tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96910652009-10-17T11:44:59.161-04:00JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-87687445390490911382009-04-26T20:53:00.002-04:002009-04-26T21:14:01.782-04:00

I know it's a bit after the fact, and it won't really be relevant again for another 28 years, but this recently came up in a newsletter I received, and I simply had to say something about it.The Blessing of the Sun (Birkat Hachamah) is a blessing recited once every 28 years, commemorating the work of Creation, and specifically the creation of the sun. It was observed this year, 5769, on the

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-66370025532338873472009-04-13T20:45:00.003-04:002009-04-13T21:32:03.379-04:00

Yes, this is a true story, but it's a funny true story.When I was in college, our Hillel had a Passover meal plan. A freshman on the Hillel board (let's just call her "B"), was very eager to cook for Passover dinner: she was going to use this as an excuse to learn her mother's secret matzah ball recipe. Her mother made the best matzah balls ever, and she was determined to learn how she made

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-5287989144691527872009-04-02T10:49:00.004-04:002009-04-02T11:30:01.027-04:00

A news story I read today reminded me of a little fun I had on a message board about 20 years ago.I used to participate in an echomail network called ILink (sort of an old-fashioned, pre-Internet newsgroup). One of the groups on ILink was a general religion board, and one day, the conversation turned to the subject of "Jews for Jesus," (J4J) a Christian evangelical group that claims that Jesus

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-2977345285361248342009-03-26T16:56:00.002-04:002009-03-26T17:23:48.246-04:00

This is the story of Reuben Kushner, the Jewish Robinson Crusoe. He was stranded on an uncharted island for ten years before he was finally rescued. When his rescuers arrived, they were amazed at what they found. Kushner had built himself only a small, humble home in the trees, but next to it was a magnificent building. "That is my synagogue," Kushner explained. He proceeded to give them the

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-44313287413802195392009-03-19T10:01:00.005-04:002009-03-19T11:56:59.221-04:00

A Jewish man was in Tokyo on Shabbat, and wanted to go to a synagogue for services. He doubted that there would be a synagogue in Tokyo, but much to his surprise, the hotel concierge directed him to a synagogue not far from the hotel.The man entered the synagogue and was surprised to see that everyone there was classically Japanese in appearance: the rabbi, the cantor and all of the congregants

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-78624205919645962282008-12-26T06:00:00.005-05:002009-03-19T11:58:41.186-04:00

On the morning of December 26, a Catholic boy, a Protestant boy and a Jewish boy were talking about what their families did for Christmas.The Catholic boy said, "It was wonderful. We all went down to my grandfather's church, and we said mass, and we gathered around the altar and sang Silent Night."The Protestant boy said, "It was wonderful. We all went down to my grandfather's house, and we

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-68066089388627777152008-12-15T10:28:00.008-05:002008-12-15T11:13:29.775-05:00

Judaism is made up of different movements, different branches that approach Jewish law and history differently. Here is my favorite joke illustrating the differences between the movements. I like this one because I think hits all three movements equally and fairly, whereas some other jokes of this nature seem to hit one movement more than the other.* * * * *According to American Lung Association,

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-90231333621286333522008-11-24T13:39:00.004-05:002008-11-24T14:05:12.502-05:00

Chanukkah is less than a month away -- the Hebrew month of Kislev starts this Friday -- so of course, it's time to start making my practice and experimental batches of latkes! A basic recipe for latkes can be found on my website here. I have also made a video on YouTube that illustrates some of the finer points, like how to tell when latkes are ready to flip. (I'm not entirely satisfied with the

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-57853883568456928182008-11-17T12:00:00.001-05:002008-11-17T12:31:36.976-05:00

As I said in the Election Humor post, I'm shifting the direction of this blog to tell Jewish jokes that shed some light on Jewish culture, religion or history. I've found in the few years that I've had this blog that I haven't written much because I can't bring myself to write about a topic without researching it properly and providing references, and I just didn't have the time to do all that.

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-46313115298011272962008-11-10T07:00:00.000-05:002008-11-10T06:51:11.104-05:00

On Sunday morning, a local news broadcast teased a story by saying that the courts were addressing a conflict between religion and the medical profession. I assumed that the story was the kind we usually see: religious parents refusing treatment of their children because of religious convictions, such as Jehovah's Witnesses refusing blood transfusions or Christian Scientists refusing medical

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-6825128236068975892008-11-04T05:19:00.013-05:002008-11-04T05:57:52.214-05:00

I've been planning for a while now to redirect this blog into posts of Jewish humor that shed light on Jewish religion, history and culture. With election day upon us, I thought this was a good time to start. I promise, this joke includes no one currently running for office, or even anyone in office today.George H. W. Bush (the elder) and Dan Quayle were in a plane with a priest and a rabbi. They

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-37327878096773024522008-07-15T08:00:00.004-04:002008-07-25T16:13:28.049-04:00

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey's Summary of Key Findings begins with the assertion that "most Americans have a non-dogmatic approach to faith." The USA Today article about this survey seemed to interpret this as saying that Americans take a "one from column A, one from column B" approach to religion, where Oprah Winfrey is as much a source of spiritual guidance as any religious leader. But

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-1727677389636989612008-06-25T17:00:00.008-04:002008-07-25T16:16:45.850-04:00

According to USA Today, the recent the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey indicates that most Americans have abanded traditional doctrine in favor of vague, fuzzy, "pick one from column A and one from column B" spirituality. However, as I looked through the detailed results of the survey, I found that the notion of "traditional doctrine" in the survey is very

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-55598092209701141872008-04-23T13:52:00.008-04:002008-07-25T16:17:30.493-04:00

At synagogue recently, someone commented that gentiles must get some very strange ideas about Passover when they look at the Passover aisle in the grocery stores. In the average grocery store, you will see three-foot-long packages of matzah, jars gefilte fish and borscht, and shelf after shelf of cookies, cake mixes and candies... and very little else. Do Jews really eat that stuff and nothing

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-69413301564289747882008-01-24T14:16:00.001-05:002008-07-25T16:18:39.591-04:00

Kosher: It's hip, it's hot, it's happenin'.According to an article in this week's U.S. News & World Report, "New Taste for Kosher Foods," "kosher" is now the most popular claim on new food products, more popular than "organic," "all natural" or "no additives or preservatives." According to the article, sales of kosher foods have risen 15 percent a year for the past decade, and only 20 percent of

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-40958168296958106192007-12-11T05:28:00.001-05:002008-11-12T21:59:18.232-05:00

As I was driving home on Friday afternoon, I heard on the radio a Chanukkah song I had not heard before: "How Do You Spell Channukkahh" by The LeeVees. It was a catchy tune, and at first it was refreshing to hear something other than the perennial Adam Sandler songs.But as the song went on, I was increasingly bothered by the fact that the song had nothing to say about the holiday other than the

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-65211454580222331392007-12-07T11:13:00.001-05:002008-07-25T16:20:11.945-04:00

If you follow the weird news as I do, then you have probably already heard the story about the New York grocery store that was selling hams marked "Delicious for Chanukah." The news articles all point out that ham and other pork products are forbidden under Jewish dietary laws, making this shelf tag ironic at best.But every news article I've seen has missed the most peculiar aspect of this

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-66378040785842245212007-10-12T14:33:00.001-04:002008-07-25T16:21:15.823-04:00

A certain right-wing pundit recently stated in an interview that she thought Jews needed to be "perfected." The same woman has said in the past that we should send people over to the Middle East to forcibly convert the Muslims to Christianity, which would make them more peaceful (apparently she missed the history class about the Crusades).Suffice it to say that I don't think her remarks are even

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-63760576990042371702007-09-26T05:47:00.001-04:002008-07-25T16:22:46.227-04:00

Mobile phone service provider T-Mobile plans to put a 130-foot tower in Shalom Memorial Park, the Jewish section of non-sectarian Forest Hills Cemetery near Northeast Philadelphia. They will, of course, disguise it to look like a fake tree, but I gather that these fake trees aren't very convincing. T-Mobile is currently trying to use cemeteries for tower locations in several cities, probably

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-32998427954633272542007-06-27T06:02:00.000-04:002007-06-27T06:29:53.952-04:00

When conservative Christian groups agree with gay rights groups, when arch-conservatives in the vein of Ann Coulter line up with the ACLU ... can moshiach be far behind?For those who haven't heard: Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court rendered its controversial decision in Morse v. Frederick, in which a high school student was suspended for displaying a banner that said "Bong Hits 4

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-27237029646446731712007-04-27T15:00:00.000-04:002007-04-27T15:16:49.432-04:00

Last night was "Dining Out for Life" in Philadelphia and many other metropolitan areas. Participating restaurants donate a portion of their proceeds for the nights to local charities that provide quality-of-life services to people with AIDS. (And yes, there are kosher restaurants that participate). I make an effort to "Dine Out" every year, and it always reminds me of Steve, a person I knew in

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-1149866504623511692007-04-15T07:28:00.001-04:002007-04-15T08:40:50.907-04:00

Today is Yom ha-Shoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, on the Jewish calendar, a day to remember the tragic loss of 6,000,000 Jewish lives, the brutal pruning of one-third of the branches on our collective family tree.Over the years, I've seen many exhibits about the Holocaust, showing the camps, the packed trains, the luggage left behind, the walkways made from tombstones taken from Jewish cemeteries,

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-15958424440225851892007-03-29T06:00:00.000-04:002007-03-29T05:46:00.905-04:00

With Pesach (Passover) coming up next week, I thought I would pass along this amusing true story about a seder I attended in college.My Hillel (Jewish student organization) used to hold a seder every year. Usually our advisor, Herb, came to the seder with his family, but one year Herb did not come. In the absence of adult supervision, the college students drank (ahem) more than the halakhically

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-76269370079459432822007-02-27T05:30:00.000-05:002007-02-27T09:39:40.861-05:00

I was looking for some information about James Cameron's "Jesus tomb" film (more on that in a later post) when the above headline caught my eye.For those who haven't heard about it: there was a high school basketball game in Virginia between a Catholic school and another school, which was marred by an "antisemitic chant" and "antisemitic graffiti." The "antisemitic" chant was, "We love Jesus,"

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9691065.post-1170760464014334252007-02-06T05:17:00.000-05:002007-02-06T06:14:24.103-05:00

The problem with getting most of your news from Comedy Central is that I was very late to pick up on this news story...Frank D. Hargrove Sr., a delegate to the Virginia legislature, made headlines last month when he expressed his opposition to a resolution expressing regret for slavery. He commented, "Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?"Let's stop and think about that

JewFAQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15378202433423358690noreply@blogger.com8