Ayelet the Kosher Komic

Ayelet Newman
Born Ayelet Ben Hur
Long Island, New York
Residence Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality American
Occupation Stand-up comedian
Denomination Orthodox Judaism[1][2]
Website kosherkomedy.com

Ayelet Newman, known by the stage name Ayelet the Kosher Komic,[3] is an Orthodox Jewish female stand-up comedian. She discontinued her acting career and began performing "kosher comedy" to women-only audiences after becoming a baalas teshuva (embracing Orthodox Judaism) in the early 2000s.[2] In 2003 she moved to Jerusalem.[4] She performs both in Israel and internationally.[5]

Biography

Born Ayelet Ben Hur,[6][7] she grew up in a secular Jewish family in Long Island, New York.[2] After high school, she moved to Los Angeles to audition for roles in TV and film. Among her acting credits are an HBO series, a Lifetime TV movie, and a bit part in the 2003 film The Hebrew Hammer.[2][4][7] She also performed stand-up routines on Comedy Central and at the New York Comedy Club and The Improv.[4]

Her career took a 180-degree turn when she began attending Torah classes at the Los Angeles branch of Aish HaTorah, an Orthodox Jewish outreach organization. As she embraced a Torah-observant lifestyle, she quit acting and began performing what she calls "kosher comedy" – stand-up routines that are devoid of off-color humor, vulgar references, cursing, and personal attacks, but that instead focus on the humor in daily life.[1][2][8] She also stopped performing in front of men, but plays to female audiences exclusively.[1][2]

Welcome to Glatt Kosher Airlines. Our pilot and co-pilot will be taking time to pray Mincha and Maariv [the afternoon and evening prayers]. You're asked to pray with extra devotion at this time since no one will be flying the airplane.

“
”

Ayelet the Kosher Komic, "Glatt Kosher Airlines"[6]

Her hour-long show for Orthodox women and seminary girls includes stand-up routines on topics such as modesty, dating, dieting, kosher laws, Jewish prayer, motherhood, and malaproprisms in Hebrew.[4][9][10] While most of the show is rehearsed, Ayelet does some improvisation.[5] Her signature routine is a pre-flight safety briefing on the mythical "Glatt Kosher Airlines", in which passengers receive emergency instructions such as: "Should there be, God forbid, a rapid change in cabin pressure, a book of psalms will fall from the panel above your head".[1] "Please say your own tehillim [psalms] prior to assisting the small child, elderly passenger or recent baal teshuvah seated next to you".[2]

She has produced the comic audio CDs It's a Frum Frum Life and Life in Israel.[3]

Personal

Since she started her comedy career in the Orthodox Jewish world as a single woman, Ayelet was reluctant to reveal her age to media sources lest it limit her marriage opportunities.[1] She has since married a full-time kollel student[5] and is the mother of four.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Berman, Daphna (28 January 2005). "A Jew, an Orthodox Jew and an ultra-Orthodox Jew meet at a club...". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Birkner, Gabrielle (11 March 2005). "Frum and Funny". The Jewish Week. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 Rosenberg, C. (11 March 2014). "Tickle My Funny Bone". Mishpacha. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Stern, Leah B. (19 January 2005). "Kosher Komic Does It Her Way". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 February 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  5. 1 2 3 Branfman, Varda (12 March 2014). "Igniting the Jewish World With Laughter". The English Update. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 Chabin, Michele (31 March 2005). "For Women By Women". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. pp. 4E–5E. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 "The Hebrew Hammer (2003) Full Cast & Crew". Internet Movie Database. 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Gelbwasser, Michael (5 March 2011). "Have You Heard the One About the Kosher Comedian?". Sharon Patch. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Pine, Dan (18 February 2005). "For Women Only: Orthodox comedian keeps jokes clean and kosher". Jweekly.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  10. ↑ Lambert, Josh (20 May 2014). "Comedy Isn't Kosher, But It Can Be Funny". Tablet. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  11. ↑ "Kosher Komedy". kosherkomedy.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.

External links

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