Jewish Stereo Types

...the OTHER dreidel song! Remember how I ever-so-subtly implied that dreidel is not the most, um, complicated of games? Well, this song does not have the most complicated of lyrics. If you live outside Israel the lyrics translate to: Dreidel spin, spin, spin Chanukah is a good holiday Chanukah is a good holiday Dreidel spin, spin, spin A happy holiday it is for the nation A great miracle happened there A great miracle happened there A happy holiday it is for the nation And if you live in Israel, the second paragraph translates to: Spin, please, spin like this and that A great miracle happened here A great miracle happened here Spin, please, spin like this and that ...because if you happen to live in Israel, the miracle of the oil happened "HERE" rather than "THERE," and both the dreidel and the song reflect that. Now, you'd think that the only way to sing this song written for children would be to have children sing it, like this: Vide...

...It's "I Have a Little Dreidel." Never mind that it's literally a song about a game played by spinning a tiny little top, which is no more exciting than it sounds. It's THE Chanukah song, and it Must. Be. Sung. So here are the Maccabeats, looking for a way to sing it: Video posted by the Maccabeats (I am okay with a Bohemian Dreidel Rhapsody. That is not a bad option.) *** As ubiquitous as the song is, you'd think that it had always been around. Okay, not as "always" as yesterday's 13th Century lyrics set to a 15th Century folk song--it IS in English, for one thing--but still, always. Well, it hasn't been, not unless your definition of "always" is 1927, which is only (almost) Irving Berlin "Always" (1925). We also know who wrote it--one Samuel E. Goldfarb . And as an interesting sidenote, his brother, Israel Goldfarb , composed the equally ubiquitous melody to "Shalom Aleichem" in 1918. Some been-a...

So it's the second night of Chanukah (actually, it will be the second day when most of you will see this, because it is only if I am fast and lucky that I will get this done before I turn into a pumpkin or something) and I thought I would bring you the very traditional "Ma'oz Tzur." Yes, yes, I know. I have brought you Ma'oz Tzur before (and before and before ). But the Jewish people have been singing Ma'oz Tzur at least eight times per Chanukah for...well, for a really quite very long time. I mean, this melody dates back, probably, to the 15th Century or thereabouts, and the lyrics are believed to have be written even further back, in the 13th Century, so yeah. That's a lot of times it's been sung. Three repetitions is NOTHING. So have another. Here's the then-President of Israel, Ruvi Rivlin, lighting candles and leading the audience in singing Ma'oz Tzur on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Israeli Philharmonic, until he is int...

Today I have already received, by actual count, 347 Black Friday Sales emails. That does not count the Pre-Black Friday Sales emails I have received during the past week. That is just this morning. So there was really only one choice for opening up my season of Holiday-Songs-Written-by-Jews: "The Christmas Can-Can," lyrics and arrangement by Walter Chase, music (mostly) by Jacques Offenbach, sung by Straight No Chaser: Video posted by Today in Nashville *** In the past, I have noted that while there was nothing definitive available about the Jewishness or lack thereof of the arranger, Walter Chase. Well, I now have a definitive answer: No. He is not. As he says: In college, the ‘dreidel guy’ was a guy named Mike Itkoff, a nice Jewish boy from Columbus, OH. He was hysterical doing it. When the group re-formed back in 2008, Mike did the group for a year and then he left, and left a void of the ‘dreidel guy’ and that was passed down to me. I’ve been doing it ever sinc...

Well, another holiday, another song or two. I was mulling over a few options, and then I had a little conversation with my mother about how on July 4th, people across the US used to gather in public spaces to hear the Declaration of Independence read aloud, and how unfortunate it is that that isn't common any more. So here is a song about the Declaration of Independence: Video posted by Illinois Policy The Schoolhouse Rock! song Fireworks was one of those written by Lynn Ahrens, a highly successful ( and Jewish! ) Broadway lyricist and libretticist. Together with her collaborator Stephen Flaherty she has written the songs for Ragtime , Seussical , Anastasia , Once on this Island and others, picking up an Emmy, 3 Grammy nominations, and a Tony (plus two more Tony nominations) along the way. And of the 37 Schoolhouse Rock! songs, Ms. Ahrens wrote 15 , including her first, and probably best known, "Preamble," which I include because why not? Video posted by T...

Let's start old school--very old school indeed, since the words come from paragraphs inserted into prayers during Chanukah (and Purim) and date back to perhaps the 8th or 9th Century, the Gaonic period. (For more details, see this post or perhaps this one .) The melody, from the group Six13 , is considerably more recent. Video posted by Tizmoret A Cappella *** And then there's this one, which is new this year, from the group Clipping--which is to say, by Daveed Diggs (yes, that one), Jonathan Snipes, and William Hutson: Video posted by DisneyMusicVEVO Clearly we must include this song--not only is it a new Chanukah song, but puppy, and also, Klezmer rap! Plus it's awesome to have the diversity of the Jewish community celebrated like this. Of course, the fact that it is a Chanukah song is enough to have it included here, but also...Daveed Diggs's (yes, that one) mother is Jewish , which means that he is Jewish. Which I suppose is obvious by his first n...

I've left it a bit late, but it's still Chanukah, and it's still the holiday season, and here we are. So let's have a couple of Chanukah specials, just because we can. I've brought Ma'oz Tzur here a couple of times before ( here and here ), but after all, that is nothing compared to the eight times every year I attempt to sing it, and you definitely don't want to hear that. Trust me. Instead, you can refer to the previous links for more traditional versions, or you can listen to this jazzy version by Leslie Odom, Jr. and Nicolette Robinson, which is not only lovely but surprised me by the really very good Hebrew: Video posted by Leslie Odom Jr. I encourage you to click back to the older posts (again, they are here and here , no one should have to go search for links, amirite?) for a little background on the song, but for those who lack time and/or interest, I shall shove just a little history your way anyway: The melody (otherwise known as "Roc...