Passover Give Away: Hip Hop Seder Box

Lisa Alcalay Klug, the author of Cool Jew, and myself are offering one lucky winner the following fun Passover Seder accoutrements, all boxed and ready to give. To enter go to Cool Jew Book and type your email in the "Giveaway" box. You will be joining the Cool Jew Book email list. Enter between Thursday, March 26th to Monday, March 30th. Enter now.

Hip Hop Seder Box

• Cool Jew Book
• Moses Action Figure
• So Called Seder Hip Hop Hagaddah CD
• Zelda's Marshmallow Chocolate Covered Frog

For teens to the young at heart.

Thank you for entering! The winner will be announced on Tuesday, March 31 and will receive the Hip Hop Seder Box in time for the first night of Passover, April 8th.

** Update: Congratulations to Maya G. of LA - winner of the Hip Hop Seder Box. Buy it for $31.99 - we will ship it worldwide. http://tinyurl.com/cb3c9z

Jews In Unlikey Places: Scattered Among The Nations

I tripped across an article about Penn State hosting an exhibit entitled Scattered Among The Nations by photographers Bryan Schwartz, Jay Sand, and Sandy Carter. The photographs depict Jews in the most unlikely places: India, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Peru and Uzbekistan.

Check out the website scatteredamongthenations.org to see many photographs and descriptions of the Jewish communities in Africa, Asia, former USSR, and South America. Also in the works is a book: Jews of Color: In Color!

It's fascinating to read about these often tiny Jewish communities. Some of them are ancient such as in Tunisia where the first Jews arrived 2600 years ago during the Babylonian Exile. Others are brand new such as the the Inca Jews of Peru who started practicing Judaism just 10 years ago. The small communities are recognizably Jewish with many of them observing Shabbat and kosher laws in the familiar ways one would find everywhere. However, each have customs reflecting their own "flavor" of Judaism. For example, in the tiny Jewish communities of Uganda and Zimbabwe songs written in Hebrew are set to African melodies; in India the Benei Menashe still practice ritual sacrifice of animals while the Bene Israel have their "Malida" ceremony which offers prayers, songs and bowls of fruits and flowers to the Prophet Elijah.

Scattered Among Nations is also a non-profit organization who assists isolated Jewish communities through projects such as helping the Inca Jews become officially converted and building a community center for the Benei Menashe Jews in India.

“Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” And Its Young Jewish Heroine

By Marista Lane for In The Moment Blog by Moment Magazine.

Norah: “There’s this part of Judaism that I like. Tikkun Olam. It said that the world is broken into pieces and everyone has to find them and put them back together.”

Nick: “Maybe we don’t have to find it. Maybe we are the pieces.”

“Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist” recently came out on DVD. For those who haven’t seen it, you might be surprised by the positive, open-minded young Jewish main character, Norah Silverberg (Kat Dennings).

Not only does she openly divulge her Jewish heritage, she also willingly expresses her enthusiasm for it. Small hints are given throughout the movie regarding Norah’s Jewish background, even as it is not explicitly revealed until a pivotal moment involving her love interest Nick (Michael Cera).

While the film mostly focuses on the chemistry (or awkwardness) between Nick and Norah—as well as their mutual music obsession—there are hints throughout the movie to Norah’s identification with Judaism. She attends a prestigious Catholic private school (only because her best friend goes there) but asserts her connection to the Jewish faith in other ways. She has a semi-relationship with Tal, one-third of a wannabe Israeli band, and she asserts that being Jewish is just as much a part of her, if not more so, than anything else. By sharing that with Nick, she shows that it is a deeply invested part of who she is.

It’s a good way for Hollywood to sneak in a good Jewish role model in a film directed to the youth.

Originally based on the eponymous novel by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, the movie was released on DVD on Feb. 3 by Sony Pictures. It’s rated PG-13 for teen drinking, sexuality, language and crude behavior.