The White Lotus completed its third season of storytelling about the wealthy guests at beautiful resorts, focusing as always on their pettiness, their self-centeredness, their air of superiority, and their despicable behavior. Season 3 took place in Thailand, featuring characters including actress Jaclyn and her childhood friends Kate and Laurie, wealthy (but crooked) businessman Timothy Ratliff and his family, and troubled Rick Hatchett and his girlfriend Chelsea, plus Belinda, the masseuse returning from Season 1. While there have been no Jewish characters among the guests at the resorts over the past three seasons, Season 3 did feature a Hebrew song during one episode. What was that song?

The White Lotus logo is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons

A. Mi Shebairach, played when Rick Hatchett was meeting with Dr. Amrita, the spiritual counselor.

B. A-ba-ni-bi, played while Timothy Ratliff and his family, as well as other resort guests, were sailing on a giant yacht off the coast of the hotel.

C. Horschat Ha-Ekaliptus, played during a scene where the camera panned through the forest and focused on the monkeys in the trees.

D. Erev Shel Shoshanim, the music which accompanied Mook as she performed a traditional Thai dance one evening as part of the guest entertainment.

E. Hava Nagila, when Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie were bumping and grinding on a night club dance floor with the Russians.

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Passover begins on Saturday night, April 12. Jews worldwide are beginning to shop, change over their dishes, and cook and bake in preparation for the seders and week-long holiday where only Kosher-for-Passover certified foods are traditionally eaten. Because of the tariffs President Trump imposed on Canadian goods earlier this year, Canada retaliated by banning imports from the United States. This has resulted in a Canadian shortage of Manischewitz sweet Passover wine, which can no longer be imported from the Manischewitz Company in New York. Remaining stocks of the wine have been snatched off the shelves as there are no locally made alternatives. Meanwhile, food manufacturers continue to expand their selection of Kosher-for-Passover certified items. For example, Manischewitz is now offering frozen gluten-free knishes while Tuscanini is now selling Passover savory tomato jam and Italian chocolate truffles. Gefen has introduced hot honey, and Heaven and Earth now offers a grain-free pasta line for the first time. What marijuana product, certified Kosher-for-Passover by Rabbi Yaakov Cohen and Whole Kosher Services, is being offered for the first time in 2025?

Manischewitz! by infowidget is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr

A. Chad Ganja ice pops.

B. In Haggadah da weed-a soda.

C. Tokin’ Chews gummies.

D. Arba Esrim flourless brownies.

E. Yidle-diddle-didle-Doobie mon popcorn.

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A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar (known as Burma until 1989) and Thailand last week, resulting in much destruction and huge numbers of dead and injured. Among the many countries offering assistance is Israel, which has dispatched disaster-relief experts to the region, including representatives of SmartAID, an Israel-based humanitarian organization. Burma was one of the first Asian nations to recognize the state of Israel, and Israel sent its first ambassador to Burma in 1953. The two countries have cooperated in the areas of arms production and sales as well as agricultural ventures. In 1961, Prime Minister David ben-Gurion visited Burma where he dressed in traditional Burmese clothing and studied Buddhism at a spiritual retreat. The first record of a Jew in Burma was in the 18th century, when Solomon Gabirol served as a commander in the army of King Alaungpaya. The Jewish population peaked at about 2500 members, with a synagogue and a cemetery, where 700 people are buried, but the current Jewish population may be less than two dozen. Where did a portion of Burma/Myanmar’s Jewish population come from?

David Ben-Gurion dressed in Burmese national costume during his visit to Burma. D684-059 is in the public domain  via Wikimedia Commons

A. Jews from Cochin in India came to Burma in the middle of the 19th century as merchants and traders, in particular in the cotton and rice industries.

B. After Kristallnacht, many German Jews attempted to flee the country, hoping to go to Palestine. But restrictions on admission by the British mandate government led many to travel elsewhere, including further east into Asia. Approximately 100 of these German immigrants reached Burma in 1939.

C. While the large migration of Russian Jews at the end of the 19th century traveled west, there were some who traveled east, further into Asia. One group of these immigrants reached Burma at around the turn of the century, establishing not only a synagogue and cemetery, but kosher butchers, a mikve, and a yeshiva as well.

D. Many of the Jewish immigrants came from Iraq, having fled from persecution and pogroms in the mid-1800’s.

E. A Jewish peddler traveled with his wife from Poland to Burma in the early 20th century. He noticed that the Burmese people had a lot of facial hair, which they would cut with primitive tools. The peddler, Menachem Zaken, saw an opportunity and began to sell razors (which had been invented by another Jewish immigrant from Poland, Jacob Schick) and cans of shaving cream. Zaken settled in Burma and established a company which he named after his new home. He marketed his products by placing billboards along the roadway, breaking up the wording over a succession of signs. Among his ads were the following: “Ben Met Anna/Made a hit/Neglected beard/Ben-Anna split/Burma-Shave”, “Use our cream/And we betcha/Girls won't wait/They’ll come and getcha/Burma-Shave”, and “Religious Jews/don’t shave their faces/But others want/close razor embraces/Burma-Shave.”

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Writer, comedian, and talk show and podcast host Conan O’Brien is in the news, having recently served as host of the Academy Awards. He will again host the Oscars in 2026, and he was just honored with the Mark Twain Prize at the  John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, following in the footsteps of such performers as Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett, Tina Fey, and Jon Stewart. O’Brien visited Israel in 2017, where he went to the Tel Baruch Central Synagogue in Tel Aviv to convert to Judaism. But he did not have much time in his schedule for that task, saying, “I have about an hour and 25 minutes to absorb 4000 years of culture and deeply held belief.” When the synagogue’s rabbi, Dov Halbertal, told him he would have to be circumcised, O’Brien replied, “Can we skip that part, because I need everything I got down there.” O’Brien did not convert, but he did throw himself a bar mitzvah party at the synagogue, where teenagers lifted him on a chair and Rabbi Halbertal played foosball with Conan. What did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say when told that Conan O’Brien would be visiting Israel?

Conan O'Brien by Gage Skidmore 2 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A. “Even in difficult times, it is always important that we are able to laugh together. We welcome Conan O’Brien to the Promised Land.”

B. “The Hebrew word קונן (Conen) means ‘to lament’ and so I must say I was lamenting the upcoming visit of Conan O’Brien. But I’ve been told that he has planted a tree from JNF in my honor, so I look forward to meeting Mr. O’Brien.”

C. “The most famous Irishman to come to Israel is Chaim Herzog, our sixth president. I look forward to the visit from another famous Irishman, though he is not likely to be elected to office here.”

D. “When Rebecca gave birth to her elder son, it says in the Bible, ‘The first one emerged red, like a hairy mantle all over; so they named him Esau.’ I look forward to meeting this Irish descendent of Esau.”

E. “Get back to me when Colbert’s here.”

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