Product Description: Book Description:From Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson, the creators and stars of the national smash hit play, Jewtopia, comes the most hilarious, over-the-top guide to Judaism unlike anything you've ever seen. So comprehensive that owning a copy ensures that Elijah himself will show up at your Passover Seder!Take a Tour of Jewtopia
Amazon.com: Book Description: From Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson, the creators and stars of the national smash hit play, Jewtopia, comes the most hilarious, over-the-top guide to Judaism unlike anything you've ever seen. So comprehensive that owning a copy ensures that Elijah himself will show up at your Passover Seder!
FAB!! This book is funny. Really, really funny. But, there's something else to Jewtopia, and that is that it puts you in touch with your Judaism. Yes, you're going to laugh out loud over and over, but you're also going to feel proud to be a Jew, you're going to feel righteous anger at the bigotry we've sustained for freaking ever, and you're going to feel a sense of power in the rightness of who we are.
I recommend this book to everyone, but especially to the other chosen people out there.
L'Shalom
great laughs Jewtopia is a good read even if you aren't Jewish. The insights into the Jewish mindset are priceless and will have you laughing out loud. You will moe than likely recognize yourself if you are a Jew or if not then you'll recognize your Jewish friends.
Funny Jewish Humor Fogel, Bryan and Wolfson, Sam. "Jewtopia: The Chosen Book for the Chosen People", Warner Books, 2006.
Funny Jewish Humor
Amos Lassen
One of the great traits of the Jewish people is our ability to laugh at ourselves "Jewtopia" gives us just that outlet. The book is somewhat based on authors Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson's play which they created in 2003. They look at Jewish life and at themselves and have great fun laughing. The jokes are over the top and totally irreverent but that seems to be what makes them so funny. In the nine chapters in the book, you get a look at everything Jewish in a way that you have not looked at the Jewish religion before. I had a hard time turning the pages because I was laughing so hard. The first two chapters of the book deal with Jewish history in a very unhistorical way. If what us written in the book is, indeed, the history of the Jewish people than I should have paid more attention as a kid. The historical survey contains maps and insets and vocabulary as well as valuable little tidbits that are not taught at Sunday school. Chapter 3 is a guide to the Jewish holidays and I guess I have been celebrating them wrong all of these years. In fact there are some new holidays that I never knew about such as Blachahbarchooeschai Day. I also learned that the things that I thought we were begging forgiveness for on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, were all wrong. There is a whole new list of things to atone for like telling a homeless guy that I had no cash right after I had just withdrawn money from the ATM about 20 feet away. An entire new explanation of the Seder plate used on Passover further enlightened me as did the section on Christmas vs. Chanukah. Chapter 4 enlightens on the subject of food. There is a list of things to do in order to keep kosher like not eating fruit with mites and not drinking wine that has been touched by a non-Jew. There are also some interesting rules for eating such things as bagels and smoked fish. In chapter 5 we have the Jewish guide to life--"from bar mitzvah to bowels" and that seems to be pretty inclusive just as is chapter six which deals with travel: "planes, trains and diarrhea". Chapter 7 looks at the stereotypes within the Jewish religion with a great deal of emphasis on the Jewish nose which is something that really needs no extra emphasis. We are all certainly aware of Jewish conspiracies and this is the subject of chapter 8, subtitled "Do Jews Control the World?" (Notice please the question mark). We finally get to the last chapter with our sides hurting from laughter and are presented with the final exam, "How Good a Jew Are You?" I am proud to say I passed. Throughout the book there are eight phone conversations with Jewish mothers which are sure to give you new insight into the Jewish religion. I especially love the note in the travel section which stated that if you are tired of living with Jews then you should move to Arkansas. I can identify with that.
An easy, fun read that made me LOL a few times Sure, it's not a masterpiece of literature, but it was a quick, cute read that made me chuckle pretty frequently. I disagree with the person below who said the writers are ashamed of being Jewish. Nah, not true at all. They just have a sense of humor about certain aspects of their religion and spirituality. I received this book as a gift from a friend, and I would recommend it to other Jews who are proud of their faith, but also don't take it so seriously that they can't have a giggle at their own expense once in a while.
Oy, such drek!!! I was thrilled to stumble across this book, because I'd loved the play. (I even bought the hat!) I'm glad my stumble happened in the library and not the bookstore, because this oversized doorstop turned out to be an incredible disappointment. "Stumble" is actually a good word for it.
The book is similar in style and tone to the "America" book from the Daily Show, but unlike that book, it's just not funny. Not. Funny. The humor is almost entirely random and juvenile, and never rises above a sort of "snicker, snicker, wasn't that a clever play on Jewish stereotypes?" level. Sure, the authors are clever guys, but clever has to be used in the service of funny to make me laugh. No such luck here, bubeleh.
I slogged through as much of the book as I could (I even made it past the half-dozen brutally tired Bush/ Cheney jokes around page 3, which was no small feat), hoping in vain that it would get better. I figured that the guys who put together such a hysterical piece of live theater would come up with something even a fraction as good in the book -- they just *had* to -- but I never managed more than a weak smile.
"Chosen Book for the Chosen People?" It's about as good a choice as choosing to take up smoking.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
