Ayelet the Kosher Komic

Last updated
Ayelet Newman
Born
Ayelet Ben Hur

Long Island, New York
NationalityAmerican
Occupation Stand-up comedian
Website kosherkomedy.com

Ayelet Newman, known by the stage name Ayelet the Kosher Komic, [1] is an Orthodox Jewish female stand-up comedian. She discontinued her acting career and began performing "kosher comedy" to women-only audiences after becoming a baalas teshuva (embracing Orthodox Judaism) in the early 2000s. [2] In 2003 she moved to Jerusalem. [3] She performs both in Israel and internationally. [4]

Contents

Biography

Born Ayelet Ben Hur, [5] [6] she grew up in a secular Jewish family in Long Island, New York. [2] After high school, she moved to Los Angeles to audition for roles in TV and film. Among her acting credits are an HBO series, a Lifetime TV movie, and a bit part in the 2003 film The Hebrew Hammer . [2] [3] [6] She also performed stand-up routines on Comedy Central and at the New York Comedy Club and The Improv. [3]

Her career took a 180-degree turn when she began attending Torah classes at the Los Angeles branch of Aish HaTorah, an Orthodox Jewish outreach organization. As she embraced a Torah-observant lifestyle, she quit acting and began performing what she calls "kosher comedy" stand-up routines that are devoid of off-color humor, vulgar references, cursing, and personal attacks, but that instead focus on the humor in daily life. [7] [2] [8] She also stopped performing in front of men, but plays to female audiences exclusively. [7] [2]

Welcome to Glatt Kosher Airlines. Our pilot and co-pilot will be taking time to pray Mincha and Maariv [the afternoon and evening prayers]. You're asked to pray with extra devotion at this time since no one will be flying the airplane.

Ayelet the Kosher Komic, "Glatt Kosher Airlines" [5]

Her hour-long show for Orthodox women and seminary girls includes stand-up routines on topics such as modesty, dating, dieting, kosher laws, Jewish prayer, motherhood, and malapropisms in Hebrew. [3] [9] [10] While most of the show is rehearsed, Ayelet does some improvisation. [4] Her signature routine is a pre-flight safety briefing on the fictional "Glatt Kosher Airlines", in which passengers receive emergency instructions such as: "Should there be, God forbid, a rapid change in cabin pressure, a book of psalms will fall from the panel above your head". [7] "Please say your own tehillim [psalms] prior to assisting the small child, elderly passenger or recent baal teshuvah seated next to you". [2]

She has produced the comic audio CDs It's a Frum Frum Life and Life in Israel. [1]

Personal

Since she started her comedy career in the Orthodox Jewish world as a single woman, Ayelet was reluctant to reveal her age to media sources lest it limit her marriage opportunities. [7] She has since married a full-time kollel student [4] and is the mother of 9 . [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judaism</span> Ethnic religion of the Jewish people

Judaism is an Abrahamic monotheistic ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of observing the Mosaic covenant, which was established between God and the Israelites, their ancestors. The religion is considered one of the earliest monotheistic religions in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aish HaTorah</span> Orthodox Jewish educational organization

Aish, formerly known as Aish HaTorah, is a Jewish educational organization. The focus of Aish is the spread of traditional Jewish religious teachings and culture to Jews around the globe, utilizing a significant online presence made up of its website, Aish.com, and various social media channels. In addition to the educational organization, the organization's main campus in Jerusalem also includes a yeshiva and a women's seminary, as well as several other in-person programs.

<i>Shechita</i> Ritual slaughter of an animal in Jewish law

In Judaism, shechita is ritual slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to kashrut. One who practices this, a kosher butcher is called a shochet.

Kosher foods are foods that conform to the Jewish dietary regulations of kashrut. The laws of kashrut apply to food derived from living creatures and kosher foods are restricted to certain types of mammals, birds and fish meeting specific criteria; the flesh of any animals that do not meet these criteria is forbidden by the dietary laws. Furthermore, kosher mammals and birds must be slaughtered according to a process known as shechita and their blood may never be consumed and must be removed from the meat by a process of salting and soaking in water for the meat to be permissible for use. All plant-based products, including fruits, vegetables, grains, herbs and spices, are intrinsically kosher, although certain produce grown in the Land of Israel is subjected to other requirements, such as tithing, before it may be consumed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frum</span> Yiddish word for a devout Jew

Frum is a word that describes Jewish religious devotion.

Marc Weiner is an American comedian, puppeteer, and actor. He is best known for performing with his "head puppets", small puppet bodies in which an actor would stick their head through a hole at the top of the puppet's head. He hosted the Nickelodeon show Weinerville from 1993 to 1997. Weiner is also known for his roles as the Map and Swiper on the Nick Jr. show Dora the Explorer.

Netivot HaTorah Day School is a private, coeducational Orthodox Jewish elementary school in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. As of 2008, it enrolls 600 students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8. The school is affiliated with Mercaz, the educational pillar of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triangle K</span> Kosher certification agency

Triangle K is a kosher certification agency under the leadership of Rabbi Aryeh R. Ralbag. It was founded by his late father, Rabbi Yehosef Ralbag. The hechsher is a letter K enclosed in an equilateral triangle.

<i>Soferet</i> (film) 2006 Canadian film

Soferet: A Special Scribe is a 2006 television documentary about Aviel Barclay, who studied to become a sofer, which is a traditionally male position transcribing Jewish Hebrew texts. The documentary explains how she became the world's first known traditionally trained female scribe in October 2003. The film explores the importance of the Torah in Jewish life, the perfection required to execute a kosher Torah scroll, and a feminist perspective on the battle waged by some Jewish women to assume responsibilities traditionally reserved for men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shabbos goy</span> Non-Jew assisting in a task on Sabbath

A Shabbos goy, Shabbat goy or Shabbes goy is a non-Jew who is employed by Jews to perform certain types of work (melakha) that Jewish religious law (halakha) prohibits a Jew from doing on the Shabbat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaakov Perlow</span> American rabbi (1930–2020)

Yaakov Perlow was an American Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva, and Rebbe of the Novominsk Hasidic dynasty. From 1998 until his death in 2020, he was president of Agudath Israel of America, a Haredi advocacy organization. He was also head of that organization's Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. He was one of the most respected leaders of the American Orthodox Jewish community, known for his scholarly and oratorical skills.

Orthodox Jewish outreach, often referred to as Kiruv or Qiruv, is the collective work or movement of Orthodox Judaism that reaches out to non-observant Jews to encourage belief in God and life according to Jewish law. The process of a Jew becoming more observant of Orthodox Judaism is called teshuva making the "returnee" a baal teshuva. Orthodox Jewish outreach has worked to enhance the rise of the baal teshuva movement.

EYAHT, was a full-time college for advanced Jewish learning for women in Jerusalem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mendy Pellin</span> American actor and comedian (born 20th century)

Mendy Pellin is an American Chabad Hasidic actor and comedian with a web-based satirical news show, The Mendy Report. "Mr. Pellin, a garrulous 25-year-old, was beginning yet another segment as the host of The Mendy Report, an Internet news broadcast on the Web site ChabadTube.com. He runs the broadcast out of his childhood bedroom, now cluttered with production lights and videotape cassettes, in his family’s fourth-floor walk-up apartment on Kingston Avenue in a Hasidic enclave of Crown Heights, Brooklyn."

Ayelet may refer to:

Ari Goldwag is an American Orthodox Jewish singer, songwriter, composer, and producer of contemporary Jewish religious music, as well as an author and teacher living in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. He was a soloist for the Miami Boys Choir at age 10 and starred on five albums and three videos before his voice changed at age 14. He launched a music career after his marriage and move to Israel. He has released nine solo albums, and composes songs and produces albums for other artists.

Jewish hip hop is a genre of hip hop music with thematic, stylistic, or cultural ties to Judaism and its musical traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adina Sash</span> American politician

Adina Miles Sash is an American Jewish activist and social media influencer. Sash gained notability within Orthodox Judaism for her stage character, FlatbushGirl, on Instagram. Her comedic brand of activism focuses on the everyday lives of Orthodox Jewish women and challenging Jewish Law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff's Gourmet Sausage Factory</span> Sausage factory and restaurant in Los Angeles

Jeff's Gourmet Sausage Factory is a glatt kosher sausage factory and restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1999 in a small storefront in the Pico-Robertson district, it serves a variety of Eastern European Jewish– and Mediterranean-style sausages, hamburgers, and deli sandwiches and wraps. All of its meats are prepared in-house.

Daniel Lobell is a Los Angeles–based American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and comic-book writer best known for his podcast Modern Day Philosophers. Comedian Marc Maron credits him with creating the first podcast focused on stand-up comedy, Comical Radio.

References

  1. 1 2 Rosenberg, C. (11 March 2014). "Tickle My Funny Bone". Mishpacha . Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Birkner, Gabrielle (11 March 2005). "Frum and Funny". The Jewish Week . Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Stern, Leah B. (19 January 2005). "Kosher Komic Does It Her Way". The Jerusalem Post . Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Branfman, Varda (12 March 2014). "Igniting the Jewish World With Laughter". The English Update. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 Chabin, Michele (31 March 2005). "For Women By Women". Sarasota Herald-Tribune . pp. 4E –5E. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 "The Hebrew Hammer (2003) Full Cast & Crew". Internet Movie Database . 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Berman, Daphna (28 January 2005). "A Jew, an Orthodox Jew and an ultra-Orthodox Jew meet at a club..." Haaretz . Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  8. Gelbwasser, Michael (5 March 2011). "Have You Heard the One About the Kosher Comedian?". Sharon Patch . Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  9. Pine, Dan (18 February 2005). "For Women Only: Orthodox comedian keeps jokes clean and kosher". Jweekly.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  10. Lambert, Josh (20 May 2014). "Comedy Isn't Kosher, But It Can Be Funny". Tablet . Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  11. "Kosher Komedy". kosherkomedy.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.