By now everyone has heard about the Maccabeats

We figured that by yesteday everyone knew they had gone viral...




And indeed by this morning Yeshiva University's Maccabeats cover of the Dynamite acapella video by Mike Tompkins appeared on the Today show...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wishing you guys up in Washington Heights a Happy Hanukkah!

Now, we just want to know how your show was last night with Mattisyahu!

Did Dr. Dre ever spin the Dreidel?

Highly unlikely, but hey, ya never know.

The humble little dreidel is so part of our experience with Chanukah, and yet does anyone know why it's called a dreidel?


Ester Shahaf design

It's a Yiddish word, no doubt.

To "dre" is to spin. A dreidel spins.
When you add on the "el" that gives it diminutive, cutesy-ness element.
So it's a little spinning top.

The Whole Phamily loves Yiddish - it's part of our Ashkenasic heritage. And dreidel is in Yiddish.
But we like to say sivivon also, which is the Hebrew word for dreidel.

This is no Dr. Dre, but here's a familiar tune, "Oh Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah" in Yiddish.

Hummus Place will one day nourish many more Americans than just some lucky New Yorkers

If the claims asserted by last week's New York Jewish Week article about the growing hummus market in the US materialize, our favorite chickpea dip-spread will soon be on the plates of Americans nation-wide.


It's a hummus revolution, and it's happening from sea to shining sea.


Whole families will buy it right alongside their butter and cream cheese. 
Put it in wraps.
Bring it to school with baby carrots.


If it can be in supermarkets (Sabra is now America's #1 hummus) why not strip malls and food courts?


Enter Hummus Place in NYC.  There is room for more hummus.  The hummus revolution is brewing.

Here we are tonight at their St. Mark's Place location.  They have 5 total.  They want to franchise.


It's genius.


Middle Americans will soon be eating chummus from Mankato to Maui.  But they'll also want to get it when they go out.  What a nice healthy addition Hummus Place will be.


Tonight we tried Hummus Place's hummus fava:  delicious.  Topped with whole fava beans, Tahini, organic hard boiled egg, olive oil & spices.  Delicious.  Grilled eggplant with tehini:  superb.  Ambience wonderful, especially since we walked in 20 minutes before closing.  We were celebrating a birthday, and just like that, a kadaif dessert was brought to the table.  This delicious combination of shredded halva, ricotta cheese, and date honey was simply delectable.


We wish Hummus Place the greatest success possible.


Check out this You Tube from Keren Weinberg

Here's another Buxbaum

Julie Buxbaum is also a story teller.

Just more of the mainstream type.

Sorry we missed ya just a post ago.

Julie is bright (Penn and Harvard-educated).  She's likely a very good writer.  And, judging by their covers, her books look like the type we'd want to read.

We don't watch Oprah, but they look like they'd be Oprah books. 

We're quite sure that with the Harvard and Penn connections we'd do well at the Jewish geography game.  Thus the Whole Phamily gets stronger and smaller all at the same time.

Now if the Whole Phamily could only employ good writers...

Buxbaum the Storyteller

There are variations:  Buxbaum, Buckspan, Buchman, Buchweitz...we are only guessing that the meaning for "buch" is the word book.  Perhaps families with this surname were involved with production or selling of books.

If this is the case, then Yitzhak Buxbaum's name is very fitting.  He is a teller of sacred Jewish tales.  A master storyteller or maggid, Reb Yitzhak is a unique soul and brings the stories from the alter heim (Eastern European towns where so many of us originate from) into the 21st century.  His site is the Jewish Spirit Journal, a gateway to mysticism, spirituality and Kabbalah.

Maybe he can weave a story of the Whole Phamily and tell us exactly what we're doing here.

Jah Levi was Kid Goldstein growing up? Return!

We have just come across the reggae artist Jah Levi.  He is a spiritual healer.  According to his bio, he is a spiritual leader in two churches:  Essene and the Peruvian Soga del Alma.  We're not sure what it means to be a card-carrying member of the Native American church, but he's got one.  He is an herbalist and acupuncturist.   His music is entrancing.  We aren't too educated in reggae music, but Bob Marley's One Love sounds good to us.

And his father was folklorist Kenneth Goldstein (a historian on Adirondack music...full disclosure:  the Whole Phamily has deep roots to the ADKs...yes, we are all connected).

So give it up, Mr. Levi...we believe that you're connected deep, deep, deep.  We believe you have healing powers.  We believe you create great music. 

Not a smidge mention of the Jewish factor other than your father's last name.

Hmm....

Time to come on home!

Raz Hartman had a vision.  You can visualize it, too.  It starts with being in the Sinai desert, nothing at all on the horizon.  Then you see one little speck.  That speck turns out to be a person.  But it's not just one person, it's 10 people.  They get closer.  Not 10 people, it's 100 people.  As the mass gets closer, you realize it's not 100 but 1,000 people.  No, it's not just 1,000, it's more like tens of thousands.  Then you realize it's hundreds of thousands of people, all the Nation of Israel and they are all dancing and singing in the desert, walking closer toward you.  And you realize that the music is coming from the center of this mass of people.

This music is coming from the tribe of Levi.

This vision inspired a song called Shuva which is for sale CD Baby.  You can listen to just this one sample which is Track #7  (this one little track does not do justice).  This is the star song of the CD and it is not available to listen fully online.  The liner notes are important, as well.

Simply put:  Shuva means return.

In the meantime, we have a hankering to get back to the woods.  Frolicking around in Paul Smith's isn't too far away...

Talk about world unity!

Michael Franti is not a Jew, but he is clearly a peace-lover and positive thinker.  He is hopeful for the world.  He is hopeful for world peace.  We're not quite sure about his Israel politics, but we welcome him onto our humble blog here, and hope to serve as a reminder that we are all connected and all want the same good things for our families.

Check out this American-born musician's video entitled Hey World.

We began last week...

Sorry, our bad, it was last week that Genesis was read. Big whoops!

New beginnings & Invisible Touch & Phil Collins (clearly not a Jewish name)

This week Jews all over the world start reading the Torah from its beginning. In Hebrew, it is called b'reishit. The common English translation for this is Genesis.

However you call it, the biblical creation story is recounted, complete with the world created in 6 days followed by the first man and the woman that was fashioned out of his rib. So the story goes. For any of you with a problem with that unbelievable-sounding story, just remember you gotta dig deeper. Not a single thing there is quite literal. But we ain't no rabbis or nothin'.

Getting back to Genesis, naturally we thought of one of our first concerts in the 80s to see Phil Collins' band (aptly named Genesis). Take a listen to their "Invisible Touch." Is it possible that Phil is belting out lyrics describing the biblical Eve? She tempted Adam, was mysterious, he fell for her, and they got kicked out of the Garden of Eden forever.



Sorry Chava (the Hebrew name for Eve), we think you weren't the best heroinne in Jewish history.

Collins is clearly not a Jewish name (wasn't that what Whole Phamily was originally about? Jewish family names?), but in a way yes you are part of the Whole Phamily too in that we think "Invisible Touch" could have something to do with the creation story, and that your band's name clearly comes from our tradition.

Finally, here is a shout out to our friend Noah who is moving on to new beginnings of his own.

Love Song to Islamic Fundamentalists (From a Jew)

We're all about the big picture, one love and one family here at the Whole Phamily.  We are all connected and want good things for our own families.

Check out Pesach Stadlin's earnest song about this very idea.

Look! There she is. Just ask the Bernsteins.

It's not a bird and it's not a plane.  It's the moon, and she's right up there waiting for you to notice her.  Recently we met a very bright young 3rd year student at the Law School  (as if there's only one) who was wrongfully convinced that the ecocult which he'd ultimately like to establish will be based around solar energy.  "The sun's bright and full of energy," he extorted as we departed our conversation on the steps of a summer camp dining hall.  Au contrare, my friend, how mistaken you are.

Lunar power is where it's at.  And she's all woman.  Any thinking woman will tell you that just as the moon waxes and wanes (gets bigger and smaller for the lunar-jargon challenged among us), so too do women have their highs and lows.  Call it what you want:  soul sistas, girl power, or women's intuition...it's all the same deal.  The moon is cyclical. What goes around comes around.  Isn't that what life is all about?

Some tunes to recall at this point include Sir Elton John's"Circle of Life."  Even Disney is capable of words of wisdom.



We also recall  Harry Chapin's "All my Life's a Circle."


Finally let us always remember Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" which, it is claimed in this YouTube's comments section, was written with Neil Young.  Don't doubt that one.



We have the moon to thank for those.

The moon may be smaller than the sun, but she's a lot smarter and got her head screwed on straight.  She ain't the one in the news on a seemingly daily basis.  With the current energy crisis, the words climate change, global warming and greenhouse gases are all connected to the sun and enough to drive any middle American batty.  Just the other day, the White House said no thanks to solar panels.  Uh oh, we're in big trouble.

If you are a girl or woman, stare at the moon for as long as you can every night.  Once we locate the moon, that's when we usually say, "look, there she is!"  For Jewish women, it is a way of participating in the celebration of Rosh Chodesh, the new month in the Jewish lunar-based calendar.  At this moment, the moon is waxing gibbous, getting fuller and fuller to that point next week when she's a glorious full moon and Jews the world over will rejoice during the harvest festival of Sukkot  (note to self:  check out sukkah city), also known as the "time of our happiness"  (remember our blog post referring to Joy at its end?   Same deal).

If you want to get all astrological and womyn and some say wiccan about it, you can even check out We'Moon.  How interesting that their publisher is called Mother Tongue Ink.

In Yiddish, mother tongue is rightfully referred to as  mamaloshen.  Now that's something to talk about.

Just ask Inigo Montoya.



Mandy Patinkin will belt it out in the mother tongue at Queensboro Community College on September 26th.   Maybe the Bernsteins want tickets? 

Talkin' Hava Negiliah Blues

Who hasn't done a hora to hava nagila at bar and bat mitzvahs in the United States?  It is an unavoidable Jewish American cliche.  Over the years, we have grown to prefer other, less-trite Jewish songs, but just when we thought it was out of our lives...

... wouldn't ya know, along has come a documentary on the song.




While they didn't say it by name, hava nagila is, essentially, based on a chassidic nigun, or wordless religous melody invoking prayer and spirituality.
Spare yourself the 9 minutes.  Despite the much-appreciated academic analysis of the song,

we'll stick with Bob Dylan's rendition.

Shake Sugaree and how nice it is to be with your brothers and sisters, including Matisyahu

Not to be confused with (fellow MOT) Danny Meyer's Shake Shack (no doubt:  treif and not kosher, but you can learn how to make their Shack Burger at home), tonight, in memory of Jerry Garcia (he died 15 years ago, August 9, 1995) we were listening to the Dead's Shake Sugaree.




 I got to thinking how the Dead sang about themes such as American love, loss, and heartbreak, and how this song is connected deep deep within our roots.

Elizabeth Cotten wrote the original Shake Sugaree. This woman knew how to sing and write the blues.  She was a real southern church-goin' mama. 

Here is a nice blog about Elizabeth Cotten.
She must've been connected in some way to the generations of African American women who followed the drinking gourd and had wisdom from their mamas and just by being connected to the earth.

Speaking of being connected to the earth, The Topsy Turvy Bus,

we have heard, plans to be in the lots for the 8/17/10 Phish show at Jones Beach theater.  This will be a great time to learn what the Jewish Climate Change Campaign Tour was all about.  Or maybe what Teva Learning Center is all about (shh...this visit to enlighten Jews and the world about caring for the earth is officially off the books and not really a Teva event...I mean, where is the bus even to be found on the home page?  That's another story...)  We could always chat with the folks about Eden Village Camp.  Maybe we could give each other a hug.  Or be nice.  Or just Speak Nicely. 


Here's a little history of the bus, with an interivew with Ben Cohen from Ben & Jerry's, at the end.



Or maybe, before the show, we can hang out in front of the bus and sing a good old fashioned hinay matov, arm in arm, camp-style.



Now if we could only beat-box like Matisyahu, we'd be golden..

Shwekey

For those of us familiar with Ashkenazic names, Shwekey wouldn't initially strike you as Jewish.  But if you're outside this mold, and familiar with the Syrian community, this name will be as familiar to you as kibbeh and ma'moul.

Probably the most public person with this name today is the Israeli-born, New Jersey-based Yaakov Shwekey .  A Jewish singer-songwriter, Shwekey has played at venues around the world, including the Beacon Theater in New York last December.  We have no clue as to the origin of his name, but would love to know.  According to his Wikipedia page, originally the surname was Choueka and his father is of Egyptian and Syrian background.

a poster promoting a performance in France

We're not quite sure if he's our style, but this performance with Yonatan Razel offers a taste.



The whole reason you read this far?

Click to 2:57 for a hilarious interlude.

Kentridge or Kantorowitz, a fine artist indeed

William Kentridge, a South African artist (and a Jew), has hit the scene in New York.  Currently, you can see his work at MoMa and the Met, and starting May 2nd, at the Jewish Museum.

How's that for a triple whammy?

www.davidkrutpublishing.com

Kentridge's work ranges from original opera to film to collage to sculpture to performance art.  He grew up in a liberal Jewish family in South Africa who was involved in the liberal elite and fighting apartheid.  The nose that is featured on the sets of his opera "The Nose," Kentridge has said, is inspired by his own Ashkenazic Jewish nose.

And what about the name?

Kantorowitz comes from the same place as Kantrowitz and even Kantor, Cantor and various other spelling variations.  Way back when their family in Poland or Russia were probably cantors, or hazzanim.  So belt it out, Mr. Kentridge.  You should be singing your halleluyahs that you've got such a fine showing in NYC this spring.

Haim = Life or Home?

This morning we learned of the tragic death of Corey Haim, the child actor who reached fame and glory in the '80s.  We will forever love Lucas.  As Jews, we wish his family great comfort among the mourners of Zion.

Corey Haim during the '80s

Jewlicious has presumed that his last name meant "life."

While the Hebrew word chayim translates as life (as in L'chayim), it is also possible that Haim could have been from the Yiddish word, heim, which means home (as in heimish - - homey, cozy - -  or alter heim, referring to the old country/home).

Perhaps Haim was shortened from Haimovitch, meaning the "son of a Hayim".  This discussion talks about a Haimovitch family who emigrated from Romania to Montreal and since changed their name to Haines.  Perhaps the Haines and Haim family are related, since Corey was raised in Canada.  Unless Bernie Haim, Corey's father, wants to chime in here, we'll likely be in the dark.

For now, we're motivated to finally watch Lost Boys, which we somehow missed in 1987.

Aaronson is also a Cohen

Riding the Katz and Cohen wave, let's talk about the last name Aaronson (interestingly, this week's Torah portion T'zaveh, discusses at length the priestlihood).  By obvious definition, it means "son of Aaron."  Let's go back historically and look at the original Aaron.  He was the brother of Moses, who led the Children of Israel from Egypt out of slavery (remember the Passover story where frogs were here, frogs were there, frogs were jumping everywhere?).  Aaron was selected as the first High Priest (in Hebrew, kohen gadol).   It would make sense, then, that the descendents of Aaron are also from the priestly lineage and are cohanim as well.

There are, indeed, Aronsons and Aaronsons who are not Jewish, and come from Norweigan backgrounds.

We don't know if composer Jack Aaronson is Jewish, but it sure looks like his gigs down in the West Village in NYC are lots of fun. 



If belting out current Broadway tunes is your thing, then pop in on a Tuesday night and let us know how it goes!

Marie's Crisis Cafe
59 Grove Street
New York, NY
212-243-9323

Katz = Cohen...Live Long and Prosper

We have decided to return to our roots and reinstate the Whole Phamily as a blog about Jewish names.  Names that you've heard.  Names that you haven't.  Ashkenazic names.  Sephardic names.  We will focus on one Jewish name per blog post, and perhaps bring up a person, business, work of art,  or all of the above that bears this name.

To say that Katz is a vintage Jewish last name is an understatement.  If you're from New York, or simply a deli maven, you know Katz's Deli.  Many folks say that their pastrami is the real deal.

Katz's Deli, NYC

We were blown away when, many years ago, we learned that Katz is a priestly name.  Saying Katz is just like saying Cohen, but in German.   Do you recall Spock's Vulcan Salute in Star Trek?

Leonard Nimoy as Spock giving the Vulcan Salute

  Ask a random male Katz today, and he will tell you that the traditional blessing he says in synagogue (be it once in a while or every week) that was passed down by his father is eerily reminscent of the Vulcan Salute.

Shlomo Katz, Israel-based musician

Another Katz of note is Shlomo Katz, a musician bringing on down some of the most beautiful Jewish-infused (hint:  Torah) music out there today.

We heard him perform tonight at an intimate evening of music and story.  We bless him that his music should spread far and wide among alle yidden!

Annie's Goddess Dressing

*note*  this blog post has pretty much nothing to do with Jewish names, and has no right being here.  But since we wrote this when we were off the derech of our blog's direction, we grandfather it in



You haven't tasted salad bliss until you have had it drizzled with Annie's Goddess Dressing.

 Problem for those dietary guideline-following Jews among us (hint:  Kosher) is that we can't eat it.  Cuz it ain't Kosher!

The Whole Phamily has written in recent years to the company. We have received bogus responses.  Many companies can find Kosher ingredients for their products.  Surely Goddess Dressing, whose ingredients contain nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to kosher food, could do the same.  We encourage you to  write to Annie's join the cause.  Better yet, write them a letter at their Napa offices.  We're certain they'd appreciate anything fun and colorful.  We sent in a letter using pastels.

You can also join the Facebook group.  All 37 of us.   join the cause.  Better yet, write them a letter at their Napa offices.  We're certain they'd appreciate anything fun and colorful. We sent in a letter using pastels.

 

Jonathan Pollard in light of the December 25th terrorist attacks

We are not that political and don't aim to get political in the future at the Whole Phamily, yet we can not help ignore the media discussions on the recent terrorist attempt in Detroit.


Whatever your politics, we can not ignore that one of our very own, Jonathan Pollard,

recently marked his 25th year in prison for trying to help limit terrorist acts.  His sentence for the crime of providing Israeli intelligence information was unfair.  He has been placed in the harshest part of the harshest Federal prison.  The calls for commutation of his sentence have gone, thus far, unanswered by the United States Government


At the very least, we urge you to take a few minutes.
Pull out some stationary or some scrap paper.  
Slap on a .44 cent stamp.

And let Jonathan know that we are all part of the same Ganse Mishpucha..


"Letters are 'oxygen' for Jonathan."


Write him at:


Jonathan Pollard #09185-016
c/o FCI Butner
P.O. Box 1000
Butner, NC
U.S.A  27509-1000



Finally...

Now for the origin of Pollard. Perhaps his name was originally Pollock? Here's what we found online with regard to the Jewishness of Pollard.

Tracing the Tribe blog

As the Whole Phamily is inspired by, but not limited to, Jewish Geneological research, we highly recommend the Tracing the Tribe blog if you have any interest in learning about your own family's history.

The author of the blog, Schelley Talalay Darsashti, also writes the blog for My Heritage.com  (a for-profit venture).

 which we have recommended in the past.  We like that it is an Israel-based family tree building website.

We need our own personal IT guy here at the Whole Phamily and don't have down yet how to get this blog glossy, pretty, and image-linky  (that My Heritage image is just an image, not an actual link to their site!!?!?  Argh!!) , so bear with us while we tweak the system!

If New Yorkers are found to be unhappiest, what about the bulk of the Jews in the U.S.?

A recent study published in the well-respected journal Science found that New Yorkers were the least happy when compared to residents of the rest of the country.  Yes, they came in at the bottom of the barrel of data processed to learn which state churned out the most satisfied people.  If the Jewish population is most dominant in New York state (one estimate is 1.9 million), what does that say for the majority of our people in this country?  Are Jews in New York actually less happy than those elsewhere?  Does it fulfill the Woody Allen stereotype of the neurotic, parasitic, always-worrying, hypchondriac shnorrer?

Surely, even Woody found some happiness through film at least once by way of his mockumentary Zelig
(1983).

 This title character became famous in the 1920s by possessing the skill to morph into various different famous personas.  That's pretty happy, right?  Optimistically, Zelig literally translates as "happy."  Have you known a Seligman, Seelig, or Seligsohn?  Here is a  further look at the name with Zelig as its root.

Living in New York sure can be rough, at least around the edges, and especially when you get a ticket while you're down the block purchasing your muni meter parking ticket.  Any number of Seinfeld or Curb episodes can attest to that type of absurdity that happens day-in, day-out in New York City.  Perhaps this explains why so many Jews headed out west, making Los Angeles quite literally the city of angels for the Jews who had enough saychel  (scroll down for the description of Greece) to move after braving the elements of New York.

(Keep posted for a report on Jews in LA...but not those of the Ashkenazi-bred rye bread deli-pack).

Looking at the bright side of the study, where were Americans happiest?  Louisiana.  Fascinating news since one would think that post-Katrina, folks in the Bayou were still downtrodden and depressed.  But it sure sounds like it's the place to live, if you take the study for what it's worth.  If that's the case, maybe we Jews should all head down to join Reb Uri and Dahlia Topolosky in their holy work with the rebuilding of the Jewish community of New Orleans.

In reality, whether you live in Prospect Heights, Runyon Canyon or Metairie, we should all be filled with Joy because "we want you to be happy, don't live inside the gloom..."

For Jews whose names end with -ian

We've been so focused on all the Schwartzes, Rosenthals and Bernsteins out there that you'd think we thought all North American Jews came over on the same boat to Ellis Island from the same shtetl in Poland in 1905.  But we were recently thinking about our very nice Persian (and Jewish) childhood friend Jenny whose family moved to our East Coast suburb in the early 80s  (what did we know about the Revolution back then?  We were just kids).  They since moved out to California, and we hadn't heard much about her, but we always knew that the Persian community in Great Neck, Long Island, was strong and growing.

This past July's W magazine ran a very lovely piece about the Persian community in Beverly Hills.  And we thought our 20 person shabbat dinners on the Upper West Side were something to write home about!  According to this article, families can host shabbat dinners for upwards of 60 people.  Now that's a lot of rice and chicken.  Not to mention the crystal and silver.  Does it all get handwashed?

 The community is family-oriented, tight-knit, and encourages their girls to marry young (which doesn't surprise us realizing now that another Persian friend, Debby, married just out of high school.  We were all very surprised, as the typical friend in our suburban high school setting was heading off to college at that point)

The names of the Persian families are so interesting.  Some have the -ian suffix.  Last weekend we met a young Israeli woman whose last name is Elitzur.  This name, meaning god-rock-stone-strength, was Hebraicized from the Persian name Elyasian by her grandfather when they immigrated from Iran.  She had the knowledge that, actually, their family name originated from "Ben Eliyahu" which translates into the son of Elijah.  

And let us not forget the greatest Jewish queen of all, Queen Esther, who was Persian through and through.  Soon enough Purim will be here and we will celebrate her sacrifice of marrying the non Jewish kind Acheshverosh that saved the Jewish people from destruction at the hands of a Jew-hating empire.

Yosef Yerushalmi, of blessed memory

"By common consent, Kafka is not only the strongest modern Jewish writer, but the Jewish writer.  His only rival increasingly seems to be Freud, who, together with Kafka, may yet redefine Jewish culture for us, and so change our sense of Jewish memory."

This is what Harold Bloom wrote in his forward of the late Yosef Yerushalmi's monumental work Zakhor. which explores how modern Jews relate to their histories and memories.

Yerushalmi, the world's leading scholar of Jewish history in our time, has passed away at the age of 77.  Check out the New York Times and Forward  for informative obituaries.

His loss is a great one to the Jewish world today, but his contributions are vast and have affected our community in ways of which the average American Jew might be completely unaware.

The Whole Phamily is interested in the name Yerushalmi.  Before learning about his background and upbringing, we posited that he was a native Jerusalemite, as the Hebrew "Yerushalmi" literally translates as "of Jerusalem" and is a surname used for families who have lived for generations in that city.

Yet, we learned that Yerushalmi has a similar heritage to many of our own Eastern European-born ancestors who immigrated here at the turn of the century.  His father, Yehuda Yerushalmi as noted on Zakhor's dedication page, emigrated to British-ruled Palestine when, we are guessing, he Hebraicized his name.  He then later settled in the Bronx, where the younger Yerushalmi was born and raised.

The concept of changing one's given last name (like Weiss, Perlman, or Ginsberg) at the turn of the century and into a Hebrew equivalent (such as Halivni, Ben-Yehuda, or Ha'am) is still practiced today.  At Ellis Island (likely in Galveston as well), Jews Americanized their names, but in Israel many Jews have Hebraicized.

Last week some of us at the Whole Phamily had the incredible honor and privilege to bear witness to the kiddushin and nissuin (Jewish marriage) of our dear friend D.  At the wedding tisch (where the bride, kallah, rocked the house!) prior to the ceremony,  D touched on the topic of memory, and we could not help but think that he was referring to Yerushalmi, who passed away only weeks before the next chapter of D's journey. We believe that all things happen for a reason:  Yerushalmi's own memory wafted through the honored air of perhaps one of the most bashert couples we have ever had the mazal of knowing.

Is this too much?  It's way over our heads here at the Whole Phamily.  So,we think it's time to kick back and reflect on these Heavy Things.

Meanwhile, if you find an affordable paperback of Zakhor, let us know, since we are returning the copy that has rested on our bookshelf for many years.

Why is that the case?  For your Jewish geography-desiring ears:

Our copy belonged to an old camp friend's college friend who he has known since 8th grade, but that we met on our own during our post-college years through another friend we worked with at a different camp (but of the same Jewish camping movement).  The book is inscribed by his college girlfriend prior to his own post-college visit to Minsk.

And, isn't Minsk (which is now-Belarus) where my great-great grandfather Yisroel Bear was from?  (see the Whole Phamily's 2nd blog post).

Maybe we should get back onto JewishGen...

The connections are endless...

Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet

There is a new book out about the former Robert Zimmerman regarding the Jewish influences on his music.  Seth Rogovoy's Bob Dylan:  Prophet, Mystic, Poet  was reviewed in this week's edition of the Jewish Week.  Dylan's influence over popular culture is immense.  Mosh-pitter, headbanger, and classical music fan alike can all hum a soulful "Blowin' in the Wind."  But there is no denying that Dylan is a part of the Whole Phamily and he has his Yiddishkeit to thank a bissel.  This book explores some previously unrevealed truths of the Jewish foundation of some of Dylan's songs.

Interestingly, Dylan put out an Xmas CD this holiday season.  Check out the Nation's blog for a discussion about it.  Or, more recently, Randy Lewis' coverage in the LA Times about Jews, including Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Barry Manilow, producing Xmas albums.  The Whole Phamily think it's mighty fine that he's belting out these classics for the general American public to hear, especially since we now know that he remains a Yid through and through (no name change will will really change you).

What would Garrison Keillor have to say about all this?  There are elements of NPR that we enjoy (having been long-time fans of David Isay's various radio projects), but it's never been A Prairie Home Companion.  Despite that Dylan and Keillor share Minnesota as their home state, Keillor's angry, evil words in a recent issue of The Baltimore Sun sound downright antisemitic.

What's the deal with Dylan's name, anyway?  Zimmerman, his given name, translates as carpenter.  Somewhere back in the alter heim his family were wood-workers.  As we all know, Dylan took on the name of the poet Dylan Thomas.  Too bad his name wasn't Zingerman (which translates as a singer).  Then maybe he wouldn't have changed it, and surely he could've eventually had a nice deli sandwich (albeit treif) in Ann Arbor and reveled in shared family lineage.

Music has the power to move.  It touches one's inner depths.  It reminds us of happy times and sad.  It brings excitement to otherwise-mundane activities.  A good tune blaring out of the speakers of your best friends '63 Corvette brought you back to a time of freedom and youth.  We are glad to learn for certain that Bob Dylan, after 50 years, was indeed influenced by the biblical, Jewish prophet Isaiah in All Along the Watchtower .

And, we hope that his son-in-law, Peter Himmelman, talented musician in his own right, is kvelling.

From "Also Sprach Zarathustra" to Parshat Vayigash

How is this classical composition by Richard Strauss, inspired by a Friedrich Nietzsche poem, and brought to its colloquial nickname "2001" by Stanley Kubrick's film 2001:  A Space Odyssey at all related to the Whole Phamily?

As kids, we didn't realize at the time, but we were inculcated with its beauty through short animated films, and spoofs on the original film, on the ground-breaking children's literacy show the Electric Company.  Check out of one of these shorts.



 We saw countless clips like that, teaching us the beauty of  "ai," "oo," "sh," and the like.



As adults, we enjoyed skillful live performances of the song by Phish, one of the best live bands currently out there.  It only hit us yesterday (while our children were watching the Electric Company DVD), why we loved this song as children.

If you click to 5:40 on this performance (from 12/12/97...by the way, look at that date...weren't we just talking about the 11:11 Phenomenon a few posts ago?  For one of the first followers of the Whole Phamily, this number is surely significant), you start to get to the pinnacle of Phish's rendition.







Then we started thinking, does the significance of the name of this song mean anything?

We do not claim to understand much about the events of 9/11, but indeed it occurred during the year 2001.

Just a few posts ago, weren't we talking about Jewish geography and summer camp?

Earlier this December we were chatting, in person, with two friends of  Camp Haze, a one-week summer camp for children of 9/11 and those who have lost a loved one to illness or tragedy, at a Phish show.  What great work these folks are doing.  Dedicated to the memory of Scott Hazelcorn, who was a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, and from other online coverage, Scott seemed like the kind of Jewish guy we would have met at summer camp.  We were interested in his name.


Hazelcorn?  Haven't known any others.  But, Korn, Kornfield, Korngold, Kornblit, Kornreich all ring a bell.  They all have the word corn/korn in it, which, for Jewish names translates as "grain."  Not a very uncommon word to have in an Ashkenazic Jewish name.  As everyone knows, grain is needed for sustenance and survival.

Which leads us to this week's Torah parsha, or weekly portion read in synagogue, entitled Vayigash, which concludes with our patriarch Jacob and seventy family members moving down to Egypt due to famine (lack of sustenance or grain) in the land of Israel (called Canaan back then) where the family had been residing (this is before the Jews became slaves, during a time when we were on good terms with Pharoah.  Yes, we were all friends at one point!)  We like Rachel Farbiarz's d'var torah on this torah portion.

In the parsha, due to the grains that Jacob's son Joseph stored up, the family as well as the Egyptians in the land will survive. Here's another explanation of Vayigash that sheds light on the story.

Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom.  Do you think Stanley Kubrick would be able to make any sense of this?

The 11:11 Phenomenon, or Numerical Synchronicity

The Whole Phamily has taken an informal poll of real-life friends, and asked if they have experienced the recurring phenomenon of looking at a digital clock and seeing their numeric birthday.  For example, if their  birthday is July 16th, they often look at the clock and see the numbers 07:16.

Apparantly other people in cyberspace agree, and to some, this is called the 11:11 Phenomenon.

What in the world does this have to do with the Whole Phamily, which is exploring the interconnectivity of Judaism, names and beyond?

We believe that everything is connected.  Indeed, Jonathan Safran Foer, with a totally funkadelic website that evokes interconnectivity, and one of the leading Jewish writers of our day, asserts that Everything is Illuminated in one of his novels.  There is something to be said for numbers and names and how they are connected.

We are certainly not expects in the Zohar, the book of Kabbalah that is traditionally studied by men aged 40 years and up (this is when it was deemed certain that a Jewish man would be well-versed in the Torah and could therefore handle the intensity of its deep world truths).  Obviously various popular culture stars (yes, you, Madonna) ignore that, but obviously people are seeking out truth in age-old wisdom.  Indeed, Jewish astrology is very real, and very much happening as we write and you read.

Doubtful that as large a group of our immigrant ancestors to North America from Minsk, Pinsk, the Pale of Settlement, Damascus,  Aleppo or Alexandria were exposed to these concepts as the Jewish community is today.  Yes, the scholars were educated in deep metaphysical mysteries of the world, but not the average mama of eight children trying to get food on the table.

Today when you think of a favorite number combination and then later see it as a total on a store receipt from buying your day's groceries, realize that it's not totally random, and Judaism has a lot to say about that.

Do you look at the clock a lot these past nearly ten years and see 09:11?

On a positive note, the Whole Phamily thinks it's great when the time comes up as 6:13.

Jewish Geography and Kevin Bacon

If you haven't yet heard about the famous game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, where you link an actor to Kevin Bacon through no more than six connections, then, as in the words of Martin Short as the flamboyant wedding coordinator in the remake of "Father of the Bride, "Welcome to the 90's, Mr. Bank."  The game is a take on the idea of six degress of separation, but when you're Jewish, that number seems sometimes to dwindle down to three or even two.

You might know it better as Jewish Geography.

C'mon, we all know you've engaged in a fun game of it in your lifetime.  Maybe you shy away from it now.  But, even if you're from Bozeman, Montana, you most likely have played.  Whether you're from Boca, Skokie, or Roslyn, whether you went to camp anywhere near Honesdale or Lake Winnipesaukee (Adam Sandler is from nearby), you've done youth groups like  Young Judaea, USY, BBYO, B'nai Akiva, or NCSY, we know you've done it.  Whether you were in a Jewish fraternity or sorority anywhere, but particularly at Wisconsin (Madison only, puh-lease!), Michigan (Ann Arbor, of course), or Indiana (are there even any other campuses where out of state Jews would seek out?), you've played.  What about any affiliation with Penn, the SUNYs (particularly Binghamton or Albany), Maryland, Brandeis or B.U.?

Still no?

If you've been part of any of the teen tour circuit, including American Trails West, Rein, or West Coast Connection, you know the game.

Jewish geography is like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon amplified and on steroids, because you can be visiting your cousins in LA and run into a friend's aunt or uncle that you met a few years ago at his sister's bat mitzvah in the valley while strolling along Third Street Promenade.

The Whole Phamily is constantly learning about connections to friends of cousins of sisters of husbands' next door neighbors at their parents place in Bal Harbor.  The network can seem endless.

Wanna play?

Ezra Jack Keats

As children, we were practically reared on Ezra Jack Keats' classic picture books The Snowy Day and Whistle for Willie.  Through these stories we were introduced to the sweet African American boy named Peter, and got a glimpse of urban life that was different than that of ours in the suburbs.  We always thought that these tales were written by an African American man, but as it turns out, this is not the case.

Did you know that Ezra Jack Keats was born Jewish, in Brooklyn, to parents who immigrated around the turn of the century and his given name was Jacob (Jack) Ezra Katz?

We owe so much to Keats for presenting the "black kid as hero" to thousands of American children.  So many children welcomed Peter into their own homes, and in doing so, the African American child has become part of many other "phamilies" different than his own.

As we know, the name Katz is often a derivative of the name Cohen, and a very common Jewish name at that.  The Kohen Gadol or, as a surname, Cohen, was the high priest who lived during the Temple Era and was a descendent of biblical Aaron, Moses' brother.  In terms of tribal legacy, today's descendents of the Kohen Gadol have an elevated status among their fellow Jews, and are bestowed with the priestly blessing during communal prayers.  As Keats most likely was passed down this tradition from his father, we feel an ever deeper sense of honor for the author.

Check out the Ezra Jack Keats foundation to learn more about this celebrated, award-winning American author and artist.

Greenberg, the Movie

Everyone knows that Jews have come so far in Hollywood.  Judd Apatow's films attest to that.  Jews are out.  So only in 2010 could a movie with such an obvious Jewish name as its title even think of hitting the box office.  Check out the trailer for Noah Baumbach's upcoming film Greenberg and note how it is about a Jewish guy through and through.

Noah Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh, along with Ben Stiller, will pull it off.

Stiller's father, Jerry, is Jewish.  Leigh was born Jennifer Morrow to Jewish parents.  Baumbach , creator of the award-winning The Squid and the Whale, and one of the most erudite writer-filmmakers of our day, we are just guessing, is Jewish.  Perhaps Baumbach was the original name at Ellis Island.  They're all originally from the alter heim, the Yiddish term for old home, or Eastern European communities where Jews lived for hundreds of years

We love how the opening scene of the trailer takes place in a classic, albeit treif (not Kosher), LA deli  (Canter's? Langer's?  Factor's?)  How appropriate that in our last post we were talking about happy deli experiences.

And, are those Eames Molded Plastic Sidechairs we see in one of the 1st scenes?  Keeping with the trend of everything Midcentury modern these days, they fit right into the current zeitgeist.  Though Charles and Ray Eames weren't Jewish, they surely are party of the Whole Phamily, as they have had such an influence over every-day American life.  That's a discussion for another time.

If you're a Greenberg, your family name is defined as "Green Mountain."  No, silly, not the awesome Vermont-based coffee company.  You could be Suzy Greenberg by Phish or Yitz Greenberg, the Modern Orthodox rabbi Jewish-American scholar and author.  Or just plain old Jason Greenberg.  Did you say Brad Greenberg?  No, you must have meant Karen Greenberg.

No, your last name is actually Green, Greenstein, Gruenberg, Grunstein, Greenfield.

Check out some of your family geneology starting at JewishGen.

Or just watch the trailer again, cuz it's looking pretty funny!

Gottlieb's Deli, Williamsburg, New York

David Sax's recent epic on the fate of the North American Deli, Save The Deli, introduced us the glatt-kosher Gottlieb's Restaurant in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  For any of you familiar with the hipster scene that already peaked in this neighborhood, rest assured, this deli is on the proverbial other side of the tracks.  But, hey, it ain't that far away from Billsburg, so if you're hankering for some classic old-world Ashkenazi deli food, this is the place to go.

The moment we walked in, the place had a familiar feel.  It felt cozy and comfortable, like we'd been there before.  If you had any experience in the New York delis of the 60's, 70's and 80's, you'd know what we're talking about.  Gottlieb's is a place that has an ambience practically erased from the landscape of New York City.

Doesn't the name Gottlieb ring a bell?  Have you known a Gottlieb or two in your day?  Defined as "God's love," it's familiar to many.  We had the honor of  the proprietor, Gottlieb himself (the grandson of the founder of the restaurant, who passed away only 2 years ago at the age of 98, of blessed memory), serve our boisterous table of 7.

Founded in 1962, the family has served up delicious dishes to hungry souls from all walks of life.   We didn't ask about this Gottlieb's family history, but we got a big smile when we told him about our idea of the ganse mishpucha.  Gottlieb's father was in the house, busy preparing deli platters and serving up food, so we didn't get a chance to shmooze with him..

And the food?  Perhaps the best stuffed cabbage we have ever had (sorry, grandma).  The puffed up rice inside the meat filling was so tasty.  The sweet and sour sauce was near-perfect.  There was chicken fricasse, latkes, shlishkes, homemade mashed potatoes, health salad, brisket and roast beef in a sauce, plated hot tongue (sorry, no raisins), and a turkey cutlet that was far from the roasted bird we had on Thanksgiving a few weeks ago.

Hipster, chassid, or Chowhound, Gottlieb's is a place to add on to your radar screen.  It is, without doubt, part of the Whole Phamily.

Oh, and of course they're closed on shabbes.

The Whole Phamily is a network of Jewish names. Jews have only had surnames for a few hundred years. First names, on the other hand, have been around for time immemorial. It was always "child, son/daughter _of_". Like, "Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah." On headstones, the deceased is usually commemorated by their first name, child of their parent's first name. Getting called up to the Torah is done similarly. Like it or not, our names actually do connect us to the past, present, and future. All together, they make up one greater family. The ganse mishpucha* as it were.

Is your last name Gold, Goldberg, Goldstein? Silver, Silverberg, Silverstein, Silverman? What about Field, Feldman, Feldstein? Or, Cohen, Cohane, Coen, Katz? Perhaps you have known a Fisher, Fishman, or Fish.

Do the names Shapiro, Shufro, Shafran sound familiar? Have you had a friend named Bernstein or any of the various Rosen Rosens (a tilt of the head to Fletch)?

These are all some of the very obvious Jewish names, but there are so many more. Naturally many of the original Jewish names that families took on in their homelands before arriving in North America were changed. Blobstein went to Blaine. Eisenberg became Eis. Altman became Alan.

The Whole Phamily's proprietary database will allow you to enter in your own family name and see what we have about it. Or perhaps you already know that Mullens was originally Mulinsky. Write it up and tell us that story.

Why should you care about your name, anyway?

And, what does it matter that it is a Jewish name?

Isn't your name a good name?

Don't you use it every day?

*ganse mishpucha: Yiddish phrase for "whole family"

What exactly is the Whole Phamily?

We could say it is about unity, the gathering of peoples across geograpahy, spanning time and history.

We could say it is about our own familial unit. The mama, papa, children. What makes us whole? Is it just our nuclear family? Does it include our extended family like grandparents, aunts, uncles?

What is the Whole Phamily all about today in these United States of America?

As we heard over and over on the Free to Be You and Me record, the 70's child gold standard produced by the Ms. Foundation, "Brothers and sisters, sisters and brothers each and every one.  Every mother's daughter, every father's son."

Our Latino brethren living the immigrant experience. Savoring the foods of their homelands. Powering our service industry so those who are more established in this country can live their American lives. Living mulitgenerationally. Enjoying whole family outings, grilling meats in parks across the country. Plopping their children in front of Sesame Street so they can inculcate the next generation with the native language. Finally entering into the political and academic arena.

Our African American brothers and sisters enjoying the freedom all peoples deserve.

Our innate desire in our country today to return back to the basics, back to real food and real experiences while embracing the power of technology.

The Whole Phamily is about connectivity between all peoples, experiences, objects, and geographical locales. What has happened on the land 100 years ago might not be so disconnected to what might be happening there today.

The Whole Phamily most certainly includes "The Ganse Mishpucha," referring specifically to those Jews in America whose families originate from the Yiddish-speaking countries of Eastern Europe.

Who was that great grandfather of mine who came over in 1905 from what is now Belarus? Who were *his parents*? What did become of his 3 brothers who share the same obscure last name of mine? What was Yisroel Bear's yichus, if any? Why was he named Yisroel Bear? With which rebbe did my family align themselves? What were the women like?

Today so many people are reconnecting with their lost families through the likes of Facebook and other social networking services. How can we reclaim the lost stories, or those that still remain with our 60+ year remaining family members, those who had the connection to this 1st wave of large-scale Jewish immigration (setting aside the German immigration/Charleston of the 19th Century). Will we get the information of the names of people in the photos, the family stories before they are lost and gone forever?

The Whole Phamily resides in many of our homes. Look for that shoebox of old photos, or that photo album with the black corners. Therein lie clues to our past. Unlike today where we take photos of everything and anything, the family photos of yesteryear are exactly that: family photos with a few friends sprinkled in. What will happen in generations to come that will , hopefully, view our photos if we ever get around to printing them, who will see so many people that aren't family. Ask your parents and grandparents to sit with you. Scan your photos. Label them. Protect their information but also find out what is in them.

The Whole Phamily asks: where are you phrum?

Phrum?

The answer to that question depends on how you read it.