barnett on Funny Aspects of His Jewish Interracial Marriage

Brooklyn-born Alex Barnett left a legal career when he realized his real calling was making fun of the law, as well as his own neuroses, his raging hypochondria, his height (or lack thereof), and the challenges of being a new dad.

As a standup comic, Alex's signature routine is about his marriage to an Afro-wearing black woman who converted (as he says, to Judaism, not to white), how they reinterpreted the Haggadah for a family Passover seder and the projected challenges of raising a multiracial son.

Here's a video of one of his many comedy club performances. Enjoy!

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The Avengers - It All Started With Two Jewish East Side Kids

The Avengers, the top box office film this month ($1 billion in 19 days) featuring Captain America and a host of super heroes is based on Marvel Comics written and illustrated by two Jewish boys from the Lower East Side of New York and one from Rochester. Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg) and Stan Lee (Stanley Lieber) grew up on the streets of Manhattan and Joe Simon (Hymie Simon) came from Rochester. 

Together, they were responsible for the creation of Captain America, an early Marvel Comics hero in 1940. The first issue sold more than a million copies.

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal featured an article that focused on Kirby, how his popularity faded after a stint in the Army, and how he has achieved posthumous fame with the opening of a new museum in his honor and rising auction prices for his original sketches.

In an article titled "Fighting to Rescue the Lost Avenger", Bruce Bennett reported:

Kirby, a Manhattan native who died in 1994, co-created "Captain America" with Joe Simon in 1940 when he was 23 years old. Though the series was launched before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Kirby and Simon, both the children of Jewish immigrants, had drawn a bead on the pre-Word War II zeitgeist, conceiving an image of "Cap" greeting Adolph Hitler with a right hook. 

Two decades later, he came up with Iron Man, the X-Men, Thor, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Nick Fury and many other Marvel Comics characters and stories in collaboration with Mr. Lee.

Alas, Kirby's financial fortunes did not keep pace with his creative growth. The artist's dealings with Marvel and DC were fractious enough to incline him to never settle down with either company, and his posthumous stake in his Marvel co-creations has been disputed. A court ruling last year halted an effort by the artist's heirs to deny Marvel character copyrights and to collect additional royalties.

With characters of his co-conception and his original art breaking records on the screen and in auction houses, the epitaph for a man name-checked by such baby-boomer literati as Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem remains bittersweet. Said Mr. Gold, "Kirby's life was both a triumph of creativity and a tragedy of sharing in the spoils of it."

Here's a look back at the cast of characters drawn by Jack Kirby (including a self-portrait) and family reflections on his hard-working lifestyle.  Enjoy!

 

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Comedy Classics: Jackie Mason on Jews at Restaurants

Are you making restaurant reservations this week? Be sure you get the treatment you're entitled to: the best table in the house, away from drafts, food at just the right temperature, doneness, quantity, consistency, and presentation. That's what happens when a Jew walks into a restaurant, according to comedian Jackie Mason. 

Here's a classic comedy excerpt from his 1986 Broadway show, The World According to Me, about differences between Jews and Gentiles in gyms and in restaurants.

According to Mason, you'll never see a Jew in a bar, unless he got lost looking for a piece of cake and a cup of coffee.  Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Meet Hani Skutch, American-Israeli Comic

Hani Skutch is an American stand-up comic who moved to Israel. As a dati (religious) Israeli, she performs her clean jokes in English primarily for a female audience.

We thought you would enjoy a clip of her performance at the Off the Wall Comedy Basement Club in the center of Jerusalem. In this video she shares her take on marriage, kids, teenagers, and being overweight.

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Touring Fountainheads Fire Up Audience in New Jersey

Well, we finally got to meet the Ein Prat Fountainheads, a group of Israeli singers, dancers, and musicians from the Ein Prat Academy for Leadership in Israel, and see them perform in person at the Pine Brook Jewish Center in New Jersey last night.

And perform they did, singing the hit songs from their music videos that went viral over the past two years, and adding individual songs and medleys of familiar Israeli songs and a medley of Beatles songs as well. 

After the show we got to talk to lead singers Shani and Yoav, who told us that the Fountainheads have a few groups touring, but it would be difficult for all of the participants in their music videos to travel around and give concerts. We counted more than 70 members of the ensemble in the Purim video. Most of them are students in the various programs at Ein Prat, some are graduates, and some are serving in the Israel Defense Forces. 

If you're going to be in Brooklyn on Thursday, May 17, you can catch them in concert at the East Midwood Jewish Center. If you're in Philadelphia on Sunday, May 20, they will be performing at Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park. We asked them what's next? Probably more concerts, and maybe a CD and DVD. Stay tuned.

Last night's group consisted of three singers and five musicians. They filled the stage and the audience took care of filling the aisles. We didn't have a high quality camera last night, so the video is not our best. But you can see the excitement as members of the audience accepted Shani's challenge to get up and dance to the group's music. We also include below a higher quality video of a larger subset of the group touring in Canada last year.  Enjoy!

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The Fountainheads in New Jersey - May 13, 2012

The Fountainheads on Tour in Canada

"Born to Kvetch" Author Michael Wex in Funny Standup on Chassidic Summer Camp

We've profiled Michael Wex before, as author of Born to Kvetch, Just Say Nu, and in other posts relating to Yiddish expressions. But until now, we didn't know he performed standup routines. 

Here's one we found with Wex delighting an audience with his account of attending a "Chasidic camp for socially backward boys of Polish Chasidic parents" in upstate New York called Camp Shomer P'soyim (a line from Psalms that translates as "the Lord protects the feeble-minded").

At his camp there were no sports - only "Gemora under the open skies" and a famous water sports program where every Friday afternoon every boy got five minutes in the mikvah with a snorkel. This was a camp where a rebbe from Brooklyn visited once a week, a well known youth specialist who came all decked out in full Chassidic regalia, who only had two topics of conversation -- sins he suspected the boys were guilty of -- Zionism and nocturnal emissions. 

With a dry, deadpan expression, Wex continues to describe his camp experience in the summer of 1969, carving baby carrots in the mohel workshop while hippies and helicopters were converging on Woodstock, a short distance away. 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.)

Happy Mother's Day - Advice From Mothers at the L.A. Jewish Home

In a special salute to mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers on Mother's Day, the Los Angeles Jewish Home has produced a video with words of advice from residents of the home.This is the same Jewish Home that gave us thoughts about love on Valentine's Day and Chanukah songs last December. 

The advice touches on the keys to success and happiness, how to find the right spouse, what makes for a good marriage, the best Jewish food, how to raise children, and computers and technology. 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.)

Classic Comedy: Buddy Hackett's Duck Story

Buddy Hackett (1924-2003) was a master of physical comedy and could really tell a good joke.

In this classic comedy clip from the Johnny Carson show, Hackett relates the story of a duck that fell into the wrong yard. 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.)

On Lag BaOmer, A Chassidic Rebbe Plays With Fire

Tonight marks the start of the festival of Lag BaOmer, the 33rd day of the period between Pesach and Shavuot. Around the world, the day is celebrated mainly in Jewish schools with children going on picnics and hikes and playing with toy bows and arrows in the field.

In Meron, in northern Israel, about 500,000 chasidim make an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi) to sing, dance, and light bonfires.  Rashbi's tomb is the epicenter of the Lag B'Omer celebrations because he was one of the students of Rabbi Akiva who survived a terrible plague that killed thousands of them, and he went on to write the Zohar, the book of Kabbalah.

The bonfires are meant to commemorate the immense light that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai introduced into the world via his mystical teachings.  In this video from 2011, thousands of chassidim mill about while their rebbe, slowly and methodically, places flammable material on a central core, pours what seems to be an endless supply of oil on it, and finally sets it on fire. Once the fire is lit, the rebbe, now dressed in his finest caftan, goes into a wild jumping dance, looking as if he is jumping rope with an invisible rope. 

That's the signal for all of his chassidim to join in the jumping and singing a refrain that consists mainly of the name of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. 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.)

Comedy Classics: The 2000-Year-Old-Man Gets a Clean Bill of Health

We've paid tribute to Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks and their 2000-Year-Old-Man routines before on Jewish Comedy Central, usually on special occasions. Brooks got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, the duo released a new set of CDs, and they found their way onto our pages one way or another.

Today we found a video clip of one of their appearances on The Hollywood Palace that we hadn't seen before and thought that you might like it, too. So here are Reiner and Brooks playing their usual roles of the interviewer and the 2000-Year-Old-Man on TV in (can you believe this?) 1966.

Please let us know via the comments and checklist below if you would like to see occasional postings that feature classic clips from the golden age of comedy.  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.)