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How a standup show at a Chinese restaurant turned into a 30-year Jewish comedy tradition
(JTA) — Just a few years into her comedy career, Lisa Geduldig was invited to perform standup at the Peking Garden Club near Northampton, Massachusetts. She went to the gig assuming it was a comedy club.
It wasn’t.
“I just had the most ironic experience,” Geduldig remembers telling a Jewish summer camp friend on the phone in October 1993. “I was just telling Jewish jokes in a Chinese restaurant.”
As a Long Island native who was by then living in San Francisco, she was very familiar with the tradition of Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas, a product of the neighborhood dynamics between Jewish and Chinese immigrant populations living in New York’s Lower East Side from the end of the 19th century.
After ruminating on it, she thought: why not start a Jewish comedy night on Christmas Eve?
She had enough time before the holiday to find other Jewish comics who liked the idea, write her own press release and partner with a restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown with banquet room space open on Christmas Eve to organize the event, which she called Kung Pao Kosher Comedy. (Geduldig liked the alliteration, even though it doesn’t involve kosher food.)
It was an instant hit, with around 400 guests, and Geduldig said nearly 200 people were turned away at the door. The kitchen of the Four Seas Restaurant was completely unprepared for the volume, as Geduldig didn’t expect anything close to the turnout. The show received a heap of local press, and the next year it earned a three-quarter page spread in The New York Times.
Fast forward and this year marks the 30th Kung Pao Kosher show, and the first one back in person since the COVID-19 pandemic. This time, the event has moved into a synagogue — the Reform Congregation Sherith Israel in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, one of the country’s oldest Jewish houses of worship. The Chinese banquet room at New Asia Restaurant, where the show had been hosted since 1997, became a supermarket in 2020.
Over the years, an impressive roster of comedians has performed, including names such as Marc Maron, Margaret Cho, Shelley Berman, David Brenner, Judy Gold, Gary Gulman and Ophira Eisenberg. Many of the show’s comedians return — Wendy Liebman, who has been doing standup for 38 years, has performed at Kung Pao four times.
Geduldig — who is now a publicist and comedy show producer, in addition to a comic — said the show that put her project on the map was when well-known Jewish comedian Henny Youngman headlined in 1997, at 92. Youngman — famous for his quick succession of clever one-liners and interludes from his favorite prop, a violin — died of pneumonia just two months after giving his final performance at Kung Pao Kosher Comedy. For six months after Youngman’s death, Geduldig and other Kung Pao promoters and staff were convinced that they killed him. The SF Weekly published an article titled “The Gig of Death?” But Youngman’s daughter, Marilyn Kelly, exonerated everyone involved in the show, saying the travel was a strain on her father’s health, but he was “delighted to have done it.”
Ten years after Youngman’s final performance, Shelley Berman, then in his 80s, was scheduled to perform at Kung Pao when he called Geduldig complaining of chest pains.
“I go, ‘No! I can’t kill another one!’” she recalled.
It turned out to be just acid reflux, and the emergency room doctor told Berman he could go onstage. (The doctor was extended an invitation to the show, but did not attend.)
In keeping with the Jewish tradition of social responsibility and tzedakah, meaning “charity” or “justice,” Geduldig has given a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales each year to two different charities. Past beneficiaries include a variety of Jewish and secular organizations; this year, the charitable proceeds will go to the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank and The Center for Reproductive Rights.
The charitable aspect is part of what keeps Shelley Kessler, a long-time California labor leader, coming back to the show. She has yet to miss a single one.
“Given what’s going on in the world, this is a very nice way to manage the depression,” Kessler said.
At Kessler’s table, her core group of five always bring tchotchkes and booze — though the synagogue has asked this year’s guests to refrain from red wine, to avoid any accidents on the carpet.
“People bring all kinds of things,” Kessler said. “We once had a humongous menorah. Our table has fun, I’ll tell you.”
This year’s lineup of comics includes Mark Schiff (Jerry Seinfeld’s longtime opening act), Cathy Ladman and Orion Levine. Lisa Geduldig will emcee in her customary tuxedo, accented this year with a Cuban guayabera shirt.
Joining Kung Pao on the virtual stage for the third time is Geduldig’s mother, Arline Geduldig, 91, who will Zoom in from Boynton Beach, Florida.
“One of the silver linings of the pandemic was not only living with my mother, but getting to know each other, finding out how funny she was,” Lisa Geduldig said.
In March 2020, the younger Geduldig flew to Florida to visit her mother — and stayed there for 17 months. That was when she launched Lockdown Comedy, a monthly online comedy show where Arline got her start, thanks to some mentoring from her daughter. Arline’s routines are often centered around her fascination with handsome young firemen and the way she calls her husband, Irving, downstairs for dinner.
“I love people saying they like me,” Arline told the Los Angeles Times in 2021. “I have a swelled head already.”
In previous years, Geduldig said she tried to turn “a Chinese restaurant into a synagogue.” She brought inflatable dreidels, giant matzah ball pillows and “Happy Hanukkah” banners, when Hanukkah and Christmas overlapped. Things are trickier now, since she wants to avoid any cultural appropriation while still paying tribute to the show’s origins. For instance, she learned that red paper lanterns are symbolic of good luck in Chinese culture, so she wants to incorporate some into the room.
The restaurant that the show was held in became a supermarket during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy of Lisa Geduldig)
“This year, I’m turning a synagogue into a Chinese restaurant,” she said.
Although the food will still be provided by a local Chinese restaurant, the usual fortune cookies filled with Yiddish proverbs will not be included. The food isn’t kosher, but because the event is being held in a synagogue there are still restrictions: No pork and no shrimp, despite Geduldig’s 30-year streak of serving treif (or non-kosher) food at Kung Pao Kosher Comedy.
“I was like, ‘How about if I call it kosher prawns?’” Geduldig joked. “They didn’t go for it.”
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The post How a standup show at a Chinese restaurant turned into a 30-year Jewish comedy tradition appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘The most Australian name’: Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach attack, embodies a nation’s grief
(JTA) — The youngest victim of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre is known by just one name — but it’s all that’s needed to make her a symbol for her fellow Australians.
“I named her Matilda because she was our firstborn in Australia. And I thought that Matilda was the most Australian name that could ever exist,” her father Michael, a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine, said at a vigil earlier in the week. “So just remember – remember her name.”
The poem and song “Waltzing Matilda,” written in 1895, is considered an unofficial anthem in Australia, which has been rocked by the terror attack on Bondi Beach that killed 15 people attending a Hanukkah celebration.
At a vigil on Thursday night at Bondi Pavilion — a public space now transformed into a memorial flooded with flowers and displays of solidarity — hundreds of mourners gathered and sang the song to memorialize Matilda, who at 10 was the youngest among the dead.
Matilda had been filmed shortly before the attack admiring as her father put on tefillin, the phylacteries used in prayer that emissaries of Chabad, the group that organized the Hanukkah celebration, routinely help Jewish men put on to fulfill a religious commandment. She was shot while standing with her mother Valentyna and 6-year-old sister.
Seeking to protect their privacy, the family has asked that their last name not be published in the media. Instead, Matilda has become associated her middle name, Bee.
At the somber memorial, all of the attendees were given stickers with Matilda’s name alongside a smiling bumblebee clutching a menorah, a symbol that has become a quiet emblem of remembrance in the days since her death.
At her funeral on Thursday, held at the Chevra Kadisha Memorial Hall, mourners clutched bee balloons and placed bee posters on the exterior of their cars.
A giant plush bumblebee was placed on Matilda’s small white casket at the funeral, one similar to the many that now adorn the Bondi Pavilion flower memorial alongside illustrations of bumblebees.
On social media, parents and schools around the world have posted children’s illustrations and photos of bees at the request of Matilda’s parents, a tribute that has spread widely as a way of remembering her. On Facebook, Matilda’s father, Michael, has reposted many of the online memorials.
Build a Bear Workshop Australia also announced the production of a limited-edition plush bee in memory of Matilda, with all proceeds going to her family. A GoFundMe page set up by her language teacher has also drawn over $550,000 in donations.
“She loved the outdoors, animals, she went to school, she had friends, everybody loved her,” Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, whose son-in-law, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, was also killed in the attack, said during his eulogy for Matilda. “The tragic, so totally cruel, an unfathomable murder of young Matilda is something that’s painful to all of us as if our own daughter was taken from us.”
Valentyna said at the vigil that until Sunday, she had been happy that her family had moved from Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since Russia invaded in 2022.
“I came from Ukraine. I brought from Ukraine my oldest son, with him, and I was so happy that he’s not there right now. He’s not fighting for his land, and he’s safe here,” she said as she broke down in sobs. “I couldn’t imagine I would lose my daughter here.”
Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales, the Australian state that includes Sydney, quoted from “Waltzing Matilda” at Matilda’s funeral.
“She bore the name Matilda to honor this great land, Australia’s heart and spirit forever hand in hand,” said Minns, who wore the bumblebee sticker on his lapel, according to ABC. “Her spirit like a swagman’s will never fade away. She’s waltzing with the angels, where love will always stay.”
The post ‘The most Australian name’: Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach attack, embodies a nation’s grief appeared first on The Forward.
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A Wider Bridge, a pro-Israel advocate in LGBTQ spaces, is shutting down
(JTA) — A Wider Bridge, a pro-Israel LGBTQ organization that became a flashpoint in debates over Israel, antisemitism and “pinkwashing” inside the American queer community, announced Friday that it will shut down at the end of the year.
The San Francisco–based nonprofit said it will wind down operations as of Dec. 31, 2025, citing financial strain, according to a statement from board chair Daniel Hernandez that was shared with supporters Friday.
“After 15 years, A Wider Bridge has made the difficult decision to wind down our operations,” Hernandez wrote. “The organization has been weathering difficult financial realities despite efforts to secure sustainable funding.”
The group’s closure also follows a period of internal turmoil. In late 2024, its executive director, Ethan Felson, was charged with sexual misconduct; he pleaded not guilty, and the organization installed interim leadership. Asked whether the case played any role in the decision to shut down, the group responded that the closure was driven by financial realities.
Founded in 2010 by activist Arthur Slepian, A Wider Bridge set out to connect LGBTQ communities in North America with their counterparts in Israel, promoting Israel’s record on LGBTQ rights while pushing back against antisemitism and anti-Zionist exclusion in queer spaces. The group organized trips to Israel, partnered with Israeli LGBTQ organizations, and launched initiatives such as PrideSafe and Queers Against Antisemitism.
Over time, however, A Wider Bridge became one of the most polarizing Jewish organizations in progressive LGBTQ circles, frequently clashing with activists who viewed any pro-Israel presence at Pride as political propaganda.
Critics accused the group of “pinkwashing” — using Israel’s comparatively strong legal protections for LGBTQ people to deflect attention from Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. A Wider Bridge rejected the charge, arguing that LGBTQ rights in Israel were substantive and that efforts to bar Zionist organizations from queer spaces amounted to discrimination against Jews.
Those tensions burst into public view in 2016 at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change conference in Chicago, when an event involving A Wider Bridge and an Israeli LGBTQ organization was canceled after activist pressure, reinstated and ultimately disrupted by protesters.
The following year, the group drew national attention after Jewish marchers carrying rainbow flags with Stars of David were asked to leave the Chicago Dyke March. Organizers said the march was anti-Zionist and that the flags made some participants feel unsafe. A Wider Bridge and its allies countered that Jewish identity was being treated as inherently political, and therefore unwelcome, in queer spaces.
The dispute became a template for similar conflicts at Pride events in other cities, as debates over Zionism, antisemitism and Palestinian solidarity intensified inside progressive movements.
In recent years, A Wider Bridge increasingly framed its mission around combating antisemitism within LGBTQ communities, particularly after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza deepened fractures within left-leaning coalitions. It came to the aid of Aguda, Israel’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group, after it was dropped as a member of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association during the war.
The group spent more than it brought in in 2023, according to its federal tax filing from that year. Last year, the group’s budget was more balanced, but it also raised less from supporters, bringing in just $1.1 million, compared to more than $1.6 million in each of the previous two years.
In an email to supporters, A Wider Bridge emphasized what it described as its legacy, pointing to advocacy for LGBTQ rights in Israel, support for Israeli LGBTQ organizations, and efforts to push back against antisemitism and anti-Zionism in queer spaces.
“Though we are winding down, this is not a time to back down,” Hernandez wrote, adding that board members and supporters would continue the work in their individual capacities.
The post A Wider Bridge, a pro-Israel advocate in LGBTQ spaces, is shutting down appeared first on The Forward.
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Why aren’t we hearing about the dramatic growth of the Israeli stock market?
דאָס איז אַן איבערזעצונג פֿונעם ענגלישן אַרטיקל, וואָס איר קענט לייענען דאָ
דעם פֿאַרגאַנגענעם שבת האָב איך געלייענט וועגן דעם אויסערגעוויינטלעכן וווּקס פֿון דער ישׂראלדיקער בערזע זינט דעם 7טן אָקטאָבער — היפּש בעסער ווי דער אויפֿשטײַג פֿון דער אַמעריקאַנער בערזע.
די 35 ישׂראלדיקע אַקציעס מיטן גרעסטן ווערט זענען זינט דעם 7טן אָקטאָבער געוואַקסן מיט נישט ווייניקער ווי 90 פּראָצענט. במשך פֿון דער זעלבער צײַט איז די אַמעריקאַנער בערזע געשטיגן מיט 60 פּראָצענט.
ס׳איז מיר געווען אַ חידוש פֿאַר וואָס איך האָב פֿריִער נישט געהערט וועגן דעם. דערנאָך האָב איך געלייענט וואָס דער פֿאָרזיצער פֿון דער תּל־אָבֿיבֿער בערזע, יודזשין קאַנדעל, האָט געזאָגט בעת אַן אינטערוויו מיט דער אינוועסטאָרן־צײַטונג Investors Business Daily.
„ישׂראל איז באַפֿאַלן געוואָרן, און ווערט נאָך אַלץ באַפֿאַלן פֿון אידעאָלאָגן, וואָס פֿינאַנצירן ריזיקע קאַמפּאַניעס קעגן אונדז,“ האָט קאַנדעל געזאָגט. „אָבער אַפֿילו במשך פֿון די פֿאַרגאַנגענע צוויי יאָר, האָט זיך נישט אָפּגעשטעלט ישׂראלס צוזאַמענאַרבעט מיט אַזוי פֿיל אָרגאַניזאַציעס, פֿירמעס, רעגירונגען און אינוועסטאָרן, נישט געקוקט אויף די דראָונגען און פּראָטעסטן קעגן איר.“
פֿאַר וואָס הערן מיר נישט וועגן אָט די קאָלאַבאָראַציעס?
כ׳האָב גענומען זוכן מער אינפֿאָרמאַציע וועגן דעם אָבער פּלוצלינג האָב איך זיך דערוווּסט וועגן דעם שיסערײַ אויף דער חנוכּה־מסיבה אין באָנדי־ביטש, אויסטראַליע. מיט אַ מאָל איז בײַ מיר פֿאַרשוווּנדן געוואָרן די שבת־מנוחה, ווי אויך מײַן גריבלען זיך אין די פּרטים וועגן ישׂראלס עקאָנאָמישער צוזאַמענאַרבעט.
איך האָב שוין פֿריִער געקלערט וועגן דעם וואָס טעראָריסטן איבער דער וועלט ווייסן גענוי די דאַטעס פֿון אַלע ייִדישע יום־טובֿים. דאָס וואָס די לעצטע שחיטה איז דורכגעפֿירט געוואָרן חנוכּה איז נישט געווען קיין צופֿאַל, און ייִדן איבער דער וועלט ווייסן דאָס גוט.
מיר לעבן איצט איבער אַ לאַנגע קאַמפּאַניע צו ווירקן אויף ייִדן, זיי זאָלן מורא האָבן זיך אויסצולעבן ווי ייִדן. די אַטאַקן אויף ייִדישע יום־טובֿים זענען אַ מיטל אָפּצומעקן ייִדישע פֿרייד, אָפּצומוטיקן ייִדן פֿון היטן ייִדישע טראַדיציעס און אינעם פֿאַל פֿון חנוכּה — אָפּצוּווישן די ייִדישע געשיכטע.
און אפֿשר איז דאָס אויך אַ קאַמפּאַניע צו מינימיזירן די אויפֿטוען פֿון דער ייִדישער מדינה.
עטלעכע פּאָליטיקער האָבן דאָס שוין באַמערקט
עטלעכע פּאָליטיקער האָבן שוין אָנגעהויבן זיך פֿאַרנעמען מיט דעם ענין. ברײַען מאַסט, אַ רעפּרעזענטאַנט אינעם אַמעריקאַנער קאָנגרעס, דער פֿאָרזיצער פֿונעם קאָמיטעט פֿון אויסלענדישע ענינים בײַם רעפּרעזענטאַנטן־הויז און אַ פֿלאָרידער רעפּובליקאַנער, האָט געזאָגט אַז ער זעט „אַ ספּעציפֿישע נעץ פֿון גרופּעס, וואָס קאָלאַבאָרירן צו פֿאַרזייען אַנטיסעמיטיזם איבער דער מעדיאַ, סײַ בײַם לינקן לאַגער סײַ בײַם רעכטן, כּדי צו שטערן די באַציִונגען.“
מיט „באַציִונגען“ מיינט ער די צוזאַמענאַרבעט צווישן די פֿאַראייניקטע שטאַטן און ישׂראל.
רעדנדיק אויף אַ קאָנפֿערענץ וועגן אַנטיסעמיטיזם געשטיצט פֿונעם „האָדסאָן־אינסטיטוט“, האָט מאַסט באַצייכנט די נעץ ווי „זייער אַן ערנסטע גלאָבאַלע סכּנה, וואָס פֿאַרשפּרייט זיך איבער פֿיל־לענדיקע אָרגאַניזאַציעס, דער גלאָבאַלער מעדיאַ, אונדזערע קעגנערס און טעראָריסטישע אָרגאַניזאַציעס.“
ווען ער האָט דערמאָנט דאָס וואָרט „מעדיאַ“, האָב איך גלײַך געטראַכט וועגן דעם וואָס כּמעט קיינער האָט נישט געשריבן וועגן דעם אוגעריכטן וווּקס פֿון דער ישׂראלדיקער בערזע און דעם כּוח פֿון די ישׂראלדיקע אַקציעס.
אַ שטיין אַראָפּ פֿון האַרצן
ס׳קלינגט אפֿשר מאָדנע אָבער לייענענדיק מאַסטס באַמערקונגען איז מיר אַראָפּ אַ שטיין פֿון האַרצן. איך האָב אָפּגעאָטעמט, הערנדיק ווי עמעצער באַשטעטיקט אָט דעם פֿענאָמען, כאָטש איך בין נישט זיכער אַז דאָס וואָרט „נעץ“ איז נישט אַקוראַט.
די וואָך בין איך בײַגעווען אויף אַן אומסעקטאַנטישער מסיבה לכּבֿוד די סוף־יאָריקע פֿײַערונגען, און קיינער האָט גאָרנישט דערמאָנט וועגן דעם שיסערײַ אין אויסטראַליע. ס׳איז מיר געווען אַ חידוש. צי וואָלט דער שמועס אויף דער מסיבה געווען אַנדערש, ווען מע וואָלט באַשאָסן אַ גרופּע מענטשן וואָס צינדן אָן אַ קאָמונאַלן ניטלבוים? וואָס וואָלט געווען דער שמועס אויב דער ציל פֿון די טעראָריסטן וואָלט געווען אַן אַנדער גרופּע, נישט די ייִדן?
ס׳איז שווער צו גלייבן אַז יעדער וואָלט געשוויגן; אַז קיינער וואָלט עס נישט אָנערקענט; אַז אין אַ צימער געפּאַקט מיט מענטשן וואָס אַרבעטן טאָג־טעגלעך מיט ווערטער זאָל קיינער נישט אַרויסרעדן קיין וואָרט וועגן דעם.
די דראָונג איז נישט בלויז די דראָונג וואָס דער רעפּרעזענטאַנט מאַסט האָט באַשריבן, אָדער די דראָונג וואָס קאַנדעל האָט באַשריבן. פּונקט אַזאַ סכּנה אויך דאָס שווײַגן — אַ שווײַגן וואָס איז אַזוי בולט אַז מע קען עס זען ווי אַ ליכטל אין דער פֿינצטער.
ווי אַזוי מע דאַרף רעאַגירן אויף דעם שווײַגן
איך ווייס אַליין נישט ווי מע דאַרף רעאַגירן אויף אַזאַ שווײַגעניש אָבער אפֿשר ווייסן קליגערע מענטשן פֿון מיר, וואָס מע דאַרף טאָן.
נעכטן שפּעט בײַ נאַכט האָב איך דערזען ווי עס פֿאָרט פֿאַרבײַ אויפֿן „ניו־יאָרק סטייט טרוּוויי“ (אַ באַקאַנטן ניו־יאָרקער שאָסיי) אַ לאַנגע ריי אויטאָס מיט חנוכּה־לעמפּ אויף די דעכער. די ריי אויטאָס האָט זיך געצויגן און געצויגן. דער שטילער באַטײַט איז געווען: „האָט נישט קיין מורא.“ בײַ מיר איז דאָס קלאָר געווען אַן אָפּרוף אויף „באָנדי־ביטש“.
איך האָף אַז מע צינדט איצט מער חנוכּה־לעמפּ, נישט ווייניקער, ווי פֿריִער. איך האָף אויך אַז מיר קענען אין דער ליכטיקייט אַנטפּלעקן די כּלערליי שיכטן פֿון אמת. אַ מאָל קענען אָט די שיכטן רעפּרעזענטירן סײַ אַ געזונטע דאָזע רעאַליטעט, סײַ אַן אַנטימיטל קעגן ייִאוש.
יאָ, אַ טאַטע און אַ זון זענען באַפֿאַלן די ייִדן אין אַ ייִדישן יום־טובֿ. ס׳איז אָבער אויך וויכטיק און אמת, אַז אַ נישט־באַוואָפֿנטער מוסולמענישער טאַטע און פֿרוכט־פֿאַרקויפֿער מיטן נאָמען אַכמעד אַל אַכמעד האָט געשפּרונגען אויף איינעם פֿון די טעראָריסטן און אַ דאַנק דעם אָן שום ספֿק געראַטעוועט דאָס לעבן פֿון אַ סך מענטשן.
דער ווידעאָ פֿון זײַן העלדישן אַקט דאַרף יעדער איינער זען. עס דערמאָנט אונדז אַז אפֿשר איז אויך דאָ אַן אַנדער „נעץ“ פֿון מענטשן וואָס שטעלן זיך אַנטקעגן אַזאַ שׂינאה. אַכמעד אַל אַכמעד האָט אונדז באַוויזן דעם כּוח פֿון אַ יחיד, און דעם כּוח פֿון איין שיכט פֿונעם אמת.
וואָס שייך דעם שווײַגן וועגן די ישׂראלדיקע פֿירמעס וואָס האָבן מצליח געווען, נישט געקוקט אויף דער מלחמה און די בויקאָטן; וואָס האָבן געהאָלפֿן פֿאַרהעכערן דעם אינדעקס מיט 90 פּראָצענט זינט דעם ערגסטן טאָג אין דער געשיכטע פֿון מדינת־ישׂראל; וואָס האָבן נישט אויפֿגעהערט זייער מיטאַרבעט מיט שותּפֿים איבער דער וועלט, נישט געקוקט אויף דער קאַמפּאַניע זי אויסצושליסן — אַפֿילו אין דער פֿינצטערניש, אַפֿילו דורכן שווײַגעניש, זײַ וויסן, ישׂראל: מיר זעען דיך.
אַבֿיה קושנער איז די שפּראַך־קאָלומניסטקע פֿונעם „פֿאָרוואַרד“
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