Jews Are Funny

Conservative students hear comedian's take on being Jewish.

Gabriella Ring

Teen2Teen Staff Writer

N

ew York comedian Joel
Chasnoff headlined a com-
bined session for students in
Conservative high school programs on
Oct. 29 at Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills, and he had about 150
students laughing.
Chasnoff's comedy was clever. He
makes a point not to stereotype Jews, but
to find the odd things we do and exag-
gerate them.
His comedy ranged from topics of
Jewish camps, to Jewish day school,
foreign languages, keeping kosher, b'nai
mitzvahs, Jewish holidays, biblical times
and even family roles.
Yiddish, he joked, is "a combination
of Hebrew, German and bronchitis."
On Chanukah, he said, "we eat latkes,
a food that has eight times the oil
recommended by the Food and Drug
Administration."
Chasnoff performed after dinner.
His comedy routine was followed by

Having a laugh during the improv session are Ricky Levine, 14, Adat
Shalom; Gabe Hessenthaler, 13, Beth Shalom; and Ben Stollman, 14, Noah
Rozenberg, 16, Phillip Roth, 16, Ian Zinderman, 15, all Adat Shalom.

workshops. Students could choose
among such varied topics as "Borat
Shormat: Funny or Distasteful,"
"Torah Yoga," "Political Cartoons, What
are the Real Messages?""Ghosts and
Black Magic" or "Comedy Improv" with
Chasnoff. Most classes were taught by

teachers or rabbis from the various
synagogue programs.
During "Comedy Improv," Chasnoff
started off by having everyone say their
name in a tone of choice with a specific
body motion. Then all would repeat the
name and motion in unison to get the

feel for different voices and motions,
then go on to the next person. After
introducing themselves, teens practiced
a variety of sketch comedy games. In
one called "Freeze," two people role-play
a scene. When someone feels the need
to replace another person, they yell,
"Freeze," and pick up where they left off
in the conversation.
Chasnoff attended Jewish day school
and graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania, He later joined the Israeli
Defense Forces. By the end of his service,
he was performing jokes in front of fel-
low soldiers. Now he has a wife, identical
twin girls and is a full-time comedian
who has worked with Jon Stewart, Lewis
Black of The Daily Show and Gilbert
Gottfried.
Students came from Congregation
Beth Ahm and Congregation B'nai Moshe
in West Bloomfield, Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park and Congregation
Shaarey Zedek.

Gabriella Ring, 14, is a freshman at Berkley

High School.

Making History

Mackinac Island celebrates its first bat mitzvah.

Sarah Spitzer

T2T Staff Writer

W

hat happens when you
mix thousands of years of
Jewish history with hun-
dreds of years of Mackinac Island his-
tory? You make your own history.
That's what the Spitzer family has
done on this historic island. In July
2006, the Spitzers started the first shul
on the island, Kehilat Hatzav Hagadol, or
Congregation of the Great Turtle, which
is working to prove that great things
start small.
With the help of Kehilat Hatzav
Hagadol, Rachel Spitzer, 12 by her
Hebrew birthday, had the first bat mitz-
vah in recorded history on Mackinac
Island on Oct. 20.
The bat mitzvah service was held
in town at the community hall and
directed by Rachel's parents, Dr. Robert
Spitzer and Dr. Ann Silverman, and led

hood, and into the land God will show
by Rabbi Dovid Shepherd. Glatt kosher
her — the land of responsibility.
catered dinners were provided at the
With her bat mitzvah, Rachel also
Spitzers' house in Wood Bluff and a lun-
helped show those around her, includ-
cheon was held at the shul.
ing the family's
The approximate-
non-Jewish friends
ly 50 guests includ-
from the island
ed family, friends,
community, some of
a few of Rachel's
the fundamentals of
school friends, and
Judaism.
the rabbi and his
"It feels like
family.
home said
Rachel's parsha
Nathan Marsack,
was Lech Lecha in
Rachel Spitzer on her bat mitzvah
who catered the
which God tells
day on Mackinac Island.
event, pointing
Abram to leave his
out the family-like
land and venture
atmosphere and the learning taking
into a land that God will show him.
place around him. "They're using their
As Rabbi Shepherd mentioned in his
brains."
speech, all of the guests had ventured
Rachel's three older siblings, Daniel,
out of their "lands" and made the 250-
Rivka, and Sarah, each had their b'nai
mile trek to Mackinac Island. But what
for? For another journey — the journey,
Rachel understood, in which she must
Watch for teen 2teen in
go out of her land, the land of child-

mitzvah celebrations in Israel. All of
them had their ceremonies in July, on
the weekend of Parshat Balak, in which
God says through the prophet Bilaam
that God will bless those who bless the
Jewish people and curse those who
curse the Jewish people.
Now, far off on Mackinac Island,
Parshat Lech Lecha is read, and here,
too, God says that God will bless those
who bless the Jewish people and curse
those who curse the Jewish people.
On this one small, yet historic bat
mitzvah, Rachel helped show that
wherever Jews are, they are lasting and
blessed and not only a part of history,
but also part of the future. 7

Sarah Spitzer, 16, is a junior at Yeshivat

Akiva in Southfield.

next week's Jewish News

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November 15 2007

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