A satirical look at contemporary Israeli civil society in Hebrew and English, as adapted from Tom Lehrer’s sardonic “National Brotherhood Week” (1965). . . .

An original Ladino adaptation of the song “Oy Khanike” (derived from the Yiddish poem of the same name by Mordkhe Rivesman) also known in English as “Oh Chanukah” or in Hebrew as “Y’mei ha-Ḥanukka.” I’m aware that the custom of spinning tops was not originally a Sefaradi one. So sue me, I was looking for something to rhyme with “libertaḏ.” I’ve included the Rashi script, the Aki Yerushalaim orthography, and (as an added bonus) the Cyrillic transcription used by the Jews of the Balkans. . . .

An original Judeo-Arabic adaptation of the song “Oy Khanike” (derived from the Yiddish poem of the same name by Mordkhe Rivesman) also known in English as “Oh Ḥanukkah” or in Hebrew as “Y’mei ha-Ḥanukka.” With thanks to Mazen Haddad for his help with the Arabic! Some notes: 1) Case endings and nunation, which would (in colloquial dialects) often be skipped or dropped, are transcribed in brackets. 2) The word “sufnāj” is a Moroccan Arabic dialectal word which is the agent noun for sfenj, a traditional type of North African doughnut. . . .

Some communities have a practice of singing a song about Miriam alongside the well-known Havdalah song about Elijah the Prophet. But Miriam isn’t really a parallel to Elijah — she’s a parallel to Moshe and Aaron. When we’re talking about distaff counterparts to Elijah the clearest example is Seraḥ bat Asher. Seraḥ, the daughter of Asher, is mentioned only a handful of times in the Tanakh, but is given great significance in the midrash. Like Elijah, she is said to have never died but entered Paradise alive, and comes around to the rabbis to give advice or teachings. This song, which includes several references to midrashim about Seraḥ, is meant to be sung to any traditional tune of “Eliyahu haNavi.” It is dedicated to Ḥazzan Joanna Selznick Dulkin (shlit”a), who introduced me to the legends of Seraḥ bat Asher. . . .

Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish quadrant, and in many communities it was read in translation. This adaptation into tlhIngan Hol is very useful for when your universal translator is malfunctioning at a Seder on Qo’noS. Okay, but to be serious for a moment, while the many connections between the canon of Star Trek and the Jewish community are well known, one of the lesser-known ones is that the inventor of tlhIngan Hol (the Klingon language), Marc Okrand, is Jewish, and a substantial number of Klingon terms come from Hebrew or Yiddish. In honor of that connection, the editor has developed this adaptation of the well-known seder table-song Ḥad Gadya into tlhIngan Hol, as well as a home-brewed transcription system into Hebrew script called pIluy. The wildlife has also been adapted, so instead of a goat the story begins with one little targ. (Sure, they might LOOK like pigs, but who knows if they chew cud or not!) . . .