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Jon Stewart and Jason Bateman Shmooze in Yiddish

The great Yiddishist Leo Rosten was hopefully rolling (with laughter) in his grave last night. The late author of the book “The Joy of Yiddish” worked very hard during his lifetime to bring the dying Yiddish language into the mainstream.

Last night’s five minute dialogue between actor Jason Bateman and Jon Stewart included more Yiddish words than we typically hear on television. It was as if Bateman wanted to drop some of his well-rehearsed Yiddishisms during his interview on The Daily Show. As soon as Jason Bateman sat down he told Jon Stewart that his “It’s nice when nice happens to nice” opening comment sounded very Yiddish. And from there it became a Yiddish word competition between the two men.

Jon Stewart and Jason Bateman Speak Yiddish on the Daily Show

Jason Bateman explained that he recently learned the Yiddish word “chazerai” which seemed to confuse the Jewish host of The Daily Show (the former Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz) who mistakenly said the word means a guy who’s a bit of a chazer (pig). Bateman correctly defined chazerai as garbage, but Stewart disagreed. At the end of the show Stewart actually returned to publicly apologize to Bateman for correcting his Yiddish since chazerai indeed does mean garbage.

Bateman then threw out mishegas and Stewart responded with meshugena. The conversation then turned to Bateman’s self-identification as a goy (gentile) and his experience at a friend’s Passover seder. Here’s the video of them shmoozing on the show last night:

Zei gezunt to Jason Bateman and Jon Stewart… and thanks for the early freilich Purim gift! 

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Hanukkah Jewish Videos

What Are the Best Hanukkah Videos of 2013?

Well it’s time for Hanukkah 2013 and we still haven’t come up with a consensus opinion on how to spell Hanukkah — is it Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah, Chanukkah or Janukah? This year we’ve seem to have discovered an even bigger spelling problem as we’ve added Thanksgivukkah into the mix. Some are into this mash up of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah while others are ready to be done with all the buzz. Comedian Judy Gold, with whom I appeared on the Thanksgivukkah episode of HuffPost Live yesterday, tweeted her feelings on Thanksgivukkah: “‏@JewdyGold – The term ‘Thanksgivukkah’ is getting on my nervukkahs. #annoying.” Well, I guess you can’t please everyone!Here is this year’s installment of the best Hanukkah videos. Enjoy!

Benji Lovitt’s “Thanksgivukkah Pie”

Oil – Main Line Reform Temple

Maoz Tzur by Science Students at Technion University in Israel

One Direction Parody: Jew Direction’s “Chanukkah Makes You Jewtiful”

The 1st Hanukkah Thanksgiving by the Shepard Hill Elementary Players on Jimmy Kimmel Live

The Thanksgivukkah Song

Thanksgivukkah: The Movie (Trailer) by Yisrael Campbell

Julie Geller’s “I Believe in Miracles” Song

Maccabeats – “Burn”

Hanukkah Song – Adele Parody by Ash Soular
Technically, this is from Hanukkah 2012 but I missed it in last year’s list

Matthew Rissien’s “The Dreidel Song: Hanukkah Rap”

Duck Dynasty’s Hanukkah Album” on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Best Hanukkah Videos of 2012 – http://blog.rabbijason.com/2012/12/best-hanukkah-videos-of-2012.html

Best Hanukkah Videos of 2011 – http://blog.rabbijason.com/2011/12/best-hanukkah-videos-for-2011.html

Best Hanukkah Videos of 2010 – http://blog.rabbijason.com/2010/12/best-hanukkah-videos-for-2010.html

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Activism Egypt International Relations Jewish Politics Social Justice

Jon Stewart and Other Activist Jews in the Egyptian Uprising

As we Americans celebrated our nation’s 237th year of independence and freedom yesterday on the 4th of July, we also kept a close eye on the precarious situation in Egypt. As the final hours of Mohammed Morsi’s presidency wound down, we continued to monitor the volatile situation there, constantly thinking of how the tense events in Egypt would affect Israel, its close neighbor to the North.Although many were concerned that the Egypt-Israel peace treaty would be broken under Morsi’s regime, that didn’t happen. However, now that the military is in charge of the country the peace treaty seems at risk and there could be a lapse in the protection of the Sinai from terror cells.

Unfortunately, I think we’ll have to wait a while longer to get a good sense of how the Egyptian uprising and protests will affect Israel and her relations with neighboring Egypt. One interesting story that I’ve been following during the continued unrest in Egypt has been the role of Jewish people in the situation.