Jewish Humor Central is a daily publication to start your day with news of the Jewish world that's likely to produce a knowing smile and some Yiddishe nachas. It's also a collection of sources of Jewish humor--anything that brings a grin, chuckle, laugh, guffaw, or just a warm feeling to readers.
Our posts include jokes, satire, books, music, films, videos, food, Unbelievable But True, and In the News. Some are new, and some are classics. We post every morning, Sunday through Friday. Enjoy!
Today we welcome Shabbat with Shabbat Hamalka, a song with lyrics by Chaim Nachman Bialik, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry. The music was composed by Martin Widerker. The version in the video clip below is performed by Cantor Yaakov Rosenfeld and the Kehal Chassidim Choir. Bialik was one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry. His poems have been translated into at least 30 languages, and set
to music as popular songs. These poems, and the songs based on them,
have become an essential part of the education and culture of modern
Israel. He was the uncle of actress Mayim Bialik's great-great-grandfather.
Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!
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In the 1980s, stand-up comedian Dennis Wolfberg headlined at comedy clubs across the country as well as working in Las
Vegas and Atlantic City on a regular basis. He was twice named
America's top male comic in votes by clubgoers and owners nationwide. In
1990 he won an American Comedy Award as best male standup.
Wolfberg appeared twice on The Tonight Show. In addition, he was a frequent guest on The Merv Griffin Show, The Pat Sajak Show and The Arsenio Hall Show. He starred in his own half-hour comedy special on HBO in 1990.
His talented comedy career was cut short when he died of melanoma in 1994, at the age of 48. Though he battled
cancer for at least two years, he continued to work through the end of
August 1994. At the time of his death, he was negotiating a deal for his
own TV show.
We're lucky to have some of his routines that were captured on video and posted on YouTube. Here is one of his appearances at Comic Strip Live in which he describes in graphic detail the bris of his twin sons who were born seven weeks before his performance. Enjoy! A
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VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. #Throwback Thursday #TBT
The comedy of Keith Barany
(“Bare-a-knee”) is often described as original, gentle & brilliant.
In fact The NY Post called him “The wittiest comedian working”. It’s his
lightning fast “ad-libs” that most amaze audiences.
From time to time
Keith has written for well known TV shows such as: “The Emmy Awards”,
“Politically Incorrect”, “The Jimmy Kimmel show” and most notably,
“SEINFELD”.
He’s performed in concert with: John Stewart, Jerry
Seinfeld, Joan Rivers, Ray Romano, Bob Hope, Joy Behar, Lewis Black
& Ray Charles. Keith has entertained our US troops MANY times in the
last 20 years.
In this video clip, Keith tells of his experiences in job interviews and teaching driving in Manhattan. Enjoy!
A
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Singapore is a small-but-prosperous island nation, both a city
and a country, located just off the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia
in Southeast Asia.
The first Jewish settlers came to Singapore over 200 years ago, most
originally from Baghdad, Iraq.
Today, over 2,000 Jews call Singapore
their home. How do they observe their Sabbath and where do they find
kosher food products?
What happens when national duty conflicts with the religious customs of a
Jew in Singapore? Do Jews in Singapore experience any anti-Semitism?
Here’s how one orthodox Jewish family fit into Singapore society while
keeping to their traditional customs.
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It's Monday again, and time for another Joke to Start the Week. We have another one today from Sheldon Horowitz, the retired attorney and adjunct professor who attended the annual Camp Hazak week with us in the Catskills in July.
The
camp, which
was held at the newly refurbished Honor's Haven Resort and Spa in
Ellenville,
New York, attracted about 70 seniors, mostly from Hazak groups at
Conservative
synagogues from up and down the east coast. Sheldon had previously given
us a
few jokes at another Hazak retreat six years ago at Kutsher's Resort.
Today we're sharing another one of his new old ones.
Here's
the setup: This woman is single. She has no social life. She has no boyfriends, she doesn't go out on dates and doesn't go to parties. She's very down. So her friend says to her "You've got to break out of this. Why don't you go on an ocean cruise?" And then...
Enjoy!
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When you live in a hot country, you take your ice cream seriously. And
when you live in Israel, where the diversity of food is phenomenal,
well… be prepared for something spectacular.
Whether you eat it in a cone or cup, Israeli ice cream is rapidly
gaining a reputation as some of the best in the world.
Come on a quick journey to see how Israelis are using their
extraordinary approach to food to conjure up new tastes in ice cream.
Bamba ice cream, ice cream infused with mozzarella and basil, watermelon
and Bulgarian cheese, orange, olive oil and salt, and even ice cream
for dogs … Israelis aren’t afraid to try anything new.
And of course, there’s all the regular flavors too.
Enjoy!
A
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Rick Recht is one of the top touring musicians in Jewish music playing
over 150 dates each year in the US and abroad.
Rick has revolutionized
and elevated the genre of Jewish rock music as a powerful and effective
tool for developing Jewish pride and identity in youth and adults across
the US.
Rick is the national celebrity spokesman for the PJ Library and is the Executive Director of Songleader Boot Camp – a national songleader training immersion program held in various cities around the U.S.
The last 18 summers, Rick and his band played at literally hundreds of
URJ, Ramah, JCC and private camps around the country. Rick has been
featured in concert and as scholar in residence at the NFTY, BBYO, and
USY International conventions, the URJ Biennial, the American Conference
of Cantors, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Jewish
communities across the US. Rick has 13 top selling Jewish albums
including his most recent release, Halleluyah.
Let's welcome this Shabbat with Rick singing Oseh Shalom.
Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!
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Fifty-eight years ago in 1961, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, riding high on the success of their comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man, couldn't resist producing a follow-on album called 2000 and One Years with Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks.
One of the funniest tracks on this album is The 2 Hour Old Baby, in which Carl Reiner finds his way into the maternity ward of the UCLA Medical Center to interview a two hour old baby who was born with the power of speech and intelligence. The nurses have told him that the baby has been speaking nonstop since he was born and Reiner, the interviewer, has been given permission to ask questions of the baby, who is played by none other than Mel Brooks. We don't have video for this skit, only audio, so you'll have to be content listening to the audio and looking at the album cover. It's still a riot, and we hope you'll enjoy the dialogue. A
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Rita Rudner, one of our favorite standup comedians,stopped by the New York Live TV show to tell hosts Sara Gore and Jacque Reid about her new
musical comedy Two's a Crowd, working with her husband and more.
The NYC premiere of a marvelous new musical, Two's a Crowd is now onstage at 59E59 Theaters through August 25. It has a book by Rita Rudner
and Martin Bergman, directed by Mr. Bergman, with music and lyrics by
Jason Feddy. Not only is the show humorous with laugh out loud moments
but it also has plenty of heart. With Rudner starring, her fans and many
more will want to see this delightful production.
The premise for the Two's a Crowd
is a clever one. Wendy is a very organized and particular woman in her
early 60's who embarks on a solo vacation to Las Vegas to reflect on the
problems with her unfaithful husband. But when she arrives in her room,
Tom, who seems to be Wendy's polar opposite, already occupies it. Tom
is an easy-going type and a recent retiree who is in Vegas to play in a
poker tournament. With the hotel being totally booked, the two decide
they will have to work out rooming together. But what can these two find
in common and will this cozy situation result in an unexpected
attraction?
Here's a clip from the show and the New York Live interview. Enjoy! A
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A new documentary, Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles will be starting its run in select theaters this Friday, August 23.
It's the origin story behind one of Broadway's most beloved musicals, Fiddler
on The Roof, and its creative roots in early 1960s New York, when
"tradition" was on the wane as gender roles, sexuality, race relations
and religion were evolving.
The film presents a deep dive into the cultural history of the show,
which will no doubt thrill theater aficionados. There's production
footage from Broadway and world productions, demos performed by
songwriters Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, and interviews with everyone
from Chaim Topol (the Tevye of the 1971 film adaptation) to Lin-Manuel
Miranda.
As the documentary shows, whether it's presented as a traditional Fiddler
on Broadway with professional actors, or in Brownsville, Brooklyn with a
cast of African-American elementary school students, or in Thailand
with an all-Thai company, the performers and audience find a way into
the material.
So when and where can you see it? The hour and a half long documentary will be playing in Manhattan at the Landmark Theatre on West 57th Street starting Friday August 23. It will also be at select AMC Theatres. Dates and times will be posted at the AMC website starting tomorrow.
Enjoy! A
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Last month, some of our jokes to start the week came from a Jews Telling Jokes night earlier
this year at Chabad of Downtown San Diego. Today we're sharing another joke
from that event told by Rabbi Zalman Carlebach, spiritual leader of the
shul.
Rabbi
Carlebach was born in Johannesburg and went to Torah Academy. He studied in
Morristown, Leeds, England, and Pretoria where he received his Rabbinical
Degree. As a student Rabbi, he traveled from rural Australia to Kathmandu,
Nepal to share the beauty of Torah with others.
Somewhere
along the line he learned to tell jokes. Here's the setup
for this one: The first time that Sadie was flying on an airplane, the air hostess realized that she was so scared that she gave her a magazine to keep her mind off her flight. And then... Enjoy! A
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Whenever
we find a really funny Jewish comedian who tells clean jokes, we
consider it a very good day. So today's a very good day since we came
across the comedy of Robert Cait, a Canadian actor and comedian who is fluent in Hebrew and Yiddish and is very aware of the Jewish scene. A
graduate of The Associated Hebrew Day Schools Talmud Torah in Toronto,
Cait has talents beyond stand-up comedy. You've probably heard his
voice in documentaries and TV commercials.
From the unaffordable, high cost of Jewish education, to what makes
Israelis tick, to bizarre holiday foods, Cait connects with Jewish
audiences at their deepest and most hysterical levels. Audiences have enjoyed Cait on A&E’s Evening at the Improv and on MTV’s Half Hour
Comedy Hour. He has played at The Laugh Factory and The Comedy Store
and was the opening act for headliner Dennis Miller’s Las Vegas show. In
this stand-up segment, Cait touches on Bibi Netanyahu, the cost of day school, lashon hara, his bubbe, Hollywood casting, and the planet Mars.
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London's Shabbaton Choir first took to the stage in 1986 as the B’nai Brith Festival Singers. It
was formed by a young and talented musician, Stephen Glass, who sought a
modern alternative to traditional choral music and composed new
arrangements that brought out the mood and meaning of the prayers.
In 1989 Lionel Rosenfeld, who
had returned from Jerusalem to become Chazan of Marble Arch Synagogue,
was introduced to Stephen Glass by Chazan Naftali Herstik.
Lionel & Stephen found that they shared a common interest in
developing innovative Friday night and Shabbat morning choral services,
so that prayers that too often were said and sung as if by rote could be
given new life.
And so after six months of composing and rehearsing, the renamed Shabbaton Choirunder Stephen Glass held its first ever Choral Shabbatonin
April 1990 with Chazan Rosenfeld, at the Marble Arch Synagogue. Stephen
& Lionel then continued to compose new music for Choral Selichot
services.
Lionel has been joined over the years by
Chazanim Steve Robins, Robert Brody, Shimon Craimer, Steven Leas,
Jonathan Murgraff and, for the past thirteen years, by Jonny Turgel.
Every year until his retirement, Chief Rabbi Sacks would set the mood
with an inspirational address before the Service.
Anim Z'mirot is the Shabbaton Choir's newest album and was released in
January 2016 to mark its 25th Anniversary.
The title track, written by Musical Director Stephen Levey, features the
Shabbaton Choir singing with children from Hertsmere Jewish Primary
School as well as Chazanim Shimon Craimer, Lionel Rosenfeld and Jonny
Turgel. It was recorded on Sunday 10 May 2015 at JCoSS in London.
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On this Throwback Thursday we're turning the clock and calendar back to 1955, when Groucho Marx was in his heyday as host of the weekly show You Bet Your Life.
The show debuted on ABC Radio on October 27, 1947, then moved to CBS Radio debuting October 5, 1949, before making the transition to NBC-TV and NBC Radio
on October 4, 1950. Because of its simple format, it was possible to
broadcast the show simultaneously on radio and television.
The last
episode in its radio format aired on June 10, 1960. On television,
however, the series continued for another year, debuting in its final
season on September 22, 1960, and with a new title, The Groucho Show.
In this episode, Groucho banters with one of his funniest contestants, a printer's devil from Seattle who mesmerizes him with his googly eyes. We think it's impossible to watch this episode without laughing out loud. Enjoy! A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL
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Dan Naturman entered the stand up comedy
world as a Fordham University School of Law student. Following
graduation, he abandoned law and became a full-time comedian. Dan’s
endearing, self-deprecating wit has earned him fans around the country.
Dan earned widespread critical praise for his comedy album, Get Off My Property,
with Punchline Magazine proclaiming Dan’s act has “universal appeal.”
He was the favorite comedian of judges Drew Carey and Brett Butler on
the second season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing.
Dan has also made
several appearances on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Naturman has also earned rave reviews for his stand up spots on Last Call with Carson Daly, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! He is a regular at all of the top New York clubs, including the Comedy Cellar, Comic Strip Live, and Stand Up New York.
Here's a clip of Dan performing a few years ago on America's Got Talent.
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As we keep singing Hava Nagila and dancing to it around the world, we keep finding new interpretations in new countries. In 2016 the Gloria Dance School of Yerevan, Armenia, performed a jubilant version of Hava Nagila as part of their 20th anniversary concert. The Gloria Dance Sport School was founded in 1995, with doors of the dance center open to all who love ballroom dancing and other forms of dance. The club provides training for children and adults, athletes and non-athletes.
Take a look and see what they do with Hava Nagila. It's the 79th version that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central in 2009.
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It's another
Monday, and time for another Joke to Start the Week.
In early July, when we were presenting programs on Jewish humor at the annual
Camp Hazak week in
the Catskills, we were glad to run into Sheldon Horowitz, a retired
attorney and adjunct professor who loves to tell jokes and has been
telling them for many years.
The
camp, which
was held at the newly refurbished Honor's Haven Resort and Spa in
Ellenville,
New York, attracted about 70 seniors, mostly from Hazak groups at
Conservative
synagogues from up and down the east coast. Sheldon had previously given
us a
few jokes at another Hazak retreat six years ago at Kutsher's Resort.
Today we're sharing another one of his new old ones. We still have one
more that we're saving for a future week.
Here's
the setup: This Jew dies and goes up to heaven. He's walking around there for a couple of weeks and he sees this old rabbi that he knew years ago, and there's the rabbi walking arm in arm with a beautiful blonde. And then... Enjoy!
A
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Today
is Tisha B'Av, an annual fast day in Judaism which commemorates the
destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the subsequent
exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel to Babylon.
The day also commemorates other tragedies which occurred on the same day,
including the Roman massacre of over 100,000 Jews at Betar in 132 CE. It was instituted by the rabbis of 2nd-century Palestine.
Tisha B'Av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, a day
in which all pleasurable activity is forbidden, and is marked by synagogue
attendance the night before and during the day. But that doesn't mean there's
no singing, or more accurately, chanting.
The highlight of the day's service is the chanting of the megillah of Eicha
(Lamentations), written by the prophet Jeremiah. Eicha is read in
synagogues and in groups meeting indoors and outdoors.
In
some Jewish communities Psalm 137 is recited or chanted. It reads:
Psalms
Chapter 137
1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, we also wept, when we
remembered Zion.
2. We hung our lyres on the willows in its midst. 3. For there those who carried us away captive required of us a song; and
those who tormented us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs
of Zion.
4. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
5. If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if
I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
7. Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, the day of Jerusalem; who said,
Raze it, raze it, to its foundation.
8. O daughter of Babylon, you are to be destroyed! Happy shall he be, who
repays you for what you have done to us.
9. Happy shall he be, who takes your little ones and dashes them against the
rock.
But
the liturgy of Tisha B'Av has found an audience beyond traditional Jews
observing a sad day.
The
words of the Psalms (highlighted in blue above) were incorporated into Rivers of Babylon, a Rastafarian song written and
recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The
Melodians in 1970. The Melodians' original version of the song appeared in the
soundtrack album of the 1972 movie The Harder They Come, making it
internationally known.
The song was
popularized in Europe by the 1978 Boney M. cover version, which was awarded a
platinum disc and is one of the top ten all-time best-selling singles in the
UK.
Somehow
the song has been adopted by line dance devotees, primarily in Korea,
Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. The two videos below show the original song
with lyrics followed by one of the line dance interpretations from
Korea.
If you're fasting today, we wish you an easy and meaningful fast.
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This erev Shabbat we're sharing a version of Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat, from the Kabbalat Shabbat liturgy. It was sung at New York City's Central Synagogue, where very Friday evening, more than 500 people attend Shabbat worship
in the breathtaking Main Sanctuary (a National Landmark) and more than
1,000 virtual visitors join via live streaming.
It's sung by Cantor Julia Cadrain, who joined the Central Synagogue's clergy team in 2012, after being
ordained by HUC-JIR’s Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. She loves
serving the congregation in numerous and varied capacities. Some
highlights include co-producing a record of music from Central’s Friday
night service called Sounds of Shabbat, overseeing Central’s adult bnei
mitzvah program, and conducting the teen choir.
This version of Mizmor Shir is based on Makom Bina, a nigun composed by Deborah Sacks Mintz. In addition to composing new Jewish music,
Deborah can be found regularly performing and recording with a myriad
of musicians and ensembles. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, Deborah is
pursuing rabbinical ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!
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In 1960 Jerry Lewis starred in Cinderfella, a takeoff of the Cinderella story, in which he plays a hard-working and honest lad mistreated by his wicked stepmother and
his two boorish stepbrothers.
But miracles
do happen when his Fairy Godfather (Ed Wynn) transforms the klutzy fella into an
eligible, handsome bachelor, ready to win the hand of a suitable
Princess Charming, played by Anna Maria Alberghetti.
Let's travel back 60 years for the famous stairway dance scene in which Lewis, accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, makes his way to dance with the princess and to a quick exit when the clock strikes 12. An interesting side note: When Jerry ran up the stairs at the end he collapsed as soon as he was
out of frame and was rushed to hospital. Filming was postponed for a
month.
Enjoy!
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