You know how sometimes you have a song in your iTunes library, and you know you like it, but somehow it falls off your radar at some point, and you find it (via the shuffle function, or an old playlist or something) and you’re like, “Hey, this song is amazing! How did I ever forget it?”

I did that this morning with this song, a nice collaboration between BB King and Eric Clapton.

Recently I’ve been feeling a lot of connection between the music I listen to and the weekly parshah, and it was so nice to have this song come on during the week that we study Parashat Mishpatim, which contains a bunch of laws about helping the poor, and otherwise defenseless among us.

Over and over again in the Torah we hear that we have to be good to other people, especially the downtrodden and oppressed, because we were downtrodden and oppressed ourselves. In the King/Claptop collaboration, the conceit is that you should, “Help the poor…help poor me.” Ultimately, this is a similar idea. You have an obligation to help the poor, and I’m poor, so help me.

It’s also a really nice bluesy way to jam on a gray Monday afternoon.

There’s been a lot of talk about Jersey Shore lately. A lot of people are talking about how the show might never be the same now that the cast is famous. More than that, MTV has announced that season two will not be on the Jersey Shore.

That’s why I’m proposing getting off the Jersey Shore bandwagon now, before it’s too late. You don’t want to mess with perfection. But does anyone else think that a Jewish version of the show would be a huge hit?

Sure, the ADL would call it anti-Semitic but the Shore survived all the anti-Italian accusations. Plus, we’re not limited to Jersey. This show really could take place anywhere in the tri-state area. Triple the options, triple the fun.

I’m on to something here. And I’m not alone.

Joel Chasnoff, author of The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah: A Memoir , is guest-blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council.

If writing a book is like giving birth, then receiving the PDF of the jacket cover is like seeing the first ultrasound: finally, it hits you that this creature is for real.

When it came time to discuss the cover of my book, The 188th Crybaby Brigade, I made two requests. First, that the jacket art be directed by Chip Kidd, the “rock star” of book jacket design. I’ve always loved Kidd’s ability to produce a single, iconic image that perfectly captures the essence of a book—such as he does in these two covers for Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris:

My second request—it was more of a demand, actually—was that the cover not be overtly Jewish. The 188th Crybaby Brigade is my memoir about my year as a combat soldier in the Israeli Army. Throughout the book, I discuss my strong Jewish upbringing and my resultant connection to Israel—a connection that, ultimately, led me to volunteer for a combat unit of the IDF.

But I’ve always felt that, despite the Jewish themes, Crybaby Brigade is a human story with mass appeal. It’s a story about a father and son. It’s about myth and the inevitable disappointment that occurs when we come face-to-face with our heroes. Most of all, it’s a book about identity: as I progress from hapless basic trainee to tank soldier in Lebanon, I ask myself just who I really am.

So when it came time to discuss the cover, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but I certainly knew what I didn’t want: anything that might drive away the general audience because the cover was too blatantly Jewish. My editor agreed.

So I was shocked when the following PDF showed up in my inbox:

I stared at the image. Speechless.

A minute later, my agent called. “Well?” he asked.

I shook my head. “It’s so…Jewish,” I said.

“It’s a tad Jewy,” he agreed.

Actually, it was tremendously Jewy—way too Jewy for my taste.

I was crushed. Here, I’d just spent three years crafting my masterpiece, and now it was about to be ruined by this screamingly Semitic cover.

My agent (and here I’ll give a shout out, because he was so incredibly wonderful throughout the book cover process—the entire book process, for that matter), the talented Dan Lazar, promised he’d relay my feelings to the publisher. “But don’t be surprised if they ignore you,” he said. “They decide the cover. Not you.”

Not wanting to leave matters to chance, I racked my brain for a way to finagle a new cover. I glared at the image on my screen. That star—so big and vulgar—like one of those yellow stars Jews were forced to wear in Germany. And the soldiers, hanging on the star, as if they were caught on barbed wire…

Then it hit me!

I Googled the terms “holocaust museum jerusalem statue barbed wire,” clipped out the below image, and sent it to Dan with the note, “Tell the publisher that their cover will remind Jews of this sculpture at Yad Vashem“:

Ten minutes later, Dan emailed back. “They’re doing a new cover.”

In the end, Chip Kidd dropped the project. (Or the project dropped Chip Kidd; I never did hear the final version of the story.) Instead, my cover was designed by a young art-school grad in Boston, Holly Gordon. I stumbled upon Holly by chance (a friend introduced us). After a few phone conversations, Holly and I came up with the iconic image that, in my opinion, perfectly captured the theme of my book—the absurdity of life in the Israeli Army:

Miraculously—and I want to stress that it was an absolute miracle—the publisher went for it. “This NEVER happens!” Dan emailed me. “I have never, in all my years of publishing, seen a house accept a cover design from an author!”

Maybe I was lucky. Or, more likely, the house got sick of my complaining and wanted to shut me up.

I immediately sent the cover to friends and asked for feedback. The one note we consistently received was that the image reminded them of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

I took the criticism to heart. After a few tweaks, Holly and I came up with this:

And then, finally, the image that would become the cover to my baby, The 188th Crybaby Brigade:

It was a harrowing process, but worth the effort. I certainly didn’t want to give birth to an ugly baby. And anytime the process got especially rough, I reminded myself of the following quote by none other than the rock star himself, Chip Kidd:”Whoever said you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover never worked in publishing.”Joel Chasnoff’s The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah: A Memoir will be on sale February 9th. Visit Chasnoff’s official website: http://joelchasnoff.com/.

Last week, I mentioned that I was bothered by the amount of hits Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” had on YouTube. So this is a bit of a follow up. Earlier this week, I was sitting on the subway, reading The New Yorker so women would think I’m smart, and I notice a lot of noise coming from behind me. And sitting right there is a man in this fifties, dressed nicely (with sunglasses though), dancing in his seat and tapping his foot to his music. What’s he listening to? “Party in the USA.”

Creepy.

This week, we featured our newest video from The Sway Machinery’s Jeremiah Lockwood explaining very eloquently what Jewish music is. The answer? Party in the USA.

I really do love all foods. Especially when they are processed. Second on the processed list for me is gefilte fish. Learn how to make your own. What’s number #1? Party in the USA.

Finally, if you’ve ever been on an organized trip to Israel, whether in High School or on Birthright, you’ve gone to a bedouin tent in the Negev. Learn all about the semi-nomadic Israeli citizens. It’ll be a Party in the USA.

That last reference was a bit far fetched.

I love seeing YouTube videos and immediately thinking, “This is a parody, right?” Even better than that is the realization that the video in fact is not a parody. It’s incredibly real.

In this case, I’m talking about the very much real Moshiach Times Band. MTB (at least that’s what I call them) is made up of four teenage boys who sing about God and Judaism. They try to come off as both hardcore rockers but also good yeshiva boys. It’s somewhat awkward. Also, they didn’t give Joe Jonas enough solos.

I really shouldn’t make fun. When I was there age, I spent all of my time watching wrestling and sorting baseball cards.

Thanks to JDub (where I found this) and Heeb (where they found it) for blogging about it first.

SPOILER ALERT: If you watch LOST, but haven’t seen this week’s season premiere, you should stop reading. Also, if you don’t watch LOST at all, feel free to keep reading but you’ll probably be bored. Also, if you’re still reading this spoiler alert, you’re already bored. My apologies.

It’s funny how you don’t realize how much you miss things until they are back. If you asked me back in December if I was excited about the February premiere of LOST’s final season, I would have said yes, but not that enthusiastically. But now that it’s back? Oh man! Don’t say the word “lost” near me unless you want to hear me rant for two hours (The same goes for the word “situation”).

Now I don’t want to bore you with my theories about where the show is headed (think Superbad meets Sophie’s Choice). It’s too early for that. We just don’t know enough. But I would like to talk about Jack role as the show’s Moses.

In this week’s Torah portion, Yitro advises Moses to delegate some of his powers to trustworthy people:

“You will tire yourself and the people out. Now heed my voice, I shall advise you. You be a representative to God and teach the people of the path God seeks of them. Then find capable men who fear God and trustworthy men who spurn ill-gotten gain.

If you remember last season, Jack started letting others lead. When he arrived in 1977, he was fine with Sawyer being the head of security. He was fine being just another guy in the crowd. However, when it came to the big decisions, namely getting out of 1977, Jack wanted to be in charge. Something that Yitro would have approved of.

But when you make big decisions, you also get blamed for the consequences. When Moses struck the rock, he was not allowed to enter Canaan. When Jack advocated detonating a nuclear bomb, Juliet struck it with a rock, an act that killed her (we think).

Was Yitro right? On the one hand, he was worried that Moses would tire himself out. But sometimes, when you don’t make the every day, small decisions, you get sloppy. Perhaps Moses got sloppy. And while it’s too early to tell, as far as we know, Jack was somewhat sloppy with his decision making.

If he wasn’t, Juliet would still be alive.

I’m curious how the show’s writer’s are going to handle Jack’s leadership qualities this season. He obviously is a natural born leader. But does he want to be? Can he lead his friends to the “promised land” or will he give up? And if so, is there anyone qualified to replace him?

It’s that time again. Welcome to the monthly edition of “Jon Stewart Has A Jewish Segment!” Of course, if you watched the Daily Show on a regular basis, you’d know that basically every single night there is (formally or informally) a Jewish segment.

But last night’s segment sure will please the Zionists. Stewart, who sometimes angers some in the Jewish community for his occasional critiques of Israeli policies, focused this time, however, on Palestinian television. Namely their children programming. And, pardon my French, but he sure did rip them a new one.

That’ll teach ‘em Jon! You heard me Hamas? You don’t mess with Comedy Central.

If you’re active in a certain kind of Jewish community, you’re invited to vegetarian potluck Shabbat meals on a fairly regular basis. And this can be good, but more often than not, it’s depressing. You end up eating a lot of challah, hummus, and lentils. You realize how few of your friends are really good cooks. You realize how few people are capable of making vegetarian main courses. You realize you’re still hungry.

I can’t do anything about your friends being lousy cooks, but I can give you some ideas for recipes that will brighten up your typical lentil-laden potluck Shabbat. Here are my favorites:

Main Courses

Phyllo and Feta torte
I once made this with half ricotta half feta, and added a bunch of Italian herbs and sun-dried tomatoes so that I could bring it to an Italian potluck. Delish.

Spanikopita from the Moosewood Cookbook.
Easier than you would think, and very impressive.

Chilean Squash Casserole from the Moosewood Cookbook.
This is one of my favorite recipes. Delicious, full of vegetables, and very festive.

Mushroom and Barley Pie
Bonus points because it looks so pretty.

Quiche. Any kind. They take about five minutes to assemble if you buy a premade crust, and they’re a crowd pleaser. Try leeks and mushrooms, or tomato, basil, mozzarella and mushrooms.

Homemade Pizza

Chili with cornbread baked on top
This is astonishingly good, and gets extra points because the cornbread is never dry.

Curried Udon Noodle Stir Fry
Hopefully, I had you at Udon.

Various curries. I like this sweet potato eggplant curry, or this chana masala recipe.

Phyllo Dough Pies. Try this recipe, but really, you can put anything inside. I’m thinking about trying one with curry inside, actually.

Side Dishes/Salads

Whiskey and wheatberry salad. I like anything with whiskey in it, but this is undeniably delicious, whiskey notwithstanding.

Beet and goat cheese salad. Oh Al Roker, how I love you.

Squash/Sweet potato and chickpea salad. I brought this for lunch today. It’s freaking amazing.

Mediterranean Eggplant and Barley Salad

Black Eyed Pea Salad

Lentils begone, I say. Also, sweet Lord I’m hungry!

Michael Freund suggests a Birthright-type program to bring “clergymen and jurists, prominent doctors, lawyers and scientists, and even sports stars and athletes” to see what Israel is really like. (Israel Insider)

A look at Gesher Chai, a joint curriculum that links students in American classrooms to those in Israel. (Washington Jewish Week)

J Street, on the heels of a successful merger with Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, is setting up regional chapters in several dozen areas of the United States. (New Jersey Jewish News)

Are Israel’s diplomats even properly prepared to advocate for Israel’s interests? (Ha’aretz)

A report by Israel’s State Comptroller points to major failure of hasbara in terms of Arab-language outreach, e.g. during Second Lebanon War. (YNet News)

Reuven Pedatzur points to Israel’s greatest PR failure, that Mohammed al-Dura remains a symbol of Israel’s brutality despite proof that footage of his death was meddled with. (Ha’aretz)

If anyone knows what Jewish music is, it’s Jeremiah Lockwood of The Sway Machinery. As a band leader and a musical researcher, he takes Jewish songs that are thousands of years old and orchestrates them for his band (which includes members of Tom Waits’ band and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs…swoon!). And as a person, he might have the most eclectic musical taste of anyone on Earth, with his tastes (and performances) ranging from medieval Spanish-Jewish music to Eastern European niggunim to original songs.

You might remember Jeremiah’s explanations of What Is a Shofar? and What Is a Cantor?, as well as the amazing cut we got of Jeremiah singing “Hineni” a capella, seemingly off the cuff, and utterly bringing down the house. This is the last entry in that set, but you can be sure that our “What Is?” series is going to continue…and we’re far from finished with Mr. Lockwood.