Award-winning Jewish actor and Yiddish singer Mandy Patinkin has his prostate removed after being diagnosed with cancer last month. His agents report that he’s recovering nicely and should be back to work soon.
We love Mandy’s Mamalosheh and don’t deny his Broadway appeal, but we like him just as well as the swashbuckling scarface Inigo Montoya in the Princess Bride and as James Caan’s snakey sidekick in Alien Nation.

Jewish comedian and all-around misanthrope Larry David tells the Daily Dish “I’ve done one decent thing in my life, albeit inadvertently.”
The Curb Your Enthusiasm star is referring to the release of Juan Catalan from jail after he was mistakenly charged with the murder of a 16 year-old girl. Catalan’s lawyer maintained his client at the ballpark that night, the same Dodgers game where David was filming an episode of his show (the one where David hires a hooker so he can drive in the carpool lane.) Edited footage revealed that Catalan was indeed innocent.
We knew under that mean-spirited talk ol’ Larry was just an old softy.

From The Forward’s blog, Fiddish:

“I’ll bet you $10…
That a bunch of kids show up for the Purim costume contest next year dressed-up like Madonna, declaring that they are actually Queen Esther. In any such contest where only one kid has done this, the kid will walk away with a ribbon.”

Here’s another celeb to add to the J-list: Betty Boop entertained our grandparents’ generation with a particular brand of saucy sexiness that just won’t go away. Sure, she’s a cartoon, but you can’t deny that girlfriend’s hot. Think anyone will remember Laura Croft in 80 years? Wethinks not. Maybe those chicks from Heavy Metal might be around, but none of ’em can ward off evil with just a giggle.
Check out the full story, originally printed in Lilith magazine.

Barbra Streisand has been spotted at the L.A. Kabbalah Center, apparently the hippest place in Hollywood these days. Whether the Kabbalah Center is a money-manipulating cult preying on people’s spiritual weaknesses or a valid way to to pray is still up for debate; most still dismiss it as the former. But we respect Babs, who is reported to be a bit stingy with her money and wouldn’t support something she thought was bunk.

We wouldn’t say we worship at the feet of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, because they’re obviously freaks.

But the creators of those little cardboard boys of South Park have the whole country cackling at Jews, Jesus, Satan and poo for the eighth straight season. Not bad for a cartoon that appears to be contructed by special-ed third-graders.
When asked by the Wichita Eagle (yes, Dorothy, they do have cable in Kansas) why religion remains such a favorite victim of vicious satire, Stone, who describes himself as an “athiest Jew,” replied: “Religion is funny.”

Usually we buy a golden loaf from some fancy-shmancy bakery in the city to round out our Shabbos dinner, but today feels like a DIY kind of day. We like this recipe because its author describes it as “for the working woman or homemaker,” which doesn’t mean it’s not for dudes, only that it’s a sure bet for kitchen-challenged Jews.
BTW, we had to scroll through five Google pages to find a recipe that wasn’t low-carb, wheat-free or didn’t require a bread machine. What’s up with that?

Mado- er, we mean Esther– fumes that Kabbalah is not some celebrity slut bandwagon:

Have you heard of Torah Yoga? Diane Bloomfield, formal yoga instructor and Jewish scholar, has created one discipline out her two favorites (we’re picturing her reading at the bima while balancing on her elbows.)
We cheer her creativity, but frankly, yoga is a bit too boring for our tastes. Come to think of it, f*%k yoga. Now, Torah Jijitsu, there’s an idea…

Jon Moskowitz of the Forward (sign up for an online subcription; it’s free) muses on the role of Dad in our tribe: stoic patriarch or a Jewish mother’s right hand man who’d better know when to keep his mouth shut?
“What exactly does it mean to be a Jewish father? If I’ve read Philip Roth and Woody Allen correctly, to be a Jewish father is to be a bit player next to the incandescent and awe-inspiring figure of the Jewish Mother, that smothering, guilt-inducing, matzo-ball-soup-making superstar of the Jewish family unit.”
Hey- we resent that.
Happy Father’s Day to all the papas out there, especially Skip Feinstein in Tempe, AZ. Love ya, Dad!