Sen. Levin sniffs finger as he grills Lloyd Blankfein

Speaking of dicks tribes, Washington DC was in the news this week as leaders of Goldman Sachs testified before a Senate committee thinking of new financial reform legislation. In a scene that reminded me of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg being scrutined by Judge Irving Kaufman… woooo… Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) lambasted Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and used some choice expletives,

Although the SEC has filed a civil case against Goldman Sach, the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of NY (Manhattan) is said to be considering a criminal case against the firm or its players. Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, declined to comment.

Speaking of Wall Street… this weekend, in addition to being Shabbat Emor, will witness another pilgrimage to see a high priest. It is Shabbat Berkshire Hathaway weekend in Omaha, Nebraska. Over 35,000 shareholders and stakeholders will attend Warren Buffet’s annual shareholders meeting. Many of the attendees will be Jewish. Although Omaha is known for its steaks, kosher food will be served at the Hilton Garden Inn. There is also time to visit Bethel synagogue in Omaha and their archeaology scholar in residence this weekend.

Mazel tov to Kerri Strug, former Olympic gymnast and medal winner, who was married last week, and had her wedding highlighted in The New York Times as its most socially prominent wedding. The nuptials were conducted by Rabbi Stephanie Aaron in Tucson AZ.

Speaking of Tucson, word is that a new study from Johns Hopkins has found that the ulpan method for ELLs (English Language Learners) in American primary schools works better or equal to bi-lingual education. Meaning, immersion in English outperforms bilingual education by the fourth grade.

And mazel tov to Ari Shapiro of National Public Radio, who flew on Air Force One and was granted the right by President Obama to ask the final question of the flight since it was his first time on the jet.

Speaking of jets and ulpans, did you see the graphic arts website which asked readers to convert famous world brand logos into Hebrew? Click here to see a display of the entries. To the left is Oded Ezer’s attempt to render The New York Times in stylized Hebrew letters.

From mazel tovs to embarrassments, the Village Voice, after a few years of absence, published its story on New York City’s worst landlords. Oy, you know it… the worst 10 was chock full of Jewish names, many of them prominent members of fervently religious Jewish communities. Of course, if NYC has a high concentration of Jewish residents, whether the assertion that the list of the worst 10 landlords is highly Jewish is statistically significant or not, I leave for the statisticians to determine. Michael Kaminer, writing in The Forward comments on the high concentration of Jewish names on the list.

Speaking of high concentrations, The American Jewish Committee held their gala in Washington DC, and their keynote speaker was U.S. Secretary of State Clinton. Clinton joked about living in Westchester near David Harris, the AJC head, and stated, “…we will continue to emphasize the responsibilities of Israelis and Palestinians, who must ultimately themselves negotiate a two-state solution. But there are also clear expectations of the Arab states. They have an interest in a stable and secure region. And they should take steps that show Israelis, Palestinians, and their own people that peace is possible and there will be tangible benefits if it is achieved.”

Earlier this week, Clinton and President Obama hosted entrepreneurs from MMC (Majority Muslim Countries) in Washington DC. The president called for more exchanges between Americans and businesspeople from MMC’s, vowing to engage in a “sustained effort” to reach out and listen to opinions from Muslim countries, particularly of young people. He said, “…Trade between the United States and Muslim majority countries is growing, but all this trade combined is only equal to our trade with …Mexico.” Speakers included Obama; Gary Locke, the US commerce secretary; Hillary Clinton; Arne Dunca, US education secretary; Jerry Yang, Yahoo! co-founder; Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank; and Arif Naqvi, head of Abraaj Capital, the largest private-equity firm in the Middle East. Clovis Maksoud, former Arab League ambassador to the UN, said Muslims and Arabs are receptive to Obama’s overtures, but as long as the Palestinian-Israeli issue remains unresolved, it will “hang on as a weight on possibilities.” Way to go, Clovis. No dessert reception for you.

Speaking of dessert, The Washington Post reported on that the Iraqi central government wants the US to return the archive of Jewish ritual objects and books that wer retrieved from the flooded basement of one of Saddam Hussein’s secret police headquarters buildings. The materials were flown to Texas and freeze dried, and are now housed in College Park, MD. Iraq’s Deputy Culture Minister, Taher al-Humoud, wants the moldy items back. He met with officials of the US State Department yesterday. Dov S. Zakheim, a former Pentagon official in the Bush Administration, told The Washington Post that he is opposed to returning them to Iraq. He, as do other, feels that the rightful owners are the individual Iraqi Jewish families and institutions from which the objects were plundered.

Mahmud learns to eat bagels and say Oy.

… speaking of Muslims, a comedy scoring hit status in London and playing this week at NYC’s Tribeca Film Festival is, THE INFIDEL. The Infidel is written by David Baddiel, directed by Josh Appignanesi and stars Omid Djalili and Richard Schiff (from the West Wing). In the film, we meet Mahmoud, an average Londoner of Pakistani Muslim heritage. He works for a cab service, and maybe he doesn’t pray 5 times a day or fast every day of Ramadan, but in his heart, he is a good Muslim (though he wears the t-shirt of the soccer team not usually supported by Muslims in London, wink wink). When his mother passes away, Mahmoud learns that he was adopted, and his birth parents were very observant London Jews. The comedy equally makes fun of British Jews, American Jews, Brits, Muslims and Islamists, as Mahmoud, under a strict deadline tries to learn how to be Jewish.

And on the topic of Infidels, who says that government service doesn’t pay? Sources in DC report that Karl Rove, formerly of The White House is in contract to sell his suburban 5 bedroom, 4.5 bathroom brick house for $1.59 million. He purchased it 9 years ago for half that price. The listing is at WFP.com I wonder how much sage one would need to burn after the closing, and if the buyer is taking advantage of the home buyers federal credit which expires April 30?

One of the nation’s hottest rising stand-up headliners, Eric Schwartz aka Smooth-E, is a comedian, rapper, and MC. His music have appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” BET’s “Comic View,” Showtime’s “White Boyz in the Hood,” Mun2, SiTV and more. This bespectacled rhyme spitter wears multiple hats, writing, producing and performing countless characters in his songs and videos. Pulling off funny, authentic-sounding parodies is a tough nut to crack, but Smooth-E cracks away, appealing across the board from hip-hop heads to soccer moms.

http://smoothe.tv/

Kira Soltanovich (Star of Girls Behaving Badly)

A regular for four seasons on the Oxygen and Nationally syndicated show, Girls Behaving Badly, Kira has also appeared on such shows as Jimmy Kimmel Live, 3rd Rock From The Sun, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She has been a winner, finalist and semi-finalist of several comedy competitions, including Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots, NBC’s Last Comic Standing, The Cape Town International Comedy Festival, the Boston Comedy Festival, and the Seattle International Comedy Festival.

http://www.myspace.com/kiracomedy

Simcha Levenberg

Born in Washington DC and bred in New Jersey, Simcha is our only comedian who also doubles as a Rabbi. A self-dubbed spiritual gangster, he draws out the comedic side of sprituality, G-d, world religion, meditation, drugs as well as the counter-culture, music, and everything written by Tom Robbins. We are happy to welcome Simcha back to the festival to once again press the reset button on all stereotypes: Jewish, Rabbinic or otherwise.

http://simchalevenberg.com/

Robin Reiser

Robin Reiser is a stand-up comic and super model. The modeling career is really going badly so she is now a writer. To keep up appearances she writes in full runway make up and does an outfit change every fifteen minutes. http://www.myspace.com/robinreiser

Lizzy Cooperman

Lizzy Cooperman has been featured on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”, and has been featured on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”, MTV’s “Most Valuable Players”, and The History Channel’s “History of the Joke: Part One”.

She is a winner of the Laugh Across America Contest and her stand-up comedy has also been featured in “New Faces” and “Dating It” at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. Lizzy was a finalist at The Las Vegas Comedy Festival, and featured in “Best of the Fest” at the New York Underground Comedy Festival. http://www.myspace.com/lizzycooperman

Line-up is subject to change.

Some say they came to show us where we went wrong, to set things straight and make things right. But looking beyond we see that the robot is a master of trickery and guile determined to shatter our expectations of the everyday, to guide us through distraction and turn us all into witnesses, to burn memories in our hearts, memories fused into the mind like the metal on his skin. This creature of fiber optic flesh demands that you challenge the way you see the world today, and forever, for if magic can flicker for even just a few moments, we have proven that its force can spread over your entire being, keeping you forever enchanted in the undiscovered mystery of possibility.

The story continues at life in samsonite…

Though separate in every way from this week’s events, the Koby Mandell Foundation is an organization devoted to moving on after terror. And there’s a great American comedy tour in town this week that’s raising funds to benefit the Foundation.

Stand Up For Israel presents Comedy for Koby, to benefit the Koby Mandell Foundation, which works on behalf of the families affected by terror.

Featuring top-level Hollywood comics Chris Spencer, Mike Loftus, Modi and Avi Liberman. For more about the comics, see here.

* Wednesday, December 3- Jerusalem- The Maabeda- Derech Hebron 28

* Saturday, December 6- Tel Aviv- ZOA House- Even Gevirol 26, corner of Daniel Frisch

* Sunday, December 7- Raanana- Yad Labanim- 147 Ahuza Street
* Monday, December 8 – Modiin- Modiin Cultural Center – Emek Dotan 49

* Thursday, December 11- Beit Shemesh- Matnas Eshkol Hapayis, Aliyat Hanoar Street, Migdal Hamayim

All shows begin at 8:30 PM with doors opening at 8:00. Individual Tickets are 100 NIS or 75 NIS for soldiers or b’not sherut. Got 10 people or more? Call them about a discount. Buy online, by emailing tickets@djwconsult.com, or calling 054-627-2867.

And tell them you read about it on Jewlicious.

Our first student planning event is this Sunday, Sept. 21, at 5:30pm, in Long Beach. All students are invited for this BBQ Dinner event, where you can find sign up for planning teams. Email us for directions.

For sponsorship opportunities, vending, volunteering, media inquiries, music & film submissions, and other requests, please contact our National Festival HQ: JewliciousFestival@gmail.com 562-426-7601 ext 1424

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Produced by Jewlicious, Beach Hillel, and JSS

Discovered by late comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield who called him his “favorite up-and-coming comedian,” Marty Belafsky thrills audiences nationwide with his uniquely energetic and hysterical brand of physical comedy.

Rodney Dangerfield hand-picked Marty to be his opening act at the MGM Las Vegas in 2000. Marty went on to star in two of Rodney’s films, BACK BY MIDNIGHT and THE 4TH TENOR.

Often recognized for his starring role as “Crutchy” in the Disney cult hit musical NEWSIES, as well as for his stint on MTV’s popular sketch show, LYRICISTS LOUNGE, Marty has also appeared in AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS starring Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones, MEN IN BLACK 2 with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, EVOLUTION, and Christopher Guest’s A MIGHTY WIND and the Chevy Chase starrer, FUNNY MONEY.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Marty Belafsky began acting professionally in film and TV at age 13. Prior to securing NEWSIES, Marty guest-starred in numerous television shows, including THE WONDER YEARS and NBC’s HULL HIGH. Marty graduated from the Ivy League’’s Brown University with a degree in History. But as proved by his large, loyal fan following across the country, stand-up remains his true passion and calling.