fbpx
Category

jewish

Behind the Music: The Wedding Singer

In the 1998 hit comedy \”The Wedding Singer,\” the eponymous character was a nice Jewish boy named Robbie. At the Sept. 2 Century City Park Hyatt reception of 30-something newlyweds Daphna Ghozland and David Hollander, the wedding singer is a nice Jewish boy named Robbie. True, the latter — singer/pianist/bandleader Robbie Helperin — will occasionally perform the odd \’80s pop song with his Simcha Orchestra as Adam Sandler did in the movie, but that\’s where the parallels end, or at least, that\’s where Helperin would like them to end.\n\n\”It was kind of painful to watch,\” Helperin said of the movie that immortalized his profession as a \”Loserville\” populated by \”creepy musicians,\” in his words.

The Oldest Diary

There is something otherworldly about the experience of a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. It is perhaps the preeminent spiritual-cultural paradox in all of Jewish life. When girls and boys focus so intensely on this personal lifecycle event, each possesses a transcendent, timeless and eternal quality.

To the Graduates

I can\’t remember a word spoken by Ira Goldstein, the Plainview (NY) High School valedictorian, Class of 1965, but I\’m sure his graduation address was brilliant. Ira, who apparently was in the Philosophy Club with me for three now-forgotten years, was the most brilliant boy in a class of brilliant boys. Girls were \”smart\” or \”sweet\” in those days; boys were \”brilliant.\”
\”The difficult he does quickly; the impossible takes a little

A Better Strategy

History never precisely repeats itself. I was cleaning up after dinner the other evening when I heard my daughter, Samantha, now nearly 17, on the phone; she was talking with a guy named Vinnie.
\”Vinnie?\” I said, as she hung up. \”I think we should be focusing on Jewish guys now, don\’t you?\”

\”He\’s a friend, Mom,\” said Samantha.

And to my surprise, I let it go at that because I wasn\’t sure what else to do.

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.