"The Jews Are Coming"-- A New Controversial Sketch Comedy Series -- Hits TV Screens in Israel

Israeli satire on TV has taken a bold step forward with the airing of a new series of sketches called HaYehudim Ba'im (The Jews Are Coming). 

After a year of controversy over its content after a promotional clip was released, it was finally cleared for showing on the country's public station, Channel 1. The first episode appeared on November 7.

Written by Natalie Marcus and Asaf Beiser, the show asks questions about everything, from the Bible to Ben Gurion to the Ashkenazi leadership. Their approach is to  go into the texts and make you think. They say that they give all their subjects a critical look, but they're not attacking, just giving the story a fresh, modern look.

As Esther Kustanowitz wrote in The Jewish Daily Forward,

As of press time three episodes have aired; more than a year after the promo brouhaha, the content of the show continues to stir the pot, satirizing everyone from Abraham to Eichmann and skewering Jewish historical events ranging from the giving of the Ten Commandments to the raid on Entebbe. And if a sketch about a terrorist hijacking seems subversive, just wait until you see the sketches about Yigal Amir, who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Palestinians as they prayed at the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994. (These sketches are not currently available with English subtitles.)

But beyond the sensational aspects of these sketches, there is a deep passion for uncovering tradition and taking ownership of Jewish history. “Traditionally, there is a separation between the secular and religious,” Marcus says. “They [the religious] have the ownership on this story, but they are our stories as well. This is our heritage and no reason we can’t deal with and dig into the material of what made us, our DNA. It’s time for secular people to own the stories and tradition again.”

This call for secular reclamation of Jewish identity and heritage is part of a national trend in Israel. In Jerusalem, the New Spirit youth movement is working to transform Jerusalem into a pluralistic and creative community. Tel Aviv, the stronghold of secular Israeli life, now offers beachside Friday night services by Beit Tefillah Israeli and course offerings at Alma, a secular yeshiva (founded by now-Knesset member Ruth Calderon). In these and other spaces, today’s young secular Jews reclaim their identity, and see Judaism as part of their heritage, even if their mode of connection would never get an Orthodox stamp of approval.

Here is one of the episodes that have been released with English subtitles. In it, Moses has just delivered the Ten Commandments to the Israelites in the Sinai desert.  As might be expected from a nation that later produced many talmudic commentators and eventually lawyers, the people aren't accepting the new laws without asking for clarifications and pointing out contradictions and inconsistencies in them. You may have to watch it a few times to grasp all of the nuances, but it's worth doing, and it's really funny.

Enjoy!

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The promo that started the controversy is 50 seconds long, and it's Hebrew without English titles. We're including it below for our readers who speak Hebrew. Even if you don't, it will give you some understanding of why it was considered controversial.

Hasidic Comedian Mendy Pellin Anchors "Jewbellish the News -- Thanksgiving Edition"

Thanksgiving Day is over, but it's turned into a two day holiday with most of us off from school and work. 

So looking at it as a two-day Yom Tov, we're sharing just one more Thanksgiving video -- the Jewbellish newscast of oddities related to the holiday this year.

For example, did you know that this year it will be the first time in 365 days that Thanksgiving doesn't fall out on Chanukah? 

Hasidic Comedian Mendy Pellin takes the anchor's chair at Jewbellish the News to preside over a little newsy narischkeit after getting some major notice on The Wall Street Journal's front page last week. His co-anchor, Dave Earl Jones, adds an unusual weather report to round out the news.

Enjoy!

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An Animated Recollection of Larry David's Brooklyn Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is such an important occasion in America that it triggers special memories of previous encounters with family and friends traveling great distances and consuming more than we should.

Most of us keep these recollections to ourselves or share them within a small circle. Entertainers such as writer-actor Larry David have access to media that encourages them to share their funny Thanksgiving moments with a wider audience.

Here's an animated look at Larry David's recollection of a typical Thanksgiving dinner that he had with his family in Brooklyn many years ago. It was posted on Funny or Die,  the Emmy-winning comedy video website.

Meanwhile, across the miles, we're celebrating Thanksgiving Day in Jerusalem, from where we'll be blogging until the middle of Chanukah. Yes, it's possible to celebrate Thanksgiving in Israel, where we suspect that most of the fresh turkeys ordered last week and picked up today are going to wind up on the dinner tables of American expatriates and tourists.

Enjoy, and have a happy Thanksgiving Day.

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Jackie Mason Reveals the True Origins of Sushi and Cajun Food

One of Jackie Mason's approaches to comedy has always been making fun of sophistication and pretentiousness, particularly if it involves puncturing a snobbish attitude assumed by people who are rising on he social ladder.

All the better if the subjects of his ridicule are people who, before hearing of sushi and Cajun cooking, would have been content with gefilte fish, brisket, and other examples of East European cooking.

In this routine, Jackie reveals his theories about the true origins of Sushi and Cajun foods. They're funny, but they make you think.

Enjoy!


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Mike Nichols and Elaine May - At the Hospital

Last week we posted a few skits that Mike Nichols,  the late director, producer, actor, and comedian performed with Elaine May on TV shows in the 1950s. 

We had so many positive comments and requests for more of the skits  that we're running another one today.

This skit takes place at a private hospital in New York. Nichols enters the emergency room with a broken arm, having just being run over by a car. Before he is examined by a doctor, he has to get past the admitting nurse, who is more interested in completing paperwork than getting care for this accident victim.

As with all of their skits, the timing is impeccable, and the laughs come from the recognition that this preposterous reaction to a person in need is sadly close to reality, or at least it was in the 1950s.

There is a bit of background noise for a few minutes in the middle of the clip, but we feel it doesn't detract from the story line and the laughs.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Community Center"

It's another Monday, and we're taking a break from our series of Mike Nichols and Elaine May comedy skits to bring you a joke to start the week. It's another one from the files of Old Jews Telling Jokes.

Today's joke teller is 85-year-old Archie Barkan, a Yiddish professor and former Catskills MC.

Here's the setup: So they opened up this big Jewish Community Center in an area where there had not been much Jewish activity. And this senior citizen suddenly sees this tremendous senior citizen program. And then...

Enjoy!

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Mike Nichols and Elaine May - Teenagers on a First Date

Our last post was a tribute to the late director, producer, actor, and comedian Mike Nichols. We had so many positive comments and requests for more of the skits that he performed on TV with Elaine May that we decided to run some more.

Here is another classic skit showing Nichols and May as a pair of awkward teenagers sitting in a car on their first date. The dialogue captures the anxiety, uncertainty, and eagerness of young budding love. Some of it was said to be improvised, and it shows the quick wit of both comedians.

May, now 82, was born Elaine Iva Berlin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1932, the daughter of Jewish parents, theater director/actor Jack Berlin and actress Ida Berlin. As a child, Elaine performed with her father in his traveling Yiddish theater company, which he took around the country. Her stage debut on the road was at the age of three, and she eventually played the character of a generic little boy named Benny.

There is no sound for the first 17 seconds of the routine, but it doesn't affect the story line, so just be patient until the sound kicks in.

Enjoy!

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Remembering Mike Nichols: First of a Series - The $65 Funeral

Mike Nichols, film, theatre and television director, producer and comedian, died yesterday at the age of 83. He is mostly being remembered as a celebrated director and one of a very few who won an Oscar, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy.

From 1961 to this year, he was widely acclaimed for his more than 20 successful films and more than 20 successful Broadway shows, but our recollections of him are mostly of his appearances on television shows in the 1950s with his comedy partner Elaine May.

The comedy skits of Nichols and May were never slapstick, but they were clever pieces of social satire. 

Born in Berlin in 1931 as Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky, Nichols attended a segregated school for Jewish children. His father, a doctor, fled the Nazis by moving the family to New York City when Nichols was still a child. May was born in 1932 in Philadelphia, the daughter of the director, writer, and principal actor of a traveling Jewish theatrical company. She caught the thespian bug early, appearing on stage in the roles of little boys.

In 2012 we posted one of their funniest skits, a phone call between Nichols as the son and May as his mother. Just click on the line above to see it again.

Today we're posting another of their classics, The $65 Funeral, a skit they performed on the Jack Paar show. As an extended tribute, we'll be posting a few more Nichols and May routines in the coming days.

Enjoy!

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Brad Zimmerman's Show, My Son the Waiter, Gets New Life Off-Broadway

Earlier this year, we posted a clip of Brad Zimmerman performing a short excerpt from his off-Broadway show My Son the Waiter. 

The show, a funny review of his life as a comic actor and waiter, was supposed to close at the end of December, but has been extended through March 2, 2015.

Written and directed by Zimmerman, who also stars, My Son the Waiter tells the story of how Zimmerman, now pushing 60, waited tables in New York for a mind-numbing 29 years, before finally taking himself seriously enough to study stand-up comedy, and write a one-man show about waiting until his mid-50s to perform onstage.

Zimmerman is an actor and comedian who has opened for George Carlin and Joan Rivers. He is also known for appearing on HBO's The Sopranos.

Here's a longer (8 minute) look at Zimmerman on stage telling his funny life story.

Enjoy!

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Yiddishology: Untranslatable Yiddish Words -- Machatenesta, Mechuten, Machatonim

The Wexler Oral History Project of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts is a growing collection of in-depth video interviews with people of all ages, exploring Yiddish cultural topics and issues of modern Jewish identity.  

The Project is particularly interested in how Yiddish language and culture inform Jewish identity, and how they, along with Jewish values and practices, are transmitted across generations.

Some of the interviews focus on the intricacies and colorful delights of the Yiddish language. There are words in Yiddish for which there is no simple word for word translation into other languages. To get an accurate translation in English, for example, you may have to construct a phrase, sentence, or paragraph to convey the same meaning.

In this video excerpt from the Wexler files, Milly Guberman Kravetz relishes the flavor of the Yiddish word machatenesta, and renders it into English. Can you define machatenesta (or mechutenista)?

The English translation is the mother of a child's spouse. The male counterpart is mechutan, actually a Hebrew word for the father of a child's spouse, and the parents of a child's spouse are mechutanim, also a Hebrew word. These latter two words have migrated into Yiddish as mechuten and machatonim. They are all derived from chatan, the Hebrew word for groom.

Since the Yiddish pronunciation of chatan is chosson, we could playfully ask why the spouse's mother isn't called a machossonesta and the parents machossonim in Yiddish, but we're not going to go there.

Enjoy!

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Classic Jackie Mason: Jewish and Gentlile Names, Occupations, and Lots More

Every time we post a Jackie Mason comedy routine we get lots of requests for more. So here's one of the best and most typical of Jackie's performances -- this one in a very large auditorium in which Jackie was wearing a yarmulke.

In the course of this ten minute clip, Jackie carries on about Jews who don't want to be seen as too Jewish, and makes fun of Jews who try to pass as gentiles. 

Along the way, he shows off some of his cantorial talents, and reflects on parents with very Jewish names who give their children non-Jewish first names, occupations that you will never see Jews working in, and the absence of obviously Jewish names among leading dress designers.

Enjoy!

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Jokes to Start the Week: 10 Jewish Jokes in 4 Minutes by Henny Youngman - King of the One Liners

When it came to telling rapid-fire one-liner jokes, nobody came close to Henny Youngman (1906-1998). We've posted some of his other jokes and routines previously, but this set is exclusively Jewish and are all on one of 21 tracks on Henny's CD Take My Album...Please! or 2 Sets for the Price of One.

We usually post a single joke on Mondays to get the week off to a funny start, but we hope you won't object to getting ten for the price of one today.

Enjoy!

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Wall Street Journal Puts Chassidic Comic Mendy Pellin on Front Page

On Friday November 14 The Wall Street Journal printed a feature article about Chassidic rabbi and comedian Mendy Pellin on its front page. 

The article in the "A-Hed" position  below the fold, was titled Did You Hear the One About the Rabbi Who Carries a Big Schtick? (In later editions and online, they changed the title to This Rabbi Raps and Riffs -- on Judaism.)

We have been featuring Mendy's schtick on Jewish Humor Central since 2010, with 12 posts including his music parodies, news show parodies, and other funny stuff.

As Lucette Lagnado wrote in the Wall Street Journal,

Mr. Pellin is an Hasidic Jew who trolls Tinsel Town in a skull cap and sneakers, a long beard grazing his polo shirt. An ordained rabbi, his risky mission is to show the world that an observant culture—largely absent from the comedy mainstream—is natural fodder for funny.

“I call this period the ‘Hasidic Spring,’ ” he says, noting that many Hasidic youth are now embracing Facebook and Twitter, thereby pushing the boundaries of a once-insular society.

“Talk Yiddish to Me” is one of Mr. Pellin’s signature online music videos. A parody of the hit Jason Derulo song, “Talk Dirty,” the number features the comedian, dressed in full black Hasidim garb accented with an enormous gold chain.

Surrounded by singing sidekicks, he sways back and forth, as if praying, and busts the kind of rap moves—like hand gestures straight from the ’hood—more often associated with 50 Cent or Eminem.

YouTube counts more than 237,000 views for the video; Mr. Pellin says it has received millions more hits via other social networks.

What do other Hasidic rabbis think of Mendy's schtick? Those with a sense of humor generally like it and those without a sense of humor don't. The article has lots more information about Mendy and other Orthodox comedians. It's a good read and worth your time. You'll find it right here.

Enjoy!

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Comedy on Records - Sam Levenson Tells a Bar Mitzvah Story

Sam Levenson (1911-1980) was one of the most popular Jewish comedians on television from the 1940s through the 1970s. He was a panelist on The Price is Right, What's My Line, and Password. He had his own show, The Sam Levenson Show, hosted the game show Two For the Money, and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 22 times.

His Jewishness was apparent from his speech and his stories about his large immigrant family in Brooklyn. It came through most clearly in his recordings of growing up Jewish in New York.

There was no YouTube back in 1947 when this 78rpm record was made, so the only motion in this video is the record revolving on the turntable. But we think you'll laugh and enjoy Levenson's story of the Bar Mitzvah Boy. We can't prove it, but we think this may be the origin of the classic "Today I am a fountain pen" joke.

Enjoy!

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Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer Reflect on Being Jewish Justices

The 2014 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America met in Washington, DC this week (November 9-11), and attendees listened to Supreme Court associate justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer speak about the significance of being Jewish justices.

Justice Kagan recalled her Bat Mitzvah, the first one conducted by Rabbi Steven (now Shlomo) Riskin at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York. 

Justice Breyer pondered the connection between Judaism, social justice, and the rule of law.

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EXCLUSIVE On-Site Report! Best In Show and Unusual New Products From Kosherfest 2014

Carrot cake macaroons, chocolate candy hamantaschen, gluten-free ginger snap cookies, kosher "crab, lobster, scallops, and shrimp", hemp flour and seeds, tea ice pops, and Marzipan rugelach from Jerusalem.
 

These are some of the prize winning and unusual products on display yesterday and today for the thousands of visitors representing all aspects of the food industry at Kosherfest 2014 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.

More than 325 exhibitors lining both sides of seven aisles are vying  for the attention of visitors (trade only -- but some kiddush aficionados seem to have found their way into the hall) who try to manage noshing and stuffing literature into the bags provided by some vendors (and rolling suitcases brought by attendees).  And there's plenty to nosh and to stuff.

Some of the samples are meat, some are dairy, and some are pareve.  But all three types are scattered around the show floor, so anyone trying to keep kosher has to make careful choices.

The vendors are hoping that visitors will make bulk purchases, and some of the newer, smaller, and foreign companies exhibiting for the first time are hoping to find distributors who will bring their wares to your local supermarket.

If you love kiddush, can make a case for being in some kind of food-related business, have a few hours to spare and don't mind walking half a mile to a parking lot, this is the place for you.  It's still open all day today, Wednesday, from 10 am to 4 pm.  The on-site registration fee is $90.

We interviewed a few of the exhibitors and got closeups of some of the more unusual delicacies in this video for you to savor.  Enjoy!  

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A Job For a Nice Jewish Boy - Doctor, Lawyer? No, Exterminator, and He Traps Pests the Torah Way

Moshe Stein has a company called NJB - Nice Jewish Boy. So what kind of company is NJB? We would never guess unless we watched the Jewish Daily Forward's video about Moshe and his line of business.

So what field is NJB in? Medicine? Law? No, Pest control. Moshe is an exterminator.  An Orthodox Jewish exterminator. One of about 25 to 30 Orthodox Jewish exterminators, up from five when he started the business. And Moshe says New York is an amazing place for pests.

As Paul Berger reported in the Forward,

Stein’s clients are overwhelmingly Orthodox Jews, either private homeowners or apartment building landlords. He’s part of a growing number of Orthodox exterminators sensing a business opportunity in a swelling population in New York City.

He believes that trust is one of the most important factors for a successful pest control business. And Orthodox Jews are more trusting of an Orthodox exterminator.

“We say that all of us met at Mount Sinai,” Stein said. “We already met once. I think there’s that comfort.”

In his work, profit isn't his primary concern. Moshe answers to a higher power. When he traps animals, he makes sure that they have the proper food. Because the Torah cares about how they feel, he says he definitely has to care too.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Two Beggars in Rome"

And a good Monday morning to all of our readers. It's time for another joke to start the week.

Today's joke teller is 70-year-old Lawrence Goldberg, an auditor and another member of the Old Jews Telling Jokes family of jokesters.

Here's the setup: Two beggars were sitting outside the Tivoli fountain in Rome. One beggar had his hat in front of him with a crucifix, and the other beggar had his hat in front of him with a star of David. And people are walking by and they're all putting donations in the hat with the crucifix. And then...

Enjoy!

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Israeli Web Series Satire - "Dalia Goes Supermarket Shopping"

Back in April we introduced you to Dalia, the (we hope not typical) Israeli character who has her own ideas about politeness and acceptable behavior in public. 

Dalia may not be the typical Israeli, but if you've spent any time there, it's likely that you've met her or someone very much like her. Dalia is the creation of Deb Kaye, one of the principal performers in the Jerusalem-based HaHafuch comedy and improv troupe that we've featured many times on Jewish Humor Central.
 
This time Deb has gone out on her own to produce a series of skits called Rega Israel. Rega is the most popular saying in Israel, literally meaning "Just a minute." It's now a new comedy web series offering a taste of funny happenings in Israel, viewed through the perspective of satire and parody.
 
April's skit took place in a coffee shop. Today's skit is in an Israeli supermarket where Dalia gives new meaning to rudeness and selfishness. In the span of a few minutes, she

• grabs another shopper's cart, or trolley (Carts in Israel are sometimes in short supply)
• removes the leaves from a head of cauliflower to avoid paying for them (by weight)
• talks loudly on her cellphone while complaining about another shopper talking (quietly) on his phone
• opens multipacks of toilet paper to see which one is the softest 
• flirts with a clerk
• gets in the express lane with four items and then proceeds to fill up the cart
• finds a cart blocking her car in the parking lot and moves it to block another car

Just another day in the life of Dalia. We'll be watching for more episodes.
  Enjoy! 

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Classic Jackie Mason - "Exotic Island and Safari Vacations"

Are you planning a vacation trip to an exotic island or a safari? After a few minutes with Jackie Mason, you may want to rethink the whole idea and spend your vacation sitting in your house.

In this classic excerpt from Jackie's "Ultimate Jew" Broadway show in March 2009 that he calls "Stupid Vacations" Jackie cuts through the superlatives that Jews use to describe wonderful vacations. 

He tells it like it is, poking fun of the beautiful blue waters on exotic French islands and recounting the terror of sitting in a bouncing truck on safari with two gentiles with long guns sitting behind him.

Enjoy!

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Clean Comedy Classic: Rita Rudner on the David Letterman Show

We look at a lot of comedy clips in selecting funny bits that have some Jewish content or are delivered by Jewish comedians, and we marvel at how rare it is to find current clips that use humor, and not foul language, to get an audience to laugh out loud.

Many of the old-time comedians who could be counted on to tell clean jokes and anecdotes aren't around anymore, but it's comforting to know that some of the younger comedians who tell funny family-friendly jokes are still performing.

One of our favorites is Rita Rudner, who started out in New York comedy clubs but now makes her home in Las Vegas.

Rudner married British producer Martin Bergman about 20 years ago and now they have a daughter.  She is fond of Jewish humor but generally reserves it for when she performs for Jewish audiences.

Here's a funny clip of Rudner performing on the David Letterman Show. Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  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.)

El Al Haredi Seating Incident Inspires Parody In-Flight Safety Video

After a wave of news reports about a group of Haredi El Al passengers refusing to sit next to women on a flight from New York to Israel, Joel and Stephen Levinson, comedy writers and video producers from Dayton, Ohio saw an opportunity. 

Writing in Tablet, the on-line Jewish magazine, they created and shared a parody of the in-flight safety video that airlines use to make passengers aware of the airline's safety features and demonstrate their use.

Unlike actual videos shown pre-flight, this one advises "Should you discover that you are seated next to a woman, release your seat belt and proceed to any of the male congregation areas."

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  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.)

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: New York City Marathon Starts With an Outdoor Shacharit Minyan

JHC Reporter Meyer Berkowitz at the start of the NYC Marathon Minyan

For observant Jewish runners, the annual New York City Marathon starts not with the firing of a starter gun, but with the opening words of the morning prayer service.

Since 1983, Jewish runners from all levels of observance, young and old, men and women, speaking languages from six continents, come together before sunrise under a tent at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, to daven Shacharit with a minyan before the race begins.

On Sunday, Jewish Humor Central reporter and photographer Meyer Berkowitz joined the group to record the event and assist in collecting the tallitot and tefillin of the runners and delivering them to their owners at the end of the race.

The International Marathon Minyan was started in 1983 by Peter Berkowsky, an Orthodox shul-goer from New Jersey and Rabbi Jim Michaels, a marathoner rabbi from Queens who had davened alone on the parade ground the previous year. 

Berkowsky had just completed a year of saying Kaddish for his mother. His primary motive was to accommodate other runners who were saying Kaddish, but over the years, there were surprisingly few minyan participants saying Kaddish among the thousands who came to the minyan. Looking back, he realized that the morning service had evolved into something more important than just a minyan of convenience for mourners. 

Berkowsky wrote a letter to a local Jewish paper asking for participants in the Marathon minyan. Rabbi Michaels responded enthusiastically, and that's how the minyan started.

The minyan benefited from the early and constant support of the late Fred Lebow, the legendary creator and promoter of the New York City Marathon, and world consultant on long-distance running.

In the minyan's third year, the organizers asked him to move the marathon from October to November to avoid a conflict with Simchat Torah. Lebow, a Holocaust refugee with frum roots, enthusiastically agreed, and that's where it has remained ever since.

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 Joke to Start the Week - "Customer Loyalty"

A happy Monday morning to all of our readers. And what's a Monday morning without a joke to start the week? So here's our entry to kick off this week. It's another gem from Old Jews Telling Jokes.

Today's joke teller is 69-year-old Mike Leiderman, a sportscaster and executive producer.

Here's the setup: A guy eats at the same deli for 30 years. He has lunch, the owner loves him, gives him the best food, he treats him like one of his own. But one day he doesn't show up. And then...

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.)