New Spin on Chanukah

Jewish Woman magazine
Winter issue 2008

		A New Spin on Chanukah By Meredith Jacobs My parents no longer light the Chanukah menorah. "Why bother?" explained my mother. "You and your sister are no longer home. It’s just me and Daddy. Why should we bother? Chanukah is for kids." Wow. I thought about that. I don’t think Chanukah is just for kids. I don’t want Chanukah to be just for kids. I want to imagine that one day, when Sofie and Jules are grown and have families of their own, Jonathan and I will still light the candles. (Of course, what I really want is for my future grandchildren to all live close enough to us that we light the candles with them, but that’s not the point.) The point is, what does happen to Chanukah when kids aren’t around? How can I make Chanukah meaningful to me ...As Lisa Alcalay Klug, author of Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe (Andrews McMeel), puts it, "It’s really about being comfortable in your own skin, knowing where you come from and expressing pride in who you are." Klug, like Schwimmer, celebrates Chanukah kitsch in the Heebster-chic style in which many young Jews today own their Jewishness. Kitsch becomes cool and Chanukah hip. (more)

The Clips Keep Coming

We've been getting lots of media coverage...

December 21st
Jewlicious.com

December 19th
The Lori & Julia Show

December 13th
The Los Angeles Times

December 10th
Sam & Suzy in the Morning, LATalkRadio.com

December 9th
The World of TJ McCormack, LATalkRadio.com describes this interview as "all-time great show of T.J.'s." Streaming audio available here.

I've also taped interviews with Jewish Life TV and the Bill Handel that are yet to air.

Cool Jew will also be part of the media discussion on multiculturalism in America during the presidential inauguration week at Interfaith Voices. Details to follow soon!

Times of London

Jewish cool, Catholic Hip, Islamic Hip-hop

By Libby Purves

October 30, 2008

We are alerted by the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle to this book about how to be a cool Jew (I thought they all were..). “When you’re a Heebster, you don’t have to work hard to be cool, you just have to be proud to be a Jew,” says journalist Lisa Alcalay Klug . The book "can be seen as part of the wave of hipster Judaism that has produced the irreverent Heeb and Guilt and Pleasure magazines, JDub Records and reggae singer Matisyahu, “Challah Back” and “Yenta” T-shirts and HeBrew Beer." As for actual religious belief and feeling, Klug is in favour...

Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

October 29, 2008

Hey, Hipster Jew—you probably think this book is about you

By Jay Firestone

You're sporting a Batman yarmulke on your head and a cubic-zirconia-studded Star of David pendant around your neck that would put Flavor Flav to shame. A plastic Moses figure stands posed next to your computer, ready for some sea-splitting action.

If you count yourself among the Heebsters and Sheebsters, you're proud to be a Jew and have no reservations when it comes to flaunting your J-bling. If this is all new to you, welcome to the world of hipster Jews.

That's the thinking behind Lisa Alcalay Klug's new book, "Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe" (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $12.99), which seeks to catalogue hip Jewish trends, from He'BrewBeer to Heeb magazine, while looking at Judaism and its culture through a post-denominational lens.

Also referred to as "The Heebster Handbook," Klug describes "Cool Jew" as "a field manual for 21st-century Jews." With chapters ranging from "Heebster, Know Thyself" to "Heebster Spoken Here," the book captures the social and cultural zeitgeist that defines modern cool Jews. "Cool Jew" picks up where the do-it-yourself "Jewish Catalog" series left off, aiming its content at the iJew who feels no shame in giving the gift of a virtual matzah ball to a Facebook friend. (more)

CBC Canadian Broadcasting Centre

Click here for a podcast interview from Q, the CBC Culture, Arts and Entertainment hour with Jian Ghomeshi.

Canadian Jewish News

CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS, Oct. 16, 2008

Defining the hipster Jew for the new generation

By ANDY LEVY-AJZENKOPF
Staff Reporter
On Sept. 1, award-winning U.S. journalist
and proud Heebster maven Lisa Alcalay
Klug released her book Cool Jew: The Ultimate
Guide for Every Member of the Tribe
(Andrews McMeel Publishing).
Described as “a field manual for 21stcentury
Jews and the people who love
them, [it] decodes contemporary Judaism
and its hippest forms of cultural expression,”
Cool Jew is 250 pages of new
Jewish lingo and imagery and has been
on Amazon.com’s Top 10 bestseller list
for humour/religion since its release. It’s
now in its second print run due to heavy
demand, according to Klug.
Though she’s been living out of a suitcase
for the last month while promoting
the book on a whirlwind North American
tour, Klug kindly took time out for an
e-mail Q&A last week with Heebonics to
kibbitz about how it came together and
her thoughts on the new Jew. Now that’s
menschkeit.
And before you ask, Klug has decided
to coin the term “Heebster,” defining it as
such:
Heebster \heeb-stur\, noun (circa now) :
1 : A cool Jew.
2 : An honorary Member of the Tribe.
3 : Those who not only know what it is to be
Jewish, they know it, flaunt it, dig it and love it.
***
Heebonics: Why write Cool Jew?
Klug: I wrote Cool Jew because I love being
Jewish and I care passionately about how we
relate to our identity, tradition and community.
H: How did you go about researching it? How long
did it take?
K: About 15 years crammed into two. I’ve been
collecting and noticing fun and innovative forms
of Jewish expression for a long time. I spent a
much shorter period actually writing the book,
gathering images, working with an illustrator,
designing the cover and working on the layout. I
share the design credit on the book. (more)

Jerusalem Post

It's cool to be a Jew...

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017438639&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull