Michal's Tefillin

There was a lot of talk in the Michal’s Tefillin offices about the Hanukkah editorial. Mostly about Judith and Holofernes and Judith’s act of derring do, feeding the evil Holofernes a lot of salty cheese so that he passed out from drinking wine to assuage his thirst, thus enabling our Buffy prototype heroine to unsheath her sword and decapitate the comatose villain.

The story of Judith was once a part of the traditional Hanukkah stories, even though she is just the figment of someone’s imagination. It seems that even our ancestors thought it cool that a Jewish chick could kick villain ass and save the day – again.

We have real Jewish heroines to celebrate, in fact two of them feature in this Hanukkah issue, women who have come through trial and tribulation, and who make me feel blessed and honored that I know them.

I am talking about my dear friend Ellen Stein, whose book And Then There Were Four features in our review section (we will have an interview with Ellen in our next issue); and the talented Sara Fryd, whose family overcame, like the Steins, horrors that we cannot truly comprehend (read Sara’s article Benny and her poem Mother’s Guilt in this issue). These women are true women of valor, women worth more than rubies, worthy of everlasting memory. Look to your own families, your grandparents or great-grandparents because they are the miracle survivors; the everyday Jewish women you see in everyday life, the doctors, the lawyers, the writers, the mothers, the artists, those who fight for human rights – because they are your heroines.

Kabbalah teaches that women are the soul of the universe.  We are here to balance harmony between man and the universe, because without female harmony and spirit, there would be nothing. It is women who are the light of Judaism, it is we who keep the flames alive, it is we who are the real spirit of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah means dedication and I would like to dedicate this issue to Ellen Stein and Sara Fryd.

Wishing you all a happy Hanukkah

Basia Ellen

Editor-in-chief

Popularity: 42% [?]

Have you ever heard someone publicly describe their experiences of being Jewish in such a way that they made you believe they had somehow slipped into your own skin, into your own life? If this concept seems alien to you, then you haven’t seen uber hip culture bandit Vanessa Hidary in her guise as the Hebrew Mamita.

Vanessa’s raw and emotional poem exploded into my consciousness one night while watching a clip from HBO’s Def Poetry Jam on Youtube. By rights, Ms Hidary should be recognisable as a global talent, a world poet who dips her toes into the cultural pool of life that ebbs and flows around her and from which she draws her incredible and beautifully expressed experiences.

A native New Yorker, Vanessa grew up in the melting pot of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where Jewish, Latino and Black cultures collide. She admits she is something of a culture bandit, the title of one her poems: “I would like to be a cultural superhero, bouncing from place to place witnessing the amazing jewels of diversity. I definitely feel I am a product of my environment. We should be promoting cultural similarities rather than differences.”

Living where she does, absorbing cultural similarities has helped define Vanessa’s status as one of poetry’s most astute commentators. Her big break, on Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam show, was a pivotal moment in her career. As a huge hip hop fan, she was totally jazzed to be invited onto the show, the brainchild of the co-founder (with Rick Rubin) of Def Jam Records, the label that brought hip hop, Run DMC and those nice Jewish Beastie Boys to the world’s attention. She says: “Spoken word is so underground and Def Poetry Jam took it into the mainstream. The show should have been worldwide.”

Global domination will be next. Last summer was Vanessa’s “international way” as she appeared at the Limmud Festival in England, Europe’s largest summer Jewish festival which brings Jewish artists from all over the world to perform.

European Jewry is conservative by nature, not confident like American Jewry nor loud and in your face like Israelis. “PG Rated” might be how Vanessa would describe them, and given that her poems are mostly R-Rated, she wasn’t sure how “he fucked me like Brooklyn” would go down in nice, polite Britain.

She needn’t have worried. “I do a lot of shows in synagogues and I have what I call my PG rated set. It’s not as much fun but I understand people’s sensibilities and I want to get my work out there, so I have to compromise sometimes. I asked the Limmud people if they wanted me to give them the PG version but they asked me to be me and so I gave them the full set and they sat there with their mouths open. When I finished they jumped to their feet, it was an amazing response. I had pushed their boundaries and taken risks where no one else had done so. I am glad I did it.”

While the Hebrew Mamita poem strikes a chord in Jewish hearts and experiences, Vanessa refers to herself as the Hebrew Mamita. And as her poem Blanquita is one of her favourites, it’s clear that she identifies with Latin culture. Her family are Sephardi of Syrian origin and she, like me, wonders

if they fled from Spain during the Inquisition and ended up in Syria, as thousands of Jews did. “I feel so close with Spanish culture,” she says, “I always said I was a flamenco dancer in a past life.”

She has been to Spain, to Toledo, with Birthright, where they visited the synagogue, which was once the most beautiful building in the Iberian peninsula and which was turned into a church after the Jews left.

Being the Hebrew Mamita “has been an amazing journey” for Vanessa. “Visiting Israel had a huge impact on me, but when I wrote the poem I didn’t expect so many people to identify with having the same experience. Being Jewish outside of Israel is completely different, but they liked the poem a lot.”

Currently, Vanessa is working on shows with her cultural partner-in-rhyme, soul singer Maya Azucena – she describes the two of them as “chameleons, women who made our own careers independently”. She is also writing a book and dreaming of the perfect pair of booty-enhancing jeans. “The best pair of jeans I ever owned, and I hate to admit this,” she laughs, “were a pair of J.Lo jeans. They defied stretch, they were like a pair of jean colored scuba gear, but she doesn’t make them any more. Maybe someone out there will do a Hebrew Mamita jean!”

Hebrew Mamita jeans? Well, they’d need to be kick-ass hot, just like their namesake.

Vanessa Hidary’s poems are available on CD from:

www.hebrewmamita.com

by Basia Ellen

Popularity: 59% [?]

Buying Judaica. You know the hazards. It’s either gorgeous and ridiculously expensive; or cheap and shabby. If you go to a local store, you know that the shop assistant’s philosophy can be described as disinterested. And not only that, everything is too samey, too old fashioned and just not really what you want. You want Judaica that’s fun, that’s attractive, that fits your lifestyle, your personal style and yet makes you feel proud to be Jewish. You decide it’s about time you joined the ModernTribe.

ModernTribe came about because its founder, Jennie Rivlin Roberts, had the same experiences as you. And just about everyone else. As a psychologist and new mother, Jennie realised one day that dreidels made her happier than life in the corporate fast lane. She told us: “ModernTribe happened organically. The idea was years in the making but then one day, it was obviously just the right thing to do. When my husband and I got married we registered for Judaica from the corner Judaica shop. I found the experience frustrating and disappointing for many reasons: like most Judaica stores, the merchandise didn’t fit our style, and the old lady behind the counter was grumpy. But we found items that were better than others knowing that our parents’ friends were going to buy us Judaica no matter so it was better we steer them in the right direction. We still got some doozies, however.”

A quick glance at ModernTribe’s eclectic contents shows jewellery, Jewish music that your mother wouldn’t recognise, cool, mouthy t-shirts, Hanukkah items – fresh modern menorahs, dreidels, candles, Star of David lanterns (in fact, stunning ideas for all the Jewish holidays) and an adorable section for childrens’ gift ideas, not to mention the dreidel game to end all dreidel games – No Limit Texas Dreidel.

The game, which is adult fun only, was invented by Jennie and her husband during a long road trip. She explains: “We always have Hanukkah parties for our adult friends. We’d have dreidels and chocolate gelt at the party but no one would actually play dreidel — I don’t need to explain why, right? Very Jewish of me, I have this inflated sense of justice and always felt indignant about dreidel and its lameness. My husband and I were really into Hold’em poker, were watching it on ESPN, and playing with our friends. While on the road trip, I turned to my husband and said, “there has got to be a way to make dreidel more fun.” We spent the rest of the drive throwing out ideas, laughing, about how we could cross dreidel with poker. We wrote down the rules and played the game with our friends at the next Hanukkah party.

“Playing No Limit Texas Dreidel is a lot easier than you think,” Jennie explains. “You don’t need to know how to play poker, but you will learn a lot about poker while learning to play No Limit Texas Dreidel. The objective of the game is to create your best hand of five dreidel spins. Hands are pairs, two pairs, three of a kind, full house, four of a kind, five of a kind. The Hebrew letters are ranked according to the traditional dreidel game: gimmel is the highest ranking, shin the lowest, so a pair of gimmels beats any other pair but three shins beats a pair of gimmels. Players create hands using two small dreidel that are in “the hole” (a shaker cup) that only they see. They combine their secret letters with community dreidel spins that everyone uses to create hands. People bet in rounds and hands are built just like one would play poker. Because dreidels only have four sides, so therefore, four “values”, it is much less complicated than poker with cards (with 13 values and four suits).

“We played No Limit Texas Dreidel at the party the following year too. At that party, a friend brought me a game he’d bought off the internet and told me I should do something similar with our game. Later that night, a non-Jewish friend of mine brought me a hostess gift – it was a bearded mechanical doll, you press its foot and it sings about latkes in a Yiddish accent. She told me that there wasn’t much to choose from at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. At that moment I knew it was my duty to bring the world No Limit Texas Dreidel.

“The idea for the retail store, ModernTribe.com, grew out of No Limit Texas Dreidel and the realisation that Jewish retail was mostly as lame as dreidel.”

ModernTribe is based in Georgia, where Jennie was born and raised. It used to be that the Jewish community there was small and was one of those communities where everyone knew everyone else and their business. Now Atlanta is booming and as Jennie says, there are many new people, new ideas and a lot more Jewish community choices. “However, being in the Jewish world as a business person”, she admits, “is more difficult when you are not in New York. Most Jewish organisations have a big presence in New York and it’s hard to have cred sometimes being a Southern Jew.”

Jennie does a lot of her sourcing and talent spotting by surfing the internet as well as doing time at traditional trade shows such as the New York International Gift Fair. She says: “I do a lot of internet surfing, especially of Israeli sites, artists and designers online. Now that we are getting known, we have a lot of people contacting us to sell their items. I love finding young, Jewish talent and bringing their items to market!”

Jennie Rivlin Roberts

You can find ModernTribe at http://www.moderntribe.com

Popularity: 49% [?]

The days of corny Hanukkah gifts are gone. Forever. Feast your eyes on this eclectic selection of Judaica gifts brought to you by gifted, creative Jewish women who don’t know the meaning of second best. Menorahs, jewellery, even something for your pet pooch. No excuses. Get shopping!

Ooty Reut Raz Yaacobi’s cute handmade ceramic Ghost Village menorah set and Red Holiday Menorah, $64 and $36 respectively. Ooty also does custom orders, contact her at www.ooty.co.il

Sari Glassman’s deliciously gorgeous handmade jewellery (glass beads, gold, $88) is available from http://www.etsy.com/shop/gaialai and http://gaialai.boticca.com/

ModernTribe is full of diverse, funky, beautiful gift ideas – from Hanukkah decorations to jewellery, CDs, gifts for kids, traditional and non-traditional menorahs, candles, cards and Major League Dreidel’s Spinagogue at www.moderntribe.com

Sandra Wollin knitting patterns for beautiful Judaica – for yourself, your baby and your dog! Check out her Israeli Flag Illusion Tote Bag ($7), various dog snoods (from $7) and the beautiful Illusion Knitted Hanukkah Miracle blanket/wall hanging ($10) all from http://www.etsy.com/shop/acacheofjewels

Georgia Morgan’s jewellery will make you weep with joy it’s so beautiful. Delicate pink calla lily earrings (from $36), modern copper wire Magen Davids and the breathtakingly original Illuminated Story Bead pendants. Visit her shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/oakgeorgia and prepare to give your credit card a good workout!

Deliriously, delicious intricate handbeaded string of Star of David bracelet from Debbaworks at Etsy ($15) with Swarovski crystal is just one of the beauties you will find at http://www.etsy.com/shop/debbaworks

Michal’s Tefillin would like to thank everyone who has contributed to making the world a more beautiful place with their talent and their enthusiasm. Chag sameach and Happy Hanukkah.

Popularity: 39% [?]

It’s after sunset and I am alone in a room with two vampires. On paper, this does not sound good. But then, the vampires in question are Maury and Louis Feinstein aka Mitch Yapko and Allen Rueckert, directors and stars of Nosferajew, the soon-to-be-huge vampire comedy. Their short film about a suburban Jewish vampire who works in a dental lab and who never feeds on the Sabbath is deliriously kitsch and laugh-out-loud funny.

Vampires never go out of style. We can never get enough of them – from stiff necked Christopher Lee Draculas, to the swirly coated king of pain that was Angel to the recent hand-wringing Rhett Butler vamps of True Blood, it is to these illustrious ranks that Maury Feinstein brings his special skills and his lisp.

This mockumentary short, which recently showed successfully at the New Orleans Vampire Film Festival, should be a global sitcom success. Says co-creator Mitch Yapko: “What we’re trying to get is a weekly half hour show. We’ve had some interest from producers although today in Hollywood it’s difficult because no one is investing generally.”

Maury is 100% kosher, which is difficult to maintain. Yapko explains how his creation manages this: “He drinks only kosher blood, that’s why he killed Sheila’s mom (Sheila being Maury’s eye-patch wearing girlfriend, who is generally safe from Maury’s advances because she’s only half Jewish). “Sheila’s mom”, he is keen to impress, “tasted of gefilte fish and Maury really hates gefilte fish.” And well, who can blame him?

Other characters include Maury and his brother Louis’ (Allen Rueckert) mom, an oy vey Yiddishe mama in thigh-high boots, her curious Oriental boyfriend, and Maury’s co-worker Abigail, a vampire slayer who has been inadvertently glamored by Maury so that she doesn’t realise her co-worker, who files his fangs and pointy nails in the lab, isn’t a member of the undead tribe.

Says Rueckert: “We’ve written several episodes and have a lot of ideas about where we want the series to go. We’ll be following Maury on his search for his origins and his father in Eastern Europe – the Kabbalah will be introduced and will end up being Maury’s ultimate enemy. Louis will continue to research romantic comedies in order to woo Marcy (his imaginary girlfriend of three years) and Abigail will continue to unknowingly seek out Maury’s attention.

“Ultimately, we’ll explore the vampiric themes in the Jewish world.”

Contact Mitch Yapko and Allen Rueckert via email at maury@whoooproductions.com or on Twitter at twitter@mauryfeinstein

Have a peek at the trailer below:

Nosferajew Teaser Trailer

by Basia Ellen

Popularity: 20% [?]