Recommendations and more

Jewish and Awesome

Below you’ll find recommended books, modern Jewish music, famous Jews, Recipes, and more. This section will be under construction forever, as it will continue to grow as the months, years, decades pass. 

Jewish music runs the gamut of styles and genres and while most know the classic styles such as Klezmer music, me being a 43-year-old convert, I love the old but really love the many modern Jewish styles out there. It would seem that Jewish music is as versatile as the Jewish community nowadays, and that is a beautiful thing indeed. Below you’ll find some of my favorite artists that I listen to regularly, a quick YouTube of any of these names will yield so much good music that you’ll be dancing 0-60 in 1.3 seconds flat!

Clicking on any of the artist’s names below will take you to YouTube to hear my favorite song by each artist.

Matisyahu – Raggae/rock

Nissim Black – Hip hop

Avi Delevanti – Pop

Ari Goldwag – Pop

Gad Elbaz – Pop

8th Day – Jazz/Ska/Rock

The Maccabeats – Rock

Lipa Schmeltzer – Rock/Pop

Uri Davidi – Pop

Mordechai Shapiro – Pop/Rn’B

Reuven Garber – Pop/Rock

Benny Friedman – Rock/Pop

Kosha Dillz – Hip hop

Westside Gravy – Hip hop

Below are some Jewish books that are personally beloved by my family and me. This list will continue to grow as our library grows and we’re introduced to more of the amazing works of Jewish writers. 

Art-Scroll Tanakh
JPS Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures
Mishkan T’filah: A Reform Siddur
On Judaism by Martin Buber
Choosing a Jewish life by Anita Diamant
Living Judaism by Rabbi Wayne Dosick
American Judaism by Glazer
(for levity) How to be an extremely Reform Jew by David M. Bader
Shuva: The future of the Jewish past by Yehuda Kurtzer
Liberal Judaism at home by Morrison David Bial
A life of meaning; Embracing Reform Judaisms sacred path edited by Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan PhD.
Reform Judaism: A Jewish way of life by Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff
Let’s get Biblical Vol. 1 and 2 by Tovia Singer
Creating a life that matters by Rabbi Manis Friedman
Israel by Noa Tishby
The Garden of Peace by Rabbi Shalom Arush
The Seif-edition Artscroll Transliterated Linear Siddur

If you have little ones, you’ve got to check out Bim Bam on YouTube. Bim Bam has a huge variety of videos teaching Jewish everything, from Songs to history, from holidays to celebrations, and so much more. Even adults will find a plethora of excellent information on Bim Bam, so click the link below.

BIM BAM

Jewish food and recipes

As my family becomes more and more enmeshed with all things Jewish, one thing we’ve been working on is trying a plethora of Jewish foods and recipes. 

Joan Nathan’s Exciting noodle kugel – This was a huge hit with my family and I’ve got some very picky eaters in multiple age groups. Great as a dinner, a side dish, or even a lunch, this creamy and flavorful dish will have them coming back for more!

My favorite Youtube channels

Youtube has some great resources for learning about Judaism and the Jewish views on religion and life. Below are some of my favorites.

Rabbi Manis Friedman

Rabbit Tovia Singer

Jewish learning institute

Congregation Rodeph Shalom

Jews for Judaism

Famous Jews

Jewish people have played a major role in music, movies, television, etcetera, so much so, that many people do not realize just how many of their favorite famous people were Jewish. Below you’ll find an incomplete list of just a few of the most famous Jewish people in music, cinema, and television.

Music

Paula Abdul

DJ AM

Ross the boss

Diaspora Yshiva Band

Nissim Black 

Matisyahu

David Draiman (Disturbed)

Bob Dylan

Fat Mike (NOFX)

Benny Goodman

Scott Ian (Anthrax)

Billy Joel

Al Jolson

Lenny Kravitz

Kosha Dillz

Robby Krieger (The Doors)

Adam Lambert

Adam Levine

Lil Dicky

Lisa Loeb

Tony Martin

Epic Mazur

Mark Mendoza (Twisted Sister) 

Bette Midler

Beastie Boys

Mac Miller

Mandy Moore

Alanis Morissette 

Necro

Buzz Osbourne (The Melvins)

Pink

Princess Superstar

The Ramones

Lou Reed

Buddy Rich

Rick Rubin

Adam Schlesinger (fountains of Wayne)

 Chuck Schuldiner (Death)

Shifty Shellshock (Crazy town)

The Shondes

Josh Silver (Type O Negative)

Gene Simmons (Kiss)

Paul Simon

Alex Skolnick (Testament)

Pat Smear (Foo Fighters)

Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls)

Joe Trohman (Fall out boy)

Jay Weinberg (Slipknot)

Max Weinberg (Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band)

Ben Weinman (The Dillinger Escape Plan)

Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, and Mary)

Drake

Amy Winehouse

Barry Manilow

Actors and Actresses

Mayim Bialik

Woody Allen

Jack Black

Adam Sandler

Jeff Goldblum

Jerry Lewis

Emmy Rossum

Jerry Seinfeld 

Jerry Springer

Daniel Radcliffe

Harrison Ford

Ben Stiller

Jerry Stiller

Natalie Portman

Scarlet Johansson

Joaquin Phoenix

Adrien Brody

Mel Brooks

Larry David

Kirk Douglas

Jennifer Connelly

Goldie Hawn

Leonard Nimoy

Seth Green

Dustin Hoffman

Henry Winkler

Jake Gyllenhaal

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Harvey Keitel

James Caan

Sarah Michelle Geller

Mila Kunis

Gene Wilder

Billy Crystal

Winona Ryder

Liev Schreiber

Lisa Kudrow

Lisa Bonet

David Schwimmer

Corey Haim Richard Dreyfuss

James Franco

Daniel-Day Lewis

Joseph-Gordon Levitt

Chris Pine

Neve Campbell

Elizabeth Banks

 Michelle Trachtenberg 

Kirk Douglas

Amanda Bynes

Lauren Bacall

Alicia Silverstone

Alyson Hannigan

Seth Green

Tony Curtis

Sacha Baron Cohen

Matthew Broderick

Zach Braff

William Shatner

Eli Roth

Debra Messing

Ellen Barkin

Kyra Minturn Sedgwick

Marlee Beth Matlin

Corey Feldman

Tori Spelling

Sarah Silverman

Francine Joy Drescher

Gal Gadot

Judd Nelson

Fred Savage

Brad Garrett

Scott Wolf

Walter Koenig

Paul Reiser

Jonah Hill

Rashida Jones