Best Purim Videos 2016

Purim couldn't have come at a better time this year. With all of the horrible news in the world and a presidential race in the U.S. that's ruining friendships, we all need to take a deep breath and enjoy the celebration of Purim. This year's Purim videos will make you smile and maybe even dance. Many of this year's choices for the Best Purim Videos of the Year are from new contributors. Enjoy and Purim Sameach!

Esther's a Jew - Erez Cohen Music

"Purim at My House" - Rosenblum Shaloch-E-Manos

Purim 2016 #GMYMM - Meir Landau ft. Lipa Steinmetz

Chag Purim - Percapella Purim Grogger Mash-Up - Shir Soul

"Hello" Purim Parody from TBALA - Hillary Chorny

Bernie Sanders A Jewish Lip Reading

Esther vs. Haman: A Modern-Day Purim

Best Purim Videos on YouTube 2015

Jewish parents have always had very high expectations for their children. In fact, just the other day I was reading a birth announcement in my local Jewish newspaper that proudly stated, "Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Rosenbloom are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Dr. Jonathan Rosenbloom."

I love that joke and I thought of it last week when I received not one, but two emails from people who had just made funny Purim videos and wanted me to include them in my annual list of the year's best Purim videos. Both of these emails stated that I should check out the "new viral video" they just created. Well, if you just created it, how do you know it's going to go viral? So, just as Jewish parents can announce the birth of their son the doctor, I guess aspiring Purim video creators can announce the launch of their viral video.

So, here's my annual list of the Best Purim Videos of the year... (some might even go viral!):


SHUSHAN FUNK - Ronn "Markson" featuring Jewno Mars (Erez Cohen)



(This video isn't technically a Purim video, but I think it's funny and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu made the connection between Iran (Persia) and the Purim story in his speech to Congress the other day.)

STAND! DOWN! IRAN (BIBI TECHNO DANCE SPEECH) - Noy Alooshe Remix





PURIM 2015 IN THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (IDF)




VASHTI'S SONG (Meghan Trainor) - Felicia Sloin




SHUSHAN FUNK - Rosenblum Shaloch-E-Manos (Lyrics: Crazy Daddy)




SHOSHANAS YAAKOV - Lev Aryeh - Catwalk




JEWBELLISH PURIM DANCE MIX




V'NAHAFOCH HU - NY Boys Choir




CHAG PURIM 2015 - Ross M. Levy

10 Years of YouTube Viral Videos

YouTube has revolutionized so many industries, not the least of which is education. We have the ability to learn so much thanks to our ability to upload videos to YouTube. Need to learn how to use a computer software application like Photoshop? Look on YouTube. Need to know how to change the oil in your car? There's a YouTube video for that. You can learn to play guitar, cricket or chess simply by watching a YouTube video. When it comes to religion, YouTube has removed the borders that once existed. I call this the globalization of the Internet and the YouTube video has played a monumental part. YouTube has certainly been one of the Internet's "killer apps" in the past decade.

As I learned firsthand in December 2011, YouTube videos can also be the format to express your opinion about social issues... or a particular politician. The YouTube video of my parody of Rick Perry's offensive campaign commercial has been viewed over 231,000 times. Some might say that it went viral, but it certainly didn't go as viral as some of the most popular YouTube videos of all time, with a couple of those being viewed over a billion times.

The Verge put together a compilation of the evolution of ten years of the YouTube viral video. Watch the video below:

Best Hanukkah Videos for 2014

Each year I put together a list of the best Hanukkah videos for the year and this year I've really narrowed the list to only the best of the best. What makes a great Hanukkah video? Is it the music? Is it the quality of the video? Both?

The best Hanukkah videos are usually song parodies of currently popular songs, but just because you come up with the idea for a Hanukkah song parody changing Ariana Grande's "Love Me Harder" to a song about a Hanukkah menorah called "Light Me Longer" doesn't mean you can write the lyrics, sing it well, and produce a video that will garner a million views on YouTube. Some of these videos aren't song parodies about Hanukkah, but original songs or mashups of several Hanukkah songs. So here are the best new Hanukkah videos for this year (and scroll to the bottom for a surprise from one of my favorite comedians, JB Smoove):

Eric Schwartz (Smooth E) - 8 Hanukkah Song Parodies

Six13 - Chanukah - Shake It Off (Taylor Swift)

Maccabeats - All About That Neis (All About that Bass by Meghan Trainor)

Hanukkah Song Mashup - Elliot Dvorin and Key Tov Orchestra

Ari Goldwag - Chanukah Light

Dreidel (a capella) - Shir Soul

Lights featuring Shtar (by Brian K. Spector)

Shake It Off Hanukkah Edition - Adam Karol (Taylor Swift)

Glee - Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah

And here's the bonus Hanukkah video from the very funny JB Smoove, who has a wonderful performance in Chris Rock's new movie "Top Five," which I think will be one of the year's best movies. It turns out that Larry David's friend JB Smoove, who wished me "Shabbat Shalom" last year, has some questions about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah:



Happy Hanukkah everyone!

Hasidic Dancing in Interstate Traffic

A group of Hasidic students (bachurim) from Michigan were caught simcha dancing on Interstate I-80 during a four-hour traffic standstill over three years ago. However, the news report with a short video clip is once again making the rounds on the Web.

Most likely this fun video has found new life following the many snow-related traffic issues around the country, most notably the traffic standstill in Atlanta which Jon Stewart dubbed "South Parked" on The Daily Show.

Watching this video reminded me of R.E.M.'s great video for "Everybody Hurts," in which the band is stuck in a traffic jam along the double deck portions of I-10 near the I-35 Interchange in Downtown San Antonio, Texas. The music video shows the people in other cars while subtitles of their thoughts appear on screen. At the end of the video directed by Jake Scott, all the people leave their cars and walk instead; then they vanish. The video was heavily inspired by the traffic jam in the opening dream sequence of Fellini's 8½. Instead of getting out and just walking around, these five young guys turned up the music and started dancing like they were at a freilich (fun) wedding.

I was also reminded of the time as a pre-teen when my family was driving back from Toronto and a two-hour standstill ensued on the highway. My brother and I took our baseball mitts and a baseball out of the car and started playing catch on the side of the highway. The moral of the story is that highway standstills are horrible, but you have to make the best out of the situation.

Here's the video of the I-80 dancing.

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

The Maccabeats Channel Les Mis for Passover

I don't usually include Passover videos on this blog because, well, there usually aren't any worthy of watching. Until this Pesach that is!

The Maccabeats, Yeshiva University's acclaimed a capella group, do a wonderful job using the songs of Les Miserables to tell the Passover story. This video has much more acting than their previous Jewish holiday fare and the college boys do a nice job with it. No doubt this Pesach parody video will hit the million view mark on YouTube just as the Maccabeats' previous creations did.

Enjoy and Chag Sameach!

Purim and the Oscars

Yesterday was another fun Purim holiday celebration, but I didn't post a Purim satire this year (last year's edition). I also usually post a list of my favorite Purim YouTube videos before the holiday, but there really weren't ten quality videos I could find to make my Top Ten Purim Videos list. A few standouts included Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan's Moves Like Graggers, a Taylor Swift parody from Temple Emunah of Lexington, Massacheusetts and Matt Rissien's Jewish Thrift Shop Parody rap. The Maccabeats posted a mashup of President Barack Obama and some celebrities singing their famous Hanukkah parody and there is a handful too many of ridiculous Harlem Shake Purim versions. All in all, 2013 was not the most creative year for Purim schtick on YouTube.

But that didn't mean the Academy Awards didn't turn into a big Purim Shpiel hosted by Seth MacFarlane. The creator of "Family Guy" and the recent movie "Ted" tried his hand at hosting the Oscars last night. And while the Oscars technically occurred after Purim had ended, there were several odd connections between the award show and the Jewish holiday.

Seth MacFarlane (Photo Credit: ABC News)

Israel's Gaza Situation Becomes Cyber War

Social media changes the zeitgeist in ways we couldn't have imagined. As we saw with the recent presidential election, opinions and attacks now travel at the speed of light. And so it should be no surprise that the ongoing Middle East conflict in Gaza between the Palestinians and Israelis has escalated into a Cyber war.

While the conflict may seem like history repeating itself, social media is actually changing the way the public sees the violence. As several news agencies have reported,Israel is now using social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube to its advantage in its war with Hamas in Gaza. In the past Israel has had to rely upon mainstream news agencies to report on the back-and-forth actions in Gaza, but now the Israeli military and government can take its message straight to the people using its social networks.

As the LA Times reported today:

While Israel launched its surprise attack Wednesday on Gaza, it declared it to the world on Twitter, arguing its case for the new campaign against Hamas in less than 140 characters.

Minute by minute, the Israel Defense Forces fed followers information and arguments on the strike. At their computers, Internet users could click through aerial photos, check updates on the offensive and watch a YouTube video of the strike killing the Hamas military chief.

At one point, the Israeli military traded Twitter barbs with Hamas. “We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead,” the @IDFSpokesperson account tweeted Wednesday.

The Hamas military wing tweeted back, “Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves).”

Israeli President Shimon Peres Wants Friends

At no point in history was the Hebrew word for "friend" more popular than after President Bill Clinton uttered those two famous words as he eulogized his assassinated friend, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Jerusalem in 1995. "Shalom Chaver" quickly became a famous slogan and bumper sticker quote.

Now, one man who was Yitzhak Rabin's friend, colleague and peace partner is campaigning for chaverim, friends. Not real friends, but Facebook fans. On the same day he delivered a very well-received speech to close to 13,000 pro-Israel supporters at AIPAC Policy Conference on Sunday, Israeli President Shimon Peres launched his new Facebook page.

President Peres has had a very good week. After AIPAC honored the 88-year-old leader on Sunday for his storied career in Israeli politics and for his lasting commitment to peace, he met privately with President Obama. During his AIPAC appearance Peres found a very supportive audience who saluted him with many standing ovations. All this week Shimon Peres has been on a tour of the Bay Area where he's meeting with hi-tech leaders of Silicon Valley.

His California itinerary includes meetings with leading venture capitalists, as well as with Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. During his meeting with the Facebook founder, President Peres launched his official personal page on the Facebook site. While Peres might not be the first 88-year-old with a Facebook account, he is the first one whose chief agenda is to use his Facebook page to create a dialogue with Arabs who live in countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg interviewed the Israeli President about his Facebook ambitions and he explained,  "The matter of peace is no longer the business of governments but the business of people. Today the people are governing the governments. And when they begin to talk to each other, they are surprised: We should be friends."

So, how he is Shimon Peres seeking to make friends on the social networking site? Rather than giving away a free iPad as many businesses do when they launch a new Facebook page, Peres released a new YouTube music video (see below) asking everyone to be his friend on Facebook in the name of peace. The video was launched last Sunday as Peres was speaking at AIPAC. I'm certain this video will go viral because, well, the sight of an 88-year-old rock star who happens to be the president of the Jewish state is "must see TV." Peres, with his iconic deep Israeli accent, has become a beloved father figure to the Israeli people. It is remarkable to see him so eager to exploit social media in the name of forging a lasting peace in the Middle East. I wish him well... and I hope that he gets a lot of friends to join him on Facebook.

Best Hanukkah Videos for 2011

Tonight begins the Festival of Lights - Hanukkah 2011. As Hanukkah parody videos have become more popular on YouTube it's getting more difficult to find the best ones. One thing is certain however, if the video has "Best Hanukkah Video" in its title... it's probably not. Here are the best Hanukkah videos of the year (according to me). Enjoy and Chanukkah Sameach!


The Shlomones - Rocky Hora Chanukah Song


Cantor Eyal Bitton - Rock Me Maccabeus (Falco Cover)


Aish - Chanukkah Rock of Ages


Fountainheads - Light Up the Night


Maccabeats - Miracle (Matisyahu Cover)


Pella Productions - Holiday Party (Tonight, Tonight)


Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert - Can I Interest You in Hanukkah


Six13 - Hanukkah Rights


Jew-Z - Hanukkah Groove

Rick Perry Video Uses Aaron Copland Music

My video parody of Rick Perry's "Strong" campaign ad on YouTube has been attracting a lot of attention with about 4,500 likes and under 100 dislikes, including close to 650 comments. It has been featured in USA Today, Daily Kos, Jewish Journal, JTA, Forward, Jewcy, and Spiegel Online (German).

There have been many video parodies of Rick Perry's campaign ad turning it into a meme on the Web. But I've noticed that the best way to mock Rick Perry and his homophobic, "war on religion"-paranoid message is to do nothing. The video mocks itself.

When I was choosing the background music for my video parody with the video's editor Adam Luger we tried to come as close as possible to the background music in the original Rick Perry commercial. However, we were unable to determine who composed the music. Well, it now appears that the joke's on Rick Perry because that background music was inspired by none other than Aaron Copland. Jewish? Check! Gay? Flaming! Member of the Communist Party? You betcha!

Paul Schied writing in the Harvard Political Review first reported that the music heard in the background of Rick Perry's "Strong" ad was composed by Aaron Copland, a prominent composer who was Jewish, outwardly gay, and a member of the Communist Party. It turns out that Schied's music majoring roommate detected the Copland composed music. It turns out that the music was inspired by Aaron Copland, but is actually a "cheap knock-off of sorts of Copland's Appalachian Spring according to The New Yorker music critic Alex Ross."

The background music in Rick Perry's ad was inspired  by composer Aaron  Copland who was gay.

So, for those of you keeping score at home, Rick Perry's campaign ad (which was originally created for the Iowa television market but quickly went viral on YouTube) has him proclaiming that it's wrong for gays to serve openly in the military when kids can't celebrate Christmas in school, but has him wearing a jacket that looks like the one worn by Heath Ledger in the gay romance movie "Brokeback Mountain" and features background music inspired by a gay, Jewish composer. You just can't make this stuff up!

Here's my video response: