Jewish holidays always shift around. When's Rosh Hashanah this year? Yom Kippur? Chanukah? And are we sure we've spelled them correctly?
Rosh Hashanah starts today at sundown. And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody, outside of a small circle of Jews. The biblical term isn't "Rosh Hashanah" it's "Yom Teruah," which translates as "day of shouting." As in shouting HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
It sure wouldn't interest Patti Smith, Peter Gabriel or Roger Waters. Those are three antiSemites who support BDS against Israel, and only Israel. Syria is fine. North Korea is fine. Russia is fine. Red China is Fine. Turkey is fine. Nigeria is fine. There are people fighting about land, doing ethnic cleansing, and conducting violent religious psycho-wars all over the place but SOME people ONLY look at Israel. Gee, why would that be?
The argument is "This isn't antiSemitism, it's against Israel." And what is Israel? "The Jewish State." It's the one little sliver in the world where Jews can't be told "Get Thee Out" or have their tombstones desecrated, their synagogues spray-painted or see a rabbi smacked to the pavement for wearing religious garb. But let's lighten up...
...and going with our C&W theme of posts this time, here's SHLOMO, the Jewish version of Lorne Greene's novelty classic "Ringo."
Lorne Greene (Lyon Himan Green) was Jewish. So was Michael Landon (Eugene Orowitz). Yep, half the Ponderosa were Jews! What a "Bonanza."
"Shlomo" is by Country Yossi. Yossi Toiv debuted on radio in 1986, and this sample of his fine work is from the vinyl version found on "Country Yossi and the Shteeble Hoppers Strike Again." Most of his early albums include Jewish versions of classic pop (Sedaka, Beach Boys, etc.) and country (Johnny Cash).
"Shlomo" has that galloping beat that you find with so many cowboy songs. It was also appropriated by another Jew, William Shatner, for "Has Been." In that song, he takes on his critics who are "riding on their arm chairs...while they have not done shit." But I digress.
If you want to follow Yossi, he's on Twitter (https://twitter.com/countryyossi) but the 70 year-old radio star and comedian hasn't posted since 2015. His CountryYossi website seems likewise dormant.
Country Yossi's stuff is pretty orthodox…if you just light Chanukah candles and eat bagels and lox, you might not get all the references. If you keep the Sabbath, know the last words that differentiate a prayer for bread and a prayer for wine, and can at least sing "Adon Olum" from memory, you shouldn't have much trouble. And if you are an observant Jew, you will notice the link is below. (Unobservant Gentiles can see this, too!)
SHLOMO - instant download or listen online - no Pay-to-Hear Rapidgator crap, no webstie full of malware or porn ads
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