Here’s my latest post on the Jewish Techs blog for The Jewish Week If you haven’t received an email or Facebook message in the past week with the link to the Maccabeats video of “Candlelight”, you might want to check that your computer is actually plugged in. The Yeshiva University a capella group’s video parody…
It’s become expected that there will be some sort of a giveaway at sports events. Fans leave the stadium or arena with everything from posters of the star player to bobble-heads and t-shirts. Every once in a while, a team gets a little more creative. And that’s exactly what happened in Florida. According to Greg…
Ever since the first Hanukkah stamp was issued by the U.S. Post Office in 1996, this has been my favorite Hanukkah joke to tell: A woman goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Hanukkah cards.She says to the clerk, “May I have 50 Hanukkah stamps?”The clerk says, “What denomination?” “Oh my goodness,”…
When it comes to Hanukkah there’s really only been one traditional way to play Dreidel. The four sided spinning top has four Hebrew letters on it. Each letter tells you what to do if it lands on that letter — you win, you get half, etc. It might be fun the first time you play,…
In my second year of rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary, I took a year-long seminar that focused on Jewish life-cycle observances. Of course, we covered all the basics like the bris, the Jewish wedding and the Jewish funeral. But we spent more time discussing life-cycle events that traditionally had been given short shrift….
I often hear complaints that Jewish organizations don’t market themselves well. Even when they try to be cool and attract the younger demographic, they often fail by being hokey or forcing the humor. Well, the American Jewish World Service has solved that problem. The solution is as simple as having Judd Apatow round up his…
Here’s my latest blog post for Community Next’s “Rabbi J in the D” When asked who is the biggest Jewish celebrity on Sesame Street, most people immediately respond “Mr. Hooper.” And that’s not a bad answer since both Mr. Hooper and his alter-ego Will Lee were Jewish. However, there are two Muppets who are competing over…
Here’s my latest blog post for Community Next’s “Rabbi J in the D” (a Jewish celeb blog): One evening in the summer of 2000 when I was working as a chaplain intern at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, I walked into one of those family waiting rooms outside of the patient unit. The television was…
On its Tublr page, The Atlantic reposted a photo of Cuban leader Fidel Castro with columnist Jeffrey Goldberg. They turned the photo into a caption contest. I love caption contests so I couldn’t resist coming up with the following captions (under the photo): Let me just proofread my note Jeffrey before I give it to you…
Stand-up comic and blogger Heshy Fried wrote on his Frum Satire blog yesterday that shuls (synagogues) “in the New York metropolitan area are going to be charging premium prices for premium seats, like those with more legroom” in order to raise more money in these challenging financial times. This got me thinking that synagogues aren’t…