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!
One of Sid Caesar's formidable talents was the ease with which he delivered monologues in foreign languages which in reality was just gibberish or doubletalk.
A good example of this was a sketch on the Admiral Broadway Revue in April 1949 in which Caesar portrayed foreign movie industry leaders arriving at LaGuardia Airport on their way to the annual cinema conference.
As he gets off the plane he is interviewed about the Italian, French, and Russian entries in the film competition. He describes each film in fluent gibberish.
Enjoy!
A
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StandWithUs
(SWU) is an international and non-partisan Israel education
organization that inspires and educates people of all ages and
backgrounds, challenges misinformation and fights antisemitism.
On December 17, comedian Elon Gold hosted a Festival of Lights Gala Event in Los Angeles in which he showed a video that he made with Jay Leno in Leno's garage. In the video, Elon and Jay talk about Jay's trips to Israel and the love that he has for Israel and the Jewish people.
Not one to pass up an opportunity to tell a joke, Leno delivers a classic one and recounts a few funny Jewish incidents.
Enjoy!
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Moroccan
schools will for the first time in a North African country, shortly add
Jewish history and culture to its schools' curriculum, in a region
where Islam is the predominant state religion.
As reported in i24 News,
The decision to add Jewish history and
culture to the curriculum was discreetly taken before the diplomatic
deal was announced and it aims to "highlight Morocco's diverse
identity," according to Fouad Chafiqi, head of academic programs at the
education ministry.
Morocco's Jewish
community has been present since antiquity and it was given a
significant boost after the arrival of Jews from the Iberian peninsula;
1492 in the case of Spain and 1496 with regard to Portugal.
When
the State of Israel was declared, Moroccan Jews numbered approximately
250,000 or 10 percent of the population. The overwhelming majority left
from 1948-1956 and the current Jewish community in Morocco is estimated
to be 2,000-3,000-strong.
The decision to add Jewish history and culture to lessons was discreetly launched before the diplomatic deal was announced.
Part of an ongoing revamp of Morocco’s school curriculum since
2014, the lessons will be included from next term for children in their
final year of primary school, aged 11, the education ministry said. The move will also be part of a revision of the secondary school
curriculum set for next year.
The move aims to “highlight Morocco’s diverse identity,” according to Fouad Chafiqi, head of academic programs at the ministry.
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A few years ago, Toronto's Koerner Hall was the site of a performance of Jewish Folks Telling Jokes, a night of comedy to benefit Jewish Family and Child, one of the foremost Jewish service agencies in North America.
Jewish Family and Child supports the healthy development
of individuals, children, families, and communities through prevention,
protection, counseling, education and advocacy services, within the
context of Jewish values.
We previously posted a few jokes that were told at the event, a Canadian contribution to the world of Jewish humor, probably inspired by the off-Broadway show Old Jews Telling Jokes, still touring around the USA. We
were lucky to discover a few more jokes from these talented
Toronto joke tellers, and we'll be sharing some of them in future posts
of A Joke to Start the Week. This week's joke is told by Susan Jackson. Here's
the setup: Sidney is a really good guy, but he figures life would be a lot better if he won a really big lottery. So he figures "I'm going to daven Shacharit every morning." And then... Enjoy! A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS: THE VIDEO IS NOT
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As people
continue to spend their days and evenings at home, due to coronavirus social
distancing restrictions, the Forverts has launched a series of
short informal video clips called Yiddish Word of the Day.
The series,
written and narrated by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter, aims to give
non-Yiddish speakers an introduction to familiar Yiddish words and phrases and
how they might be used in everyday situations.
Schaechter, who was appointed the new editor of the Forverts in 2016, is
the first woman to helm the paper in its 119-year history, its first
editor to have been born in the United States, and likely its first editor
who is shomeret Shabbat.
We posted the
first
of this series in May. Now that the Forverts is continuing the
series, we'll be sharing some of the words and phrases as a regular feature of
Jewish Humor Central.
Today we'll look at the many ways of using the word living, and a few proverbs to illustrate their use.
Enjoy!
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Tov Lehodot Lashem is the opening verse of Psalm 92, Mizmor Shir L'Yom HaShabbat. The song is part of the Kabbalat Shabbat service. It's sung here by Efrat Dansker.
The Hebrew text of the first two verses of this liturgical poem is:
The English translation is: It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High;
To declare Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness in the night seasons.
Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!
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Neil Diamond has earned his place as one of the great Jewish entertainers. At the end of The Jazz Singer, his character performs his song America
to a large audience. His father, the cantor who rejected him because of
his giving up his cantorial tradition for a career as a jazz singer,
attends the concert and they are reconciled.
In January 2018, Diamond announced that he would immediately retire from touring due to having been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Tour dates on the final leg of Diamond's "50 Year Anniversary World
Tour" in Australia and New Zealand were cancelled. An announcement on
his official website said he was not retiring from music and that the
cancellation of the live performances would allow him to "continue his
writing, recording and development of new projects."
In 2012, Diamond appeared in at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on the 40th anniversary of his Hot August Night concert there in 1972, and dedicated his performance to his grandmother who made the journey from Kiev nearly 100 years earlier and to his mother, Rose.
Enjoy!
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The clouds of coronavirus lockdowns, isolations, and quarantines this year have revealed a silver lining -- the annual Christmas eve Jewish comedy nights at clubs and restaurants in cities with large Jewish populations are now accessible everywhere through Zoom and YouTube.
Today we're sharing links to three live streaming celebrations that will bring comedy and entertainment into your home on Thursday night. One is free and the other two have fees of $20 and $25 to participate.
A Very Jewish Christmas Eve
MyJewishLearning.com is sponsoring A Very Jewish Christmas Eve, a free fun evening of activities, including Jewish trivia, stand-up comedy, and everyone's favorite Jewish Christmas tradition: Chinese food!
The site, originally started by Canadian philanthropist Edgar Bronfman and now funded by the Samuel Bronfman Foundation, is offering four sessions, starting at 7 pm and ending at 11 pm. Here is the schedule:
7 p.m. ET: Learn how Jews have dealt with Christmas throughout the
decades, with Rabbi Joshua Plaut, author of "A Kosher Christmas: 'Tis
the Season to be Jewish."
8 p.m. ET: Chinese Food Cooking Demo: Learn to Make Dumplings, with chef and author Kian Lam Kho.
9:15 p.m. ET: Trivia Night! Test your Jewish knowledge in an interactive game led by Rabbi Benjamin Resnick.
10:15 p.m. ET: Laugh the night away with Jewish stand-up comic Talia Reese.
To join in the fun, just submit your name and email address on this form.
Christmas Eve for the Jews
Comedian Joel Chasnoff hosts the 8th annual CHRISTMAS EVE FOR THE JEWS at 8 pm -- this time, virtually!
Joel
welcomes stand-up comedian Mark Normand (The Tonight Show, Conan, The
Late Show with Stephen Colbert), Ophira Eisenberg (Host of NPR's quiz
show "Ask Me Another"), Jessica Kirson (The Tonight Show with Jimmy
Fallon, The View, The Comedian), sketch comedy from Canadian troupe
Comedies Never Win, and more. Click on this link to purchase tickets for a night of laughter:
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28th Annual Kung Pao Kosher Comedy Night
Every year comedy is king at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco when Jewish comedians perform their stand-up acts on Christmas Eve. This year is no exception, but the comedy will be virtual.Below is a preview, and you can buy tickets right here.
Hundreds of Indian Jews flew into Ben-Gurion Airport to make aliyah
this week, as Israeli ministers promised to help the rest of the Bnei
Menashe community emigrate shortly.
Following a special government edict, 252 new olim from northeast
India made Israel their new home on Tuesday in an operation supported
by Israel’s Minister of Aliyah and Integration Pnina Tameno-Shete.
The relocation was coordinated over many months between the ministry
and the Shavei Israel organisation, whose founder Michael Freund was
delighted.
“The aliyah of the lost tribe of Bnei Menashe after 2,700 years of exile is itself a modern-day Chanukah miracle,” he said.
“The story of this unique community that maintained its connection to
the Jewish people and the land of Israel down through the generations
is powerful and inspiring. I hope to see all the remaining Bnei Menashe
make aliyah soon.”
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It's another Monday and time for another Joke to Start the Week. This week we're posting a joke from Dr. Jay Orlikoff, a retired dentist from Centereach, New York, a community on Long
Island in Suffolk County.
After
a distinguished and meritorious dental career, he is shifting his focus
to telling and posting jokes on YouTube. We were fortunate to find some
of his jokes and we're sharing one of the family-friendly ones with you
today.
Here's
the setup: Sam and his wife are having breakfast and listening to the radio when the announcer says "We're expecting four to six inches of snow today." And then...
Enjoy!
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As people
continue to spend their days and evenings at home, due to coronavirus social
distancing restrictions, the Forverts has launched a series of
short informal video clips called Yiddish Word of the Day.
The series,
written and narrated by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter, aims to give
non-Yiddish speakers an introduction to familiar Yiddish words and phrases and
how they might be used in everyday situations.
Schaechter, who was appointed the new editor of the Forverts in 2016, is
the first woman to helm the paper in its 119-year history, its first
editor to have been born in the United States, and likely its first editor
who is shomeret Shabbat.
We posted the
first
of this series in May. Now that the Forverts is continuing the
series, we'll be sharing some of the words and phrases as a regular feature of
Jewish Humor Central.
Today we're having breakfast in Yiddish, with some basic words and related proverbs.
Enjoy!
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Today we say farewell to Chanukah and welcome another Shabbat by sharing our 63rd post of an Adon Olam version. This one is by the Sabbathsong Klezmer Band of Budapest, Hungary.
As Tamas Masa, founder of the group, explains,
Our
band started in 1998 at the closing ceremony of Chief Rabbi László
Deutsch in a small synagogue in Budapest, where we performed our beloved
Israeli songs in gratitude. The
chief rabbi then said a prophecy in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah) that
"comfort, comfort my people ...", which has been accompanying our
actions ever since, is said to be the foundation of our work.
In our repertoire, besides the Eastern European klezmer, Yiddish and Israeli traditional and. modern songs and dances also play an important role. Our
aim, beyond a high-level interpretation of the melodies of Judaism, is
to return to the spiritual root and source of these songs, the reality
of the Bible. That's why we got the slogan: "More than klezmer."
Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!
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Tonight we light the eighth and last Hanukkah candle. By now we've all had our fill of latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (filled donuts).
Israeli bakeries compete each year in creating the best and most elaborate sufganiyot. This year the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) sponsored an Ultimate Mystery Donut Challenge, enlisting pairs of soldiers to taste donuts with some very untraditional fillings.
Mayonnaise, anyone? How about ketchup or wasabi? Watch the soldiers' reactions after taking a bite.
Enjoy, laugh, and start the diet tomorrow.
Chag Chanukah sameach!
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Kippalive is Israel's leading a cappella group, famous for its amazing energy, humor, thrilling performances and fresh musical style.
Founded in 2011 in Raanana, Kippalive has inspired and entertained audiences across the globe, including performances on the Israeli X Factor, at the President's residence, in London, Mexico, and throughout the United States.
The group's unique ability to blend its Israeli roots with classical Jewish music and modern pop songs has made it one of the top Jewish a cappella groups on YouTube and Facebook, where its videos have generated over 10 million views.
In this video, Kippalive joins with children from Israel's Beit Issie Shapiro in adapting Thomas Rhett's country music songBe a Light to incorporate Chanukah themes.
Beit Issie Shapiro is the pioneering leader and innovator in the field of disabilities providing services and sharing models that improve the lives of people with disabilities globally; impacting 500,000+ people annually. Its mission is to create a more inclusive society across the globe by advancing the rights and opportunities for people with disabilities.
Enjoy, and Happy Chanukah!
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Raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cantor Marcelo Gindlin has served as
the full-time Cantor at the Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue since
2000.
He is a member of the Cantors Assembly of America and in addition to his certification as Hazzan and Ba’al Tefillah from the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano,
Cantor Marcelo has three degrees in music therapy and has extensive
experience as a teacher, composer, choir director, and performer.
Cantor Marcelo has performed every year for the past 13 years as a
soloist with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, including the Sephardic
Ladino Concert at the Ford Amphitheater in August 2008.
His goal of reaching a wide audience has led him to organize various shows, including Hazzanim concerts.
In this video, Gindlin is joined by The Shirettes
(Sue Epstein, Judy Farber & Ditza Zakay) in a Cha Cha Chanukah song and dance on the beach in Malibu, California.
Enjoy, and Chag sameach!
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Melissa Manchester
has been in show business for more than 40 years as a singer,
songwriter, musician, actress and teacher.
She has released 20 albums
and performs about 70 shows a year.Last week she performed Let There Be More Light, a song that she composed, in a concert with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony. She is best known for her rendition of songs such as Marvin Hamlisch's Looking Through the Eyes of Love, the theme from the movie Ice Castles.
Manchester's connection with Judaism is strong. As Mala Blomquist wrote in Arizona Jewish Life,
Melissa’s mother was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, but her
father was an atheist. Since the couple had agreed early on that it was a
battle they chose not to pursue, Melissa and her sister would just
watch their mother light the Shabbat candles every Friday night, never
being encouraged to learn the prayers. “We just watched this beautiful
woman dawdling over the candles,” Melissa describes. But there was also
an ironic twist, “As God would have it, we lived right next to a shul,
which we never went into, but on High Holy Days we would open all the
windows and we could hear the service.”
Melissa raised her two children Jewishly and they both became b’nai
mitzvah. While preparing for these events, she was moved to celebrate
her own bat mitzvah – at the age of 50. “It was really a deeply
interesting experience because I was mostly in a class with converts. It
was fascinating to see what moved my fellow students to choose Judaism.
Over and over and over again I would hear the word community and it was
very touching because I always felt community.”
When asked if she is observant today, her reply is genuine, “I light
Sabbath candles. I pray to God every day, all the time. I pray to God in
a way that I have come to understand him/her. I can’t imagine life
without that component of my life.”
Enjoy, and Chag Chanukah sameach!
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Boys Town Jerusalem is one of Israel's premier institutions for
educating the country's next generation of leaders in the fields of
technology, commerce, education, the military and public service.
Since
its founding in 1948, BTJ has pursued its mission of turning young boys
from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures. From
Junior High through the College level, the three part curriculum at Boys
Town - academic, technological and Torah - is designed to turn
otherwise disadvantaged Israeli youth into productive citizens of
tomorrow.
Boys Town’s 18 acre campus is a home away from home for its
more than 950 students. More than 7,500 graduates hold key positions
throughout Israeli society. For Chanukah 2020, the Boys Town Jerusalem choir performs a very creative and upbeat version of Al Hanissim.
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Azi Schwartz joined the Park Avenue Synagogue clergy in 2009. He follows
distinguished predecessors, including Cantor David Putterman and Cantor
David Lefkowitz, whose musical leadership established Park Avenue
Synagogue as the flagship of Jewish liturgical music in the United
States.
Born and raised in Israel, Cantor Azi Schwartz has sung with prestigious
orchestras and choirs around the world, including the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin RIAS Kammerchor. He has performed
in the United Nations’ General Assembly Hall, the United States Capitol
Rotunda, and the Knesset, as well as in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center
and the Mann Auditorium.
In this video, Azi sings a medley of Chanukah songs created with Oran Eldor, and performs it with David Enlow and the Park Avenue Synagogue Ensemble.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah!
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Tonight we light the first Chanukah candle. We started posting Chanukah videos a few days ago to get into the holiday mood. This year there are more than enough new music videos to last through the eight days and we will share with you the ones that we like the best.
Today we're posting a Chanukah overture by Dana Friedman and Robert Wendel. It's a medley of traditional songs, including Maoz T'zur, Al HaNisim, S'vivon, Chanukah Oh Chanukah, and I Have A Little Dreidel.
The performance is by the Evanston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Eckerling. The orchestra is an Illinois not-for-profit community orchestra that provides
quality, diverse, enjoyable and accessible classical musical
entertainment that enriches the audience, orchestra and community.
Enjoy, and Chag Sameach!
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Shir Soul is a wedding band and a cappella singing group founded in 2005 by David Ross.
With
their eclectic mix of Jewish rock, pop, and soul music, Shir Soul has
recorded a few albums and plays at weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, and other
occasions with musical instruments or a cappella. In previous years we've posted some of their Chanukah mashups, including a collection of songs by Elvis Presley. This year they created a mashup of Stevie Wonder songs. Enjoy!
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“Puppy For Hanukkah”will air until December 18, the last day of Hanukkah. It hasklezmer, it has hip hop, it has a diverse cast of kids dancing up a storm.
One thing the video doesn’t feature is Diggs himself. Instead, we get the adorably talented Ethan Hollingsworth, 11, and two other young actors and dancers, as stand-ins for young Daveed. They wistfully lip-synch about how much they want a puppy for Hanukkah. They go through each night, hoping their new canine best friend will emerge from gift-wrapped boxes, only to be met with more knitwear. The video, of course, culminates with the appearance of an adorable puppy emerging from one of the boxes.
“I was honored when Disney Channel
approached me to come up with a fresh Hanukkah tune and embraced the
opportunity to share my love of music and a little piece of my culture,”
said Diggs, who also co-created and starred in Blindspotting, a 2018 movie that will soon be adapted for TV.
Diggs openedup about his Jewish roots in 2015: “I went to Hebrew school, but opted out of a bar mitzvah,” he said.
“My mom is a white Jewish lady and my dad is Black. The cultures never
seemed separate — I had a lot of mixed friends. When I was young, I
identified with being Jewish, but I embraced my dad’s side, too.”
Enjoy!
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It's another Monday,
and time for another Joke to Start the Week. Today we're bringing you another joke told by
David Apfel.
Now living in Modiin, Israel, David
Apfel is an accomplished entertainer and chazzan. He sings in several languages
with repertoire ranging from the musicals to opera. He has officiated
internationally at several orthodox synagogues and he also specializes in
''Kosher Komedie''.
Here's the setup
for today's joke: Goldstein meets his friend in the street and asks "How are you?" And Goldstein says "Guess what? I bought myself a brand new hearing aid." And then...
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As people
continue to spend their days and evenings at home, due to coronavirus social
distancing restrictions, the Forverts has launched a series of
short informal video clips called Yiddish Word of the Day.
The series,
written and narrated by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter, aims to give
non-Yiddish speakers an introduction to familiar Yiddish words and phrases and
how they might be used in everyday situations.
Schaechter, who was appointed the new editor of the Forverts in 2016, is
the first woman to helm the paper in its 119-year history, its first
editor to have been born in the United States, and likely its first editor
who is shomeret Shabbat.
We posted the
first
of this series in May. Now that the Forverts is continuing the
series, we'll be sharing some of the words and phrases as a regular feature of
Jewish Humor Central.
With Chanukah arriving this Thursday evening, today is a good day to learn some Yiddish words for gifts and a few proverbs relating to gift giving.
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.
