Rear Pew Mirror

It's hockey season! What does that have to do with Judaism? More than you think. Not only are there actual professional Jewish hockey players (men and women) who play professional hockey, but there are also heretofore unexplored connections between Judaism and hockey. Is hockey the most Jewish sport of all time? Can a Jewish mother abide her son being a Devil? Will the Sharks ever win again? How d...

The few. The proud. The people present for the start of Shabbat services – P'sukei D'Zimra. Billy Joel's signature song, Piano Man , is about nine o'clock on a Saturday (night). Now's your chance to hear an early version of the song, about nine o'clock on a Saturday (morning), in this fitting musical tribute to the unheralded, unheard leaders of P'sukei D'Zimra – P'sukei Man . #JewishHumor #RearPe...

Just when you thought it was safe to read again... On the heels of the near-success of our first collection – Rear Pew Mirror: Reflections From the Back of the Sanctuary – comes a second volume for your enjoyment. Rear Pew Mirror II: The Wrath of Columns contains over 30 satirical selections to help you escape the world we live in. This volume includes a glossary so you don't need Google to unders...

Jewish opera. Sounds crazy, no? No! While not in the high percentages of Jewish composers or content in stage musicals or Christmas songs, there's more than no Jewish presence in the operatic ouvre. Coincident to my performing in Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors , here's a quick review. Warning: Several pronunciations were harmed in the making of this podcast. #Opera #JewishHumor #RearP...

What do Star Trek, Moses, and a large iron statue overlooking Birmingham have in common? In honor of the 120th birthday of Vulcan (that large iron statue), you can find out here. #Moses #Vulcan #Birmingham #StarTrek

What if Tevye finally became a rich man? What if he got everything he mentions in his infamous song? What would the Homeowners Association have to say? In honor of my playing Tevye once again, summer of 2024, we reveal the answers to these questions. #FiddlerOnTheRoof #RearPewMirror #JewishHumor

Should the third book of the Bible be called Leviticus or Laughiticus? You be the judge, but beware of Almighty combustion. Lord knows we need to. Some things in Leviticus are no laughing matter, but don't hold that against all of it – even though it tries to prohibit who you can hold certain things of yours against. And what does Leviticus have to do with The Beatles, Rodney Dangerfield, and...

As Passover looms large, we make room for the bread of affliction by finishing the last of our annual bread of addiction. We have to finish all the Girl Scout Cookies. Here you'll hear a few actual, legitimate facts about the Jewish origins of Girl Scout Cookies, and the still-to-be-disproven connections between various GSC varietals and Passover. Warning: Listening to this episode during Pass...

Every day is some number of shopping days til Chanukah! Instead of braving after-Christmas sales, or any sales ever, you can benefit from the return of our first-annual Chanukah Gift Guide. To keep it simple for you, it has just one item in it. Completely unrelated... We have a new book! Rear Pew Mirror: Reflections From the Back of the Sanctuary is now available in paperback and Kindle. It's...

Who named the weekly Torah readings? What were they thinking? Not about clarity of the readings' contents, that's for sure. Join us as we explore the names of the five books of the Torah and the names of each weekly parshah. After this, anything else in the Torah will be far more comprehensible by comparison. Also... We have a book! Rear Pew Mirror: Reflections From the Back of the Sanctua...

Whether we realize it or not, Jews pray multiple times every day for zombies to rise up. It's true. Listen to find out exactly where. And how it relates to tea. After completing Rosh Hashanah, and looking ahead to Yom Tzom Kippur, one wonders how can someone be sealed in The Book of Life if they're a zombie, and if a zombie eating human brains violates the fast on Yom Kippur. These and man...

The home magazine for the column on which this podcast is based – Southern Jewish Life – is vastly expanding its coverage region, from East Texas to the Carolinas. In honor of that, this episode explores the surprising similarities between The South (American) and The Southern Kingdom (ancient Israel). Grab your Moon Pies and Golden Flake, and find out what they and many other Southernisms have in...

What if the raiders of the lost ark weren't pursuing the Ark of the Covenant, rather a different Ark of biblical proportions? Wonder no more, as you can hear here just how similar the story might have been! Rear Pew Mirror is the longtime humor column in Southern Jewish Life magazine (sjlmag.com), the first thing read by Hebrew readers since it's the back page feature. #RearPewMirror #Jewi...

Once again, we've got an episode based not on the Rear Pew Mirror humor column, but on an actual yes-they-let-him sermon. Once again, lightning didn't strike the sanctuary, but listen at your own risk. The Torah reading on June 17, 2023 was primarily about the twelve spies sent into the Promised Land by M(oses), with only two spies giving optimistic reports (including Joshua, which much li...

This episode is loaded, as it unloads on the phenomenon of mass shootings. Fresh from the recently discovered biblical book of Donteronomy comes a familiar-sounding story which helps illustrate the line between sense and nonsense, and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of staying not dead, and its ever-increasing mitigation – the right to bear arms. When there's no right time to discu...

This year, Passover's First Seder and Star Trek's First Contact Day fall on the same day. Of course, there are special ways to celebrate. First Contact Day is exactly forty years away, much like the Promised Land was for the Israelites leaving Egypt before the bakeries opened. Nevertheless, the Vulcans have had a presence on Earth for generations in the form of the world's largest cast...

The biblical prohibition against mixing wool and linen is called Shatnez. Fortunately, there’s no Shatnez for bartenders mixing shots of these all-new Israel-inspired cocktails. From a Jerusalemoncello to a Chocolatinetivot, there's something for everyone (who drinks) no matter what their favorite part of the Promised Land proves to be. Please listen responsibly. Don't drink and daven. #Re...

Bo Jackson knows football and baseball, but does Bo know Diddley about the portion of the book of Exodus that's in Hebrew called Bo? Either way, here's a recently uncovered biblical chapter that recounts one of the greatest turnabouts to ever occur on a field of battle. Known by some as "Wrong Way Bo," these 21 verses reveal the divine source that recaps this rousing Roll Tide vi...

Rav Kook was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi during the British mandate period in the early Twentieth Century before the modern state of Israel was founded and changed the name to Twentieth Century Fox. Nobody (including him) realizes that, as his name suggests, Rav Kook was also a gourmet. Maimonides wrote his Guide for the Perplexed, and Rav Kook provided his never-before-seen (even now) Guide t...

It's the Year of the Rabbit in that other lunar calendar. Due to a contractual typo, this episode's planned Ask the Rabbi feature is instead a chance to Ask the Rabbit. Hear the world's greatest Rabbitic authority providing answers to actual Judaic questions in Amazon Alexa – many of which the moderators found too good to include, so you can hear them only here. For those who read the column, you...

The world recently lost one of its longest-lived royals, with the laying to rest of the Queen of England. People forget that Judaism has its own history of monarchs. Of course, there's the King of Kings – but even before Elvis there was also the Big G. And in between, until a couple of millennia ago, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel had their own mortal monarchs – including the reign of a queen! A...

The Talmud teaches that comedy works in threes. For the third time, we've got an episode based not on my Rear Pew Mirror humor column, but on my actual yes-they-let-me sermon from Thanksgiving, Shabbat Yom Turkey (November 26, 2022). Once again, lightning didn't strike and the synagogue's insurance coverage remains intact. It's about Thanksgiving. It's about the Torah reading that week, Toldot, fr...

Faster than you can rename your Chanukiah to Chanukleah in honor of the recent successful test of nuclear fusion, and just in time for Chanukah, Hannukah, Channukkah, or however search engines will find this... This exciting episode delves into the special Chanukah dishes added to the traditional Chinese-food Seder on December 24th when the eternally moving-around secular calendar makes this delec...

As Thanksgiving nears and turkeys are begging us to Eat Mor Chikin, or even Mor Cowz, it's a fine time to reflect on all our fine feathered friends. Birds of prey aren't kosher, yet praying is always kosher, so what gives? Find out this and little else as you hear how college football, the Torah, several classic rock icons, synagogues, Edgar Allen Poe, and Star Trek can all relate to each other wi...

How did the biblical icons we learned about in religious school first hook up? Couldn't religious school have taught us that instead? And what can we learn from them about dating today. In honor of Tu B'Av (sometimes known for its secular variant on February 14th), we answer these questions and less. Yes, it's just in time for Yom Kippur, but Tu B'Av and Yom Kippur are uniquely related. How is tha...