It turned out to be an ideal crowd-pleasing, laugh-inspiring and community-building experience to close out the Discover East Brunswick shabbaton at the Young Israel of East Brunswick.
A prospective members’ shabbaton at YIEB drew nine families to the shul for Shabbat and 125 people for a communal lunch. As Malka Gross, one of the organizers, shared with The Jewish Link, by the end of Shabbat four of the families had already committed to move to town.
The formal end of the weekend was a comedy show featuring Talia Reese, who performs in some of the most popular comedy clubs in New York. Her stand-up act draws on her experiences as a wife, mother and observant Jew. The show was sold out and the social hall was packed for the performance.
The master of ceremonies of the evening was YIEB member Joseph Shmulewitz, who quickly got the crowd laughing by saying that even though the conditions outside were quite rainy and windy, “I know this crowd; if they paid $36 a seat, they’re gonna be here, no matter what the weather.” Shmulewitz riffed on some shul politics: “I was told not to take shots at the hashkama minyan. But we know they never join in shul events and they’re not here tonight. So let’s talk about them.”
Talia Reese got her set off to a strong start, telling the crowd that the person who introduced her act failed to mention that “I’m a first responder… on social media” and sharing that “I’ve had two failed marriages. But I’m still in the second one now.” She joked that after her husband, Chaim, a Canadian, passed his citizenship test, he told her: “I’m more American than you now” to which she responded, “I don’t know the answers to many of those questions about America, and that shows that I’m more American than you!”
Reese riffed on her upbringing by a Sephardic father, who “did not want a daughter doing stand-up…” and said that she feels she’s not interested in being a mother, which her friends tell her is selfish, “since I have two daughters.” Many of her jokes touched on the fact that she grew up Reform but became observant upon marrying Chaim. “I used to confuse mechitza and mikvah. I’ve learned that you don’t want to show up to the mechitza without all your clothes on.”
She told the crowd that the frum world needs new kashrut hechshers and offered two—the KEFV—Kosher Enough for Vacation, and the IJVWNK—It’s Just Vegetables, What’s Not Kosher?? She shared that she went online to look into a yeshiva for her daughters, looked at the school’s website, found a seven-digit number, and called it. “It turned out, that was the tuition.”
Commenting on the event afterwards, YIEB member Michael Goldrich said: “It was a fun evening and a great end to a successful recruitment shabbaton for the shul. The best measure of the warm nature of YIEB was that the audience stayed for another hour after the program, just to socialize with each other.”
Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He believes that YIEB is one of the most happening shuls in the area. Harry can be reached at [email protected]
