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Ben Stiller satirizes Adam Sandler’s ‘Chanukah Song’ at Mark Twain Prize ceremony
(JTA) — Ben Stiller offered his own High Holiday alternative to Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song” as his fellow Jewish comedian accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
During an awards ceremony that took place on March 19 and aired last night on CNN, Stiller asked from the stage at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts how Sandler’s novelty song, first heard on “Saturday Night Live” in 1994, became a seasonal standard.
“It’s really just a list of rhyming celebrity names, and yet it goes multiplatinum and it’s become a holiday radio staple that my daughter forces us all to listen to after we light the candles every year,” said Stiller.
Pretending to be baffled by Sandler’s success, Stiller imagined what his own representatives would have said had he proposed his own song about Yom Kippur. He then went ahead and sang its “killer opening line,” which included a reference to a notorious slapstick scene in Stiller’s 1998 film “There’s Something About Mary”: “It’s time to atone / So let’s get in the zone. / Got my d–k caught in my zipper / and now it is Yom Kippur.”
It wasn’t the only Jewish moment in a night dedicated to a comedian who, in the course of a tenure on “Saturday Night Live” from 1991-1995 and more than 30 films since, has often displayed his own Jewishness, including playing an Israeli in “Don’t Mess with the Zohan” and starring in what may be the first and only big-budget Hanukkah animated film, “Eight Crazy Nights.”
Fellow comic Chris Rock told a lovely story about meeting Sandler when they were both struggling comics. Rock, who was among just a handful of Black kids at his Brooklyn elementary school, spoke about the one time he was invited to another kid’s house to play. The boy’s name was “David Moskowitz — a Jew,” Rock said, with evident admiration.
Years later, after their sets at a Manhattan comedy club, Sandler invited Rock to hang out with Sandler and his friends at his New York University dorm. Rock said the invitation meant a lot to him as a kid who often felt left out. “The Jews — they’re just nice,” he said.
Although the typical Sandler character is an often crude and frequently angry man-child, his generosity to fellow comics and actors was a recurring theme of the evening, which included presentations by Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Steve Buscemi, Luis Guzmán, Conan O’Brien and David Spade. His longtime collaborator Tim Herlihy called him a “mensch.”
Sandler’s mother, Judy Sandler, got in a dig about her son’s penchant for wearing baggy sweat pants and T-shirts despite the billions of dollars his films have grossed. “He’s a fashionista, they say, but I say he’s a slob,” she said.
In choosing Sandler, 56, for the prize, named for the 19th-century writer and humorist, Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter said Sandler has “entertained audiences for over three decades with his films, music and his tenure as a fan favorite cast member on SNL. Adam has created characters that have made us laugh, cry and cry from laughing.”
Previous Jewish winners of the award include Carl Reiner, Lorne Michaels, Neil Simon, Billy Crystal and Jon Stewart. The 2019 prize went to Dave Chappelle, who last year angered many Jewish viewers with a monologue on “Saturday Night Live” making light of antisemitism accusations against rapper Kanye West and basketball star Kyrie Irving.
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The post Ben Stiller satirizes Adam Sandler’s ‘Chanukah Song’ at Mark Twain Prize ceremony appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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IDF Soldier from Connecticut Killed in Southern Lebanon Combat
Sgt. Moshe Yitzhak Hacohen Katz. Photo: courtesy.
i24 News – The Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday morning the death of Sgt. Moshe Yitzhak Hacohen Katz, 22, originally from New Haven, Connecticut, who was killed during combat operations in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
According to the military, Katz was killed in a rocket attack targeting Israeli forces operating during efforts to expand a security zone in southern Lebanon. The IDF said the strike occurred overnight between Friday and Saturday, during a large-scale barrage aimed at units deployed in the area.
An initial military investigation found that one rocket directly hit an infantry unit from the 890th Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade, killing Katz instantly. Three additional soldiers were wounded and are listed in moderate condition.
The IDF said the announcement of Katz’s death was delayed to ensure that all family members, including those in the United States, were properly notified.
The army also said that recent attacks have largely focused on the four IDF divisions operating in Lebanon. In the past 24 hours alone, approximately 250 rockets were launched toward Israeli positions, with 23 crossing into Israeli territory, according to military figures.
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AI-Generated Antisemitic Rabbi Racks Up Millions of Followers with Questionable Financial Advice
i24 News – An AI-generated character known as Rabbi Goldman has attracted millions of followers online by combining old antisemitic tropes with digital-age conspiracy theories. The avatar, presented as a caricature of a New York rabbi, plays off stereotypes of Jewish power and wealth while dispensing unsolicited “financial advice” and conspiracy-laden commentary about global elites.
In his videos, Rabbi Goldman claims that Jews have “known every secret for thousands of years,” weaving age-old prejudice into modern misinformation. Among his assertions: that the moon landing was faked, the US government will soon exert total control over its citizens, and billionaires stage yacht sinkings for insurance fraud—all allegedly foreknown by “the Jews.”
Before being removed on Sunday night, his Instagram account had racked up over 1.5 million followers. Yet the same page remains active on Facebook, which shares an owner with Instagram, with roughly 180,000 followers and thousands of interactions per post. The comments reveal an audience that is genuinely engaged with, and emboldened by, his vitriolic rhetoric.
Rabbi Goldman’s videos follow a simple formula designed to thrive in algorithm-driven ecosystems. They begin with a cryptic slogan implying secret knowledge or hidden wealth — invoking Jews as the keepers of these secrets — to draw viewers in and extend watch time, thus being featured on more people’s feeds. What follows is a cascade of AI-generated, factually dubious monologues, all culminating in a pitch: he can show you how to acquire the same “Jewish wisdom.”
That pitch leads to his website, where a manual titled How to Make and Invest Money sells for $9, and he claims it has been purchased by over 4,000 people. The real product, however, carries a fuller title — How to Make and Invest Money Like the Jews. The 62-page PDF amounts to generic, AI-spun financial advice labeled as “the Jewish method,” occasionally interspersed with random references to the Talmud. Just like the videos, it references how Jews have managed to be successful for thousands of years but offers little backup as to how that can translate to a real-world scenario.
Most of it plays off the stereotype of Jews being financially astute. But some lines, such as “Jews do not day trade… We buy the market — the entire market — and we hold it indefinitely,” remove the mask entirely.
Whether we like it or not, antisemitism thrives online—and platforms’ recent loosening of content restrictions under the banner of “free speech” has only amplified it. Social media has become an ideal environment for grifters to blend prejudice with profit. And that is, to their credit, what the creators of Rabbi Goldman have done.
They have clearly borrowed from the “manosphere” playbook—a cluster of influencers promoting hyper-masculine, materialistic lifestyles infused with misogyny and antisemitism. Like Andrew Tate and similar figures, Rabbi Goldman appeals to disaffected young men who feel alienated by the economy and society in which they live, eager to locate a scapegoat.
In Goldman’s case, the scapegoats are the elites and billionaires. But the framing of the Jews alongside the elites has, by proxy, made them the scapegoat too. By merging coded hatred with generic Instagram-style self-help language, the character transforms antisemitism into a marketable aesthetic.
So essentially, the creator of Rabbi Goldman has found a niche in an emerging market, playing off of antisemitism to sell cheaply produced slop to teenagers. Which is both entrepreneurial and morally awful. But the issue is that social media has bred the ground for this by rewarding shock content and letting antisemitism often go untouched. Even when they deleted his Instagram account, dozens of copycats popped up, including an absurdly ironic German-language version that uses the likeness of British politician Jeremy Corbyn.
And this is what happens when social media companies are reactive rather than proactive. They were chasing shadows after the account became so big. Instead, they need to cut it out at its source, be tougher on antisemitism, and be more vigilant with AI content.
And for social media users, it is hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t anymore. Just try not to get financial advice from an AI rabbi who thinks the moon landing was fake.
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Pezeshkian Clashes with IRGC Over Iran’s War Strategy and Economy
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Deep divisions have reportedly emerged within Iran’s leadership as the war enters its fifth week, with tensions growing between President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior figures in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a report by Iran International.
The report by Iran International claims Pezeshkian has sharply criticized the military escalation strategy led by IRGC commanders, warning of severe economic consequences if the conflict continues.
He is said to have cautioned that without a ceasefire, Iran’s economy could “completely collapse within three weeks to a month.”
According to the same report, Pezeshkian has called for the restoration of executive and administrative authority to the civilian government, a demand reportedly rejected by IRGC leadership, including Ahmad Vahidi.
Vahidi is said to have pushed back, blaming the current crisis on the government’s failure to implement structural reforms prior to the war and recent protest movements.
Meanwhile, signs of economic strain are becoming increasingly visible across Iran. Reports from several major cities describe ATMs that are empty, out of service, or inaccessible, alongside repeated disruptions to online banking systems.
Public sector employees have also reported delays in salaries and benefits over the past three months.