The 97th annual Academy Awards ceremony took place last night, hosted by Conan O’Brien. Many nominated movies had Jewish-related themes or plots, including A Real Pain, September 5, The Brutalist, and No Other Land (which won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar). Jewish nominees included actor Timothée Chalamet (for A Complete Unknown), composer Daniel Blumberg (for The Brutalist), Jesse Eisenberg (writing for A Real Pain), and Mikey Madison (who won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Anora). Saturday Night Live, which has had no shortage of Jewish-themed sketches (click here to see last month’s trivia question on this topic) almost ran another Jewish-themed sketch during the Christmas/Hanukkah season last year. The sketch, based on a movie from this past year, was axed following a poor reception during the show’s dress rehearsal. What was the name of that sketch?

54316448303_5e3c746749_k (Oscar Statuette) by Tim Reckmann is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. Defying Chanukkah.

B. A Real Pain in the Tuches.

C. Shekel Boys.

D. A Very Bobby & Woody 3D Chanukkah.

E. Anora Menorah.

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President Trump appointed himself chairman of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts and fired the Board president, David Rubenstein. He also removed board members who had been appointed by President Biden. Most analysts see this move as revenge by Trump in response to events related to the Kennedy Center in Trump’s first term. This started with television producer Norman Lear and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade who had pulled out of the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony as a protest against the president. Since Trump’s decision, other board members have resigned and many artists have canceled their performances at the Center.

The Kennedy Center was authorized by Congress and President Eisenhower in 1958 as the National Cultural Center, and was renamed after the assassination of President Kennedy. The Kennedy Center presents performances in all areas of the arts, including ballet, opera, musical theater, pop music, classical concerts and more. In addition, the Kennedy Center facilities are available for rental for private events. Among the rental options are the Main Concert Hall (2465 capacity) for $39,000, the Eisenhower Theater (1161 capacity) for $18,080, the Opera House Circles Lounge (180 capacity) for $2560, and the PT-109 Board Room (capacity 85) for $1280. What other space at the Kennedy Center is available for rental, which has a “Jewish” connection?

Kennedy Center seen from the Potomac River, June 2010 by Tom is licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A. The Schusterman Lounge, which seats 75 and rents for $1500. This space was funded by a grant from Jewish philanthropists Charles and Lynn Schusterman of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Schusterman Foundation is also a major funder of Birthright Israel.

B. The Israeli Lounge Concert Hall, seating 80 and renting for $1700. This space is dedicated by the State of Israel and was inaugurated by Yitchak Rabin in 1971. The facility is designed with Jerusalem stone and art panels representing the Biblical tribes of Israel.

C. The David ben-Gurion Library can be rented for small meetings, up to 25 people, for $500. The space, funded by AIPAC in honor of the Israeli Prime Minister who was in office during the presidential term of John F. Kennedy, includes shelves of book about the arts, as well as artwork, records, sheet music, and CDs.

D. The Batsheva Dance Company Dance Studio. The practice space used by dance troupes who are performing at the Kennedy Center can also be rented for $1200. The room was funded by philanthropist Baroness Bethsabee de Rothschild, founder of the Batsheva Dance Company, which was the first foreign dance troupe to perform at the Kennedy Center.

E. The Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kosher Kitchen. The facility includes full sets of milchig (dairy) and fleishig (meat) dishes, pots, pans, and blenders. Above the fleishig blender is a sign stating “Because this is a kosher kitchen, this meat blender can only be used with baby chickens, not mice.”

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Saturday Night Live just celebrated their 50th anniversary with a 3 hour special on NBC. The list of Jews associated with the show over the years is substantial, starting with producer and creator of the show Lorne Michaels, and including Gilda Radner and Laraine Newman in the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players cast. Other Jewish cast members have included Paul Shaffer, Al Franken, Billy Crystal, Ben Stiller, Rachel Dratz, Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman, Andy Samberg, and Sarah Sherman. And many Jews can be found among the writers, musicians, and other staffers of SNL. There have been many sketches with Jewish themes and Jewish characters. Among these are Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song, Vanessa Bayer’s character Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy, Sarah Sherman as Jewish Elvis, Gilda Radner selling Jewess Jeans, and writer Robert Smigel’s video Christmastime For The Jews, featuring Darlene Love. Among the lyrics she sang were the lines, They can finally see King Kong without waiting in line/They can eat in Chinatown and drink their sweet-ass wine/They can crank Barbra Streisand on the streets they cruise/Christmastime for the Jews. Which of the following was a less memorable Jewish-themed Saturday Night Live sketch?

Saturday Night Live main stage by Steven Dahlman is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A. Sabra Price Is Right in 1992, with Tom Hanks playing an Israeli gameshow host, Uri Shurinson, broadcasting from 47th Street in New York City. Hanks asks contestants to guess the price of items such as a clock radio, but after he goads them to a higher number, they learn they have in fact bid on the items and now must pay for them.

B. In his 2019 hosting appearance, John Mulaney appeared as Josh Kleinberg in a sketch called Summer in the Catskills, along with Chloe Fineman as his wife Sarah, and their children Beth and Davey, played by Melissa Villaseñor and Mikey Day. The sketch featured the Kleinberg family visiting an amusement park in the Catskills, where they played Whac-a-Bagel, a game based on Whac-a-Mole. In this case, the characters had mallets which they used to smash bagel sandwiches which popped up before them, leading to everyone hysterically breaking character as they were covered by bagel bits, pieces of lox, schmears of cream cheese, and other bagel sandwich detritus.

C. In 1988, Dana Carvey, playing his recurring character Enid Strict, known as Church Lady, sat down with her Jewish neighbor Theodore Goldstein, known as Temple Teddy. In their conversation, Church Lady asks Temple Teddy if he wants to go get dinner. When he says “No, I don’t date non-Jewish ladies, and anyway I have a girl friend, our neighbor Sadie,” Church Lady responds, “Well, isn’t that special?”.

D. The sketch My Son the Doctor featured Rachel Dratch as the receptionist and mother of Dr. David Sheinblum, played by Chris Parnell, in the 2004 season. Patients would come in to be seen, and Rachel would check them in saying, “Don’t you worry, my bubbeleh is going to take good care of you.” She would then walk in on the examinations bringing a tray of rugelach to her son and the patient, saying, “Eat. It's good for you.”

E. An episode in 2001 of the recurring sketch NPR’s Delicious Dish, featuring Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer as NPR hosts. In this sketch, the hosts interview Alec Baldwin as baker Pete Schweddy and Jon Lovitz as Mel the Mohel in a sketch called Schweddy Balls meet Mel the Mohel.

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The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Kansas City Chiefs in their 40-22 victory in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. The list of Jews who have played in the Super Bowl is pretty short (there were no Jewish players in this year’s game). Included on the list are Josh Miller, punter for the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers tight end John Frank, defensive end Lyle Alzado of the Los Angeles Raiders, and Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Randy “The Rabbi” Grossman. Grossman got his nickname from teammate Dwight White, and he was fine with that, saying, “What choice did I have? What else are you gonna to call a Jewish kid from Philadelphia?” Another Jewish player, Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Alan “Shlomo” Veingrad, later became a follower of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hassidic movement. Reflecting on his football career and later religious path, Veingrad said in an interview: “I don’t think it would be a possible thing for me to say to the coaching staff or the ownership of the team that I am shomer Shabbos and therefore I can’t make the team meetings on Friday because I have to travel Friday and I can’t travel with the team on Saturday and keep Shabbos. I think if I took that approach, I would no longer be in the National Football League.” Since 2014, radio host Nachum Segal has presented the “Kosher Halftime Show” as an online alternative for religious Jews to watch while the players are in the locker room for the mid-game break. This year’s Kosher Halftime Show broadcast featured singer/songwriter Eli Begun, composer of such songs as In Our Darkest Times and Shabbos Hayom. Why does Nachum Segal provide this halftime program for Jewish football fans?

DHS Agencies Support Super Bowl LIX Security February 2025 - 111 by DHSgov is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons

A. Because the Super Bowl takes place on Sunday evening (this year’s kick off was at 6:30pm eastern time), Segal always includes a maariv service on his broadcast, to ensure that listeners do not miss the evening service because of the football game.

B. Many TV watchers of the NFL Championship Game are really there for the iconic commercials, such as Coca Cola’s Mean Joe Green “Hey Kid, Catch” ad, the Budweiser Frogs, and Apple’s famous 1984 commercial. But many of the ads feature non-kosher foods, such as Totino’s Pizza Rolls, Cool Ranch Doritos, and Big Macs. Segal made a deal with the NFL to allow him to run an “official” alternate halftime show, including Jewish content and the official entertainment, but featuring only commercials for kosher food products, including Manischewitz wine, Lenders Bagels, and Hebrew National Hot Dogs.

C. Segal started his broadcast after years of watching the Super Bowl and constantly being offended by some of the rhetoric of the commentators. Specifically, Segal offers twenty minutes of commentary about the first half action without even once uttering the word “pigskin.”

D. He is giving religious Jews an opportunity to avoid the sexy halftime shows that are often broadcast, such as Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” (2004), rapper M.I.A.’s raised middle finger (2012), and Jennifer Lopez’s black leather bodysuit with thigh-high boots (2020).

E. Segal’s Kosher Halftime Show features an Animal Planet Puppy Bowl-inspired contest called the Rebbe Bowl. A gaggle of rabbis is let loose on a field as fans cheer them on, trying to guess which rabbi will finish davening the quickest. When a rabbi completes the Aleinu and the Mourners Prayer, he must do a dance and raise his arms over his head in a touchdown salute. Any rabbi who spikes his siddur, however, is automatically disqualified.

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