Here Come the Rosh Hashana Videos: Argentinian Comedian Martin Sipicki Plays 6 Roles

Here's a shout-out to our readers in Argentina and the Spanish speaking world. This year we're featuring some funny Rosh Hashana music videos in Spanish. 

Why? Because Argentina is producing some new and funny videos to welcome the New Year 5777.

Martin Sipicki is an Argentinian comedian who has been making Rosh Hashana videos for a few years. We only caught up with him this year and you'll see him below playing six different roles in an ensemble video welcome to Rosh Hashana. It's a parody of the song We Are the World.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashana Videos - From Argentina, Se Viene Rosh Hashana by KEF

Orquesta Kef is a group of young Argentinian musicians who play traditional, classical and contemporary Jewish songs. The Kef sound brings together the emotion, passion and spirit of Jewish music, generating and sharing good times with their audience.

It all began at the end of the year 2000, near Chanukah 5761, when a group of young musicians wanted to express and share their talents with the community.

Shortly after their premiere, Kef found its own and unique musical style. It is based on the millenary force of tradition and the powerful emotion of the Jewish culture, mixed in with Latin American sounds.

As we wind down our list of special music videos for Rosh Hashana, today we're bringing you one with a spirited Spanish greeting: Rosh Hashana is coming, and everyone should have a good and sweet year!

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashana Videos - Shana Tova by the Israeli Opera

The Israeli Opera, formerly known as the New Israeli Opera, is the principal opera company of Israel. It was founded in 1985 after lack of Israeli government funding led to the demise of the Israel National Opera. 

Since 1994 the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center has been its main performance venue. The company also founded the Israeli Opera Festival which has performed large-scale outdoor productions, originally at Caesarea, and from 2010 in Masada.

Meitar Opera Sudio is a practical study and performance program for young Israeli opera singers who graduated from any given music academy and who are on the verge of embarking on an operatic career. The major goal of the Opera Studio is to nurture operatic talent in Israel and to help young opera singers to work in their profession. The Opera Studio program is aimed at young Israeli opera singers who are willing to hone their craft, further their studies on an ongoing basis and gain stage experience, thus getting ready for a full-fledged operatic career.

In this new video, the young Israeli opera singers of the Meitar Opera Studio use their operatic voices to convey a very timely greeting - Shana tova, sh'nat shalom v'ahava -- Wishing you a good year, a year of peace and love.

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashana Videos: Can't Stop the Feeling

Today we bring you the second in our 2016 series of Rosh Hashana music videos. This one is from Aish.com, the internet site of Aish HaTorah, the Israel-based outreach organization.

Headquartered in Jerusalem near the Western Wall, Aish.com is an apolitical network of Jewish educational centers in 35 branches on five continents. This partnership enables Aish.com users to experience the richness of community at an Aish branch.
 
The name Aish HaTorah literally means "Fire of Torah." As Elie Weisel said: "Aish HaTorah means to me the passion of teaching, the passion of learning. The study of Torah, the source of Jewish values, is the way to Jewish survival."

The music parody is of a pop song called Can't Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake. It was filmed in an around the streets of Jerusalem and the Mahane Yehuda market. The lyrics appear just below the video.

Enjoy!

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Lyrics

I got this feeling inside my soul
It goes electric, wavy when I turn it on
I’m doing a mitzvah, I’m coming home
We're flying up, got tzitzis, when we in our zone

I got my Torah in my pocket
Got that good soul leading me
I feel that pleasure in my soul when it does pop, ooh
I can take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally
Reachin’ out, my soul can rock it, so don't stop

And when I hear that voice inside go
“Nowhere to hide, you don’t need to grow
Just be a body, you already know
So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine”
I’m not gonna listen to ya; just grow, grow, grow yeah
Goodness creeping up on me
Torah – grow, grow, grow, c’mon
All those mitzvahs I should do
Torah, learn and know yeah
And my soul ain't leaving soon, here I grow, yeah

I can't stop the feeling
So just grow, grow, grow
I can't stop the feeling
So here we go, go, go, come on

Ooh, it's something magical
It’s Rosh Hashanah, time to choose, souls yearning on
Don't need no lying, I’ve got control
I fly so high, no cheating, out my comfort zone

'Cause I got my Torah in my pocket
Got that good soul telling me
I got to use all my potential, just choose life, ooh
Time to make that greater vision, living so phenomenally
Rosh Hashanah’s gonna rock it, and that’s right

Open machzor cuz everything goes
A new beginning when God is so close
Makin’ choices when shofars are blown
So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine
Love that inner Jew in you, just dance, dance, dance
Feeling good, good, creeping up on you
So just dance, dance, dance, come on
All those mitzvahs you can do
So just dance, dance, dance
And my soul ain't leaving soon, so keep dancing

I can't stop the feeling
We got this feeling everybody
I can't stop the feeling
We got this feeling in my soul
I can't stop the feeling
We got this feeling everybody
I can't stop the feeling
We got this feeling in my soul
I can't stop the feeling
We got this feeling everybody, come on

A Joke to Start the Week - "Facing Eternity"

Today we're posting another joke by Bob Epstein, who holds forth every summer as recreation specialist at the Berkshire Hills Eisenberg Adult Vacation Center in Copake, New York. 

Bob is an 88-year-old retired Assistant Principal in the New York school system. His summer duties include joke telling sessions with the seniors who come to the mountains for a summer vacation.

Here's the setup for today's short joke: Sadie is 68 years old and she's thinking of having a face lift. And then...

Enjoy!

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Here Come the Rosh Hashana Videos - Shofar Shrills by The Singer Family

Rosh Hashana begins one week from tonight, so we're going to share some of the new music videos that have been released with High Holiday themes.

Don't expect a Rosh Hashana video every day -- we'll still post jokes and funny happenings -- but we'll be posting some of the best new videos as they come in.

We'll kick off the countdown with a music video we just found called Shofar Shrills that the Singer Family posted. They put new words to the pop hit Cheap Thrills by Australian singer Sia, and cover the whole range of Rosh Hashana observances in an upbeat song that we hope you will enjoy!

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Adon Olam Around the World - A New Version from Mechon Hadar

Mechon Hadar is an educational institution in New York that empowers Jews to create and sustain vibrant, practicing, egalitarian communities of Torah learning, prayer, and service.

On one night in January, a twenty-five person spontaneous Jewish choir came to the choir loft at the Kane Street Synagogue in Brooklyn to sing a new version of Adon Olam by Joey Weisenberg, Mechon Hadar's Creative Director of the Center for Jewish Communal Music.

It's a version of Adon Olam that we haven't heard before, and we suspect it's new to you too. But like many synagogue mainstays, Adon Olam comes in many different flavors. We hope you'll like this one as we welcome another Shabbat.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Sammy Davis Jr.'s Visit to Archie Bunker

 

One of the most celebrated episodes of All in the Family aired in 1972. It's the classic tale about the time Sammy Davis Jr. stopped by to visit the Bunkers.

It begins with a briefcase he left in Archie's cab and ends with the kiss of infamy. 

Very few people are aware that the writer of this episode was Bill Dana, who we all know as Jose Jimenez. Dana's appearances with Ed Sullivan and Milton Berle as an astronaut, karate expert, and Santa Claus instructor were legendary.

Last year we profiled Bill Dana as one of the great Jewish comedians. In the interview below he recounts the backstory of how he came to write the episode with producer Norman Lear. 

Just in case you're yearning to see the full 25 minute long Sammy's Visit episode that Dana and Lear wrote, you'll find it right below the Bill Dana interview.

Enjoy!





#Throwback Thursday, #TBT

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Malta's Intriguing Jewish Heritage

If you've traveled around the world and think you've seen every country with a Jewish presence, you might be pleasantly surprised if you visit the tiny island of Malta, off the coast of Sicily.

We came across a short video depicting Jewish history and current Jewish life on the island, and thought we'd share it with you as a break from standup comedy.

Of course there's a Chabad House (there's probably one on Mars, too) and Wikipedia has some interesting facts about Malta's Jewish traces.

The first Jew known to have set foot on Malta was Paul of Tarsus, whose ship foundered there in 62 CE. Paul went on to introduce Christianity to the island population.

The Jewish people generally prospered during the Middle Ages and were not required to live in ghettos. Most owned agricultural land or worked as merchants. Avraham Abulafia, a well-known Jewish mystic, lived on Comino from 1285 to his death in the 1290s. In 1479 Malta and Sicily came under Aragonese rule and the 1492 Edict of Expulsion forced all Jews to leave the country. Because they made up such a large portion of the island's population the Spanish Crown forced them to pay compensation for the losses caused by their expulsion.

In the time before World War II many Jews fleeing Nazism came to Malta as it was the only European country not to require visas of Jews fleeing German rule. Numerous Maltese Jews fought Germany in the British Army during the war.

Today, 1,000 Jews live in Malta, of which many are elderly due to the tendency of young inhabitants to emigrate. Maltese Jews live mainly around the capital. The local flat bread called ftira and the traditional Maltese loaf are both kosher.

In 2000, a new synagogue was built with donations from the United States and the UK. The Jewish Foundation of Malta now manages it along with a Jewish Center. Malta's relations with Israel have been friendly since the former's independence.

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"Hamilton" Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda Stars in New Video for Yeshiva University

Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, is lending his narrating talents to a new fundraising video produced by Yeshiva University. 

As Gabe Friedman wrote yesterday for JTA,

Miranda, who is Puerto Rican and not Jewish, has connections to the school, too. He grew up in Washington Heights — where the main Y.U. campus is located, and which served as the setting for his first hit, “In the Heights” — and his mother is an assistant professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (which was, until earlier this year, part of Y.U.).

Miranda has given guest lectures there and was given an honorary doctorate from the school in 2009, when he was 29  — making him the youngest ever to receive that honor from the university.

Of course, growing up in Washington Heights left him with plenty of Jewish connections outside of Y.U. He has previously said that all of his elementary school friends were Jewish and that he paid his rent before making it big by performing at bar mitzvahs. Then there’s his love for “Fiddler on the Roof,” which he has said heavily influenced “In the Heights.” He even surprised his wife at their wedding by singing “To Life (L’Chaim),” an upbeat tune from “Fiddler.”

In September 2013 we posted the complete To Life production number from Miranda's wedding which he surreptitiously rehearsed with his entire wedding party to surprise his bride.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "Three Brothers"

It's another Monday morning. And you know what that means. It's time for another Joke to Start the Week. Until now, most of our joke tellers have been from New Jersey and New York. Today we're extending our reach to Connecticut to accommodate our latest joke teller, Joyce Fama.

When she's not telling jokes, Joyce is an award winning Connecticut sculptor. Her medium is fired clay that is finished with custom patinas.

As we welcome Joyce to our family of joke tellers, we're inviting any of our readers who want to join the club to send us a video clip of a joke that you think is suitable for posting on a future Monday. The only requirements are that is it has to be funny and family friendly. 

Here's the setup for today's joke: Three brothers decide to leave their homeland and their mama and go to the United States to seek their fortune. And then...

Joyce's comment to accompany the joke is "Be good to your  mama,  she'll appreciate it."

Enjoy!

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Comedy Showcase: Jeffrey Ross Meets Larry the Toll Booth Operator

Jeff Ross (born Jeffrey Ross Lipschultz to a Jewish family in Springfield, New Jersey) is a stand-up comedian, actor, and author. His skill in doing high-profile celebrity roasts and his appearances in Comedy Central's Roasts, have led him to be dubbed "The Roastmaster General."

He has appeared in various film, television, and cartoon projects. He has made appearances at events for U.S. soldiers and directed a documentary film covering his experiences touring U.S. bases in Iraq.

Here's Jeff in a Comedy Central special when he asked for someone in the audience to come up to the stage to assist him in a comedy routine. He got more than he bargained for when Larry the Toll Booth Operator accepted his invitation.

Enjoy!

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Adon Olam Around the World - A Spoonful of Sugar in Boca Raton

 

If your synagogue is anything like ours, the Shabbat service ends with Adon Olam.  This is usually led by a prepubescent boy with questionable pitch, key, and general singing ability.

This is good for the kid educationally, and should be encouraged.  Musically, however, it's not always the best way to lift spirits for the rest of Shabbat and the week ahead.

But it's not that way around the world.  Adon Olam has become a staple of many singers, choruses, bands, and other musical troupes, both in synagogue and on the concert stage.

Back in 2010 we started a new series, presenting renditions of Adon Olam from performers worldwide, including traditional and eclectic versions.  Since then we have posted 19 different versions to provide you with a fun way to start Shabbat. 

Today we find ourselves back in the USA, at Congregation B'nai Israel in Boca Raton, Florida, where as part of an annual Chocolate Shabbat Cantor Stephanie Shore led a version of Adon Olam set to the tune of A Spoonful of Sugar from the movie Mary Poppins. We can only hope that it helped the cholent go down...in a most delightful way.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!


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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Seinfeld "Shiksa Appeal" Episode

Although every episode of the  TV sitcom Seinfeld oozes with a feeling of Jewishness, only a handful of them actually involve Jewish situations, such as a bris or a bar mitzvah. One of the most Jewy episodes is the 159th episode. It was the third episode of the ninth and final season. It aired in the U.S. on October 9, 1997.

In this episode, titled The Serenity Now, Elaine discovers her "shiksa appeal" and suddenly every Jewish man in New York, including her former boss, his Bar Mitzvah age son, and Jerry, is attracted to her. Elaine seeks help from the rabbi to see if she can reduce her "shiksa-appeal" but instead of giving her advice, the rabbi comes on to her.

We know this episode will get a mixed reaction from our readers, but it's Jewish, it's funny, and it makes a statement about the role of Jewish life in pop culture. So relax, lighten up, and enjoy!
 
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#Throwback Thursday, #TBT

At 90, Jerry Lewis is Back in the Movies in "Max Rose"

Jerry Lewis is getting a special gift for his 90th birthday -- the release of his latest movie, Max Rose. 

Unlike most of Jerry's other films, Max Rose is not a comedy. It's a drama about aging. The film also stars Kevin Pollak, Kerry Bishe, Dean Stockwell and Claire Bloom. It is Lewis's first starring film role since 1995's Funny Bones.

A preliminary cut of the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. It had its first official screening, and US premiere, at the Museum of Modern Art as the final piece of a MOMA exhibition called "Happy Birthday, Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90" in April 2016.  

Max Rose will receive limited theatrical release this month, with nationwide expansion to follow through October.

In the film, Lewis stars as a jazz pianist who makes a discovery days before the death of his wife that causes him to believe his sixty-five-year marriage was a lie. He embarks on an exploration of his own past that brings him face to face with a menagerie of characters from a bygone era.

Here is the theatrical trailer to give you a preview of Max Rose.

Enjoy!

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