Weekly Quiz - Pre 2019
New Haggadot
In RASHI, RAMBAM and HAGGADAH-LAMADINGDONG: A Quiz Haggadah of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun, there is a question (see picture below) about unusual Haggadot that have been published in recent years, including Ina Gada Haggadah, Haggadah for Jews & Buddhists, and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Haggadah (click here to get your copy and learn which of these really exists). Since the publication of that question, more new and unusual Haggadot have been published, including which of the following?
RASHI, RAMBAM and HAGGADAH-LAMADINGDONG Question #6
A. A Passover Haggadah in Poems; The Thinking Man’s Haggadah in English; and The (unofficial) Hogwarts Haggadah.
B. Global Diversity Haggadah; Mish and Mush Haggadah; and For This We Left Egypt?: A Passover Haggadah for Jews and Those Who Love Them.
C. Worthy is Jah Lamb: A Rastafari Passover Haggadah; The Atheist Haggadah; and The Hyper-Modern Ancient With-It Traditional Haggadah.
D. The Southern Passover Seder: Haggadah shel Dixie; The Ha-Haggadah: A Series of Unfortunate Egyptian Events; and The Family (and Frog!) Haggadah.
E. Tenth Plague: A Shakespearean Haggadah; The Zombie Haggadah; and THE TRUMP PASSOVER HAGGADAH: “People All The Time They Come Up And Tell Me This Is The Best Haggadah They’ve Ever Read, They Do, Believe Me”.
Irish Jews
Jews have a long history in Ireland, with historical references as far back as the eleventh century. Today there are approximately 2500 Jews living in Ireland, a community which included such prominent members as Immanuel Jakobovits, former chief rabbi of Ireland and the first rabbi to sit in the British House of Lords; Robert Briscoe, former mayor of Dublin; and sixth president of Israel Chaim Herzog. Which of the following is a real organization of Irish Jews in the United States?
Irish Jewish by Sam Szapucki is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
A. The Moses and Erin Go Bragh Society.
B. LLOYSOE, the Loyal League of the Yiddish Sons of Erin.
C. CBaC/CBoR Society, the Corn Beef and Cabbage/Corn Beef on Rye Society.
D. The Lepri-Kahns Landsmannschaft.
E. The Ancient Order of Chai-Bernie-Ans.
Michael Cohen
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, is in the news lately regarding a payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, ostensibly to ensure her silence regarding an alleged affair with the president. Cohen has had a long-standing personal and professional relationship with Trump, previously serving as the Executive Vice-President of the Trump Organization. The son of a Holocaust survivor, Cohen included Donald Trump among the guests at his children’s Bar and Bat Mitzvahs (a point Cohen made as proof that Trump is not a racist). When Donald Trump first considered running for president in 2012, he described himself as pro-life, despite a clear public stance in favor of abortion rights in the past. How did Michael Cohen explain Trump’s reversal on this issue?
Trump executive Michael Cohen 015 by IowaPolitics.com is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
A. Said Cohen, “People change their positions all the time, the way synagogues change rabbis.”
B. Said Cohen, “People change their positions all the time, the way they change their wives.”
C. Said Cohen, “People change their positions all the time, the way Conservative Jews now eat rice on Passover.”
D. Said Cohen, “People change their positions all the time, the way that Barack Obama now disavows the Reverend Wright.”
E. Said Cohen, “People change their positions all the time, the way they change the sheets at the Moscow Ritz-Carlton Hotel.”
Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel hosted last night’s Academy Awards ceremony. It’s a common misconception that Kimmel is Jewish; in fact, he is Catholic. But he has had Jewish-themed comedy sketches on his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Which of the following was one of Kimmel’s Jewish bits?
146028_1352 by Disney | ABC Television Group is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
A. One of Kimmel’s regular bits is Mean Tweets, where celebrities read actual mean tweets that have been posted about them. In 2013 on the night before Yom Kippur, Kimmel featured Jewish celebrities (including Natalie Portman and Seth Rogen) reading anti-Semitic tweets which they had received. Kimmel finished the bit by reading anti-Semitic tweets directed against him (even though he is not Jewish), including one which read “I promise you that I’m much smarter than Jonathan Leibowitz - I mean Jon Stewart. Who, by the way, is way smarter than you, Jimmy Schimmmel.” Then all the celebrities promised to atone for their supposed sins, everyone yelled L’Chaim, and schnapps shots were passed around.
B. In 2007, when Kimmel was dating Sarah Silverman, he had her on as a guest and surprised her with a bat mitzvah ceremony. Kimmel started by interviewing her about growing up Jewish in New Hampshire, and asked if she had a bat mitzvah. When she said no, that her family was not very religious, Kimmel opened the curtain to reveal Silverman’s sister, Rabbi Susan Silverman, standing at a table with a Torah scroll. Sarah was asked to give a speech, and then the entire audience got glasses of sweet kosher wine while Guillermo bombarded the crowd with dessert, firing a sponge cake cannon around the room.
C. Since 2011, Kimmel has done an annual segment at Halloween time, where viewers are asked to send in videos of their children, as the parents tell the kids that they (the parents) ate all of the Halloween candy. In 2016, Kimmel offered a Purim version, as they had Jewish parents send in videos of their children crying after being told that they had eaten everything in the mishloach manot basket.
D. Noting that at Passover time network television is still rerunning the movie, The Ten Commandments, even though it was made over 60 years ago, Kimmel offered a new version of the Exodus story, with Matt Damon as Pharaoh, Kimmel as Moses, and Kimmel sidekick Guillermo as Zhlub the Wonder Frog. While Damon had learned his scripted lines as Pharaoh, he never got to utter them, because every time Damon would begin to speak, Kimmel’s band would start playing Hava Nagila and Kimmel would lead the audience in a hora.
E. Recognizing the dearth of Chanukkah-themed TV shows in December compared to Christmas shows, Kimmel offered a sketch with the Chanukorn, a Chanukkah-themed unicorn with a menorah where his single horn should be. The Chanukorn sang a song listing his favorite 80 Jewish words (including kugel, yarmulke, and schmutz), and also featured a spinning dreidel dog.