Weekly Schmooze: Chanukah video extravaganza

The hottest Jewish news: Maccabeats vs. StandFour; gangsta rap goes Chanukah; give the gift of Nice Jewish Guys.

By LAHAV HARKOV
weekly schmooze 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
weekly schmooze 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Chanukah begins on Saturday night, and the Schmooze has enough videos to last for all eight days.
First, we have a Yeshiva University sing-off: StandFour vs. The Maccabeats. The former is a group of four alumni of the latter, YU's acapella group. They came out with a mash-up replacing the words of three hit songs - "Some Nights" by fun., "Live While We're Young" by One Direction, and "Die Young" by Ke$ha – with "random Jewish references," as they call it.

Not to be intimidated by the alumni challenge, The Maccabeats released an original Chanukah song titled "Shine," encouraging viewers to get swabbed to give bone marrow donations:

You may think lighting the menorah is a simple task, but some geeks at the Technion made it much more complicated than necessary, with a Rube Goldberg machine involving dreidels, dominoes, toy cars, marbles and more.

The next video," has gone viral since it was released ten days ago. In short, a Hispanic gangster and a black gangster go from being rivals to best friends forever after discovering they're both Jewish, and decide to make some latkes. The language is NSFW, but the clip is hilarious.

Now, Jaquann and Luis came out with a second chapter, teaching viewers how to pimp-out their Chanukah bush with "crazy-ass tchotchkes." They even rap shehechiyanu at the end.

If you're looking for the perfect Chanukah gift for a nice Jewish girl you know, look no further than the 2013 Nice Jewish Guys Calendar, also known as "the Oscars for Jewish guys." Twelve young men were photographed on bikes, with puppies, drinking coffee and pursuing other Nice Jewish Guy pursuits. Check out the Nice Jewish Guys Facebook page for more information.

Meanwhile, in New York, an old Jewish lady didn't know who Jay-Z is, and the Internet went crazy. While Hova filmed a documentary on his eight-concert series in Brooklyn, he decided to take the subway, and sat down next to artist Ellen Grossman, who, looking at the bodyguards and mess of people surrounding the rapper, asked: Are you famous? 

Last but not least, reigning pop star of the moment Taylor Swift tweeted this fun video of an Israeli "School of Rock" singing one of her recent hits, "I Knew You Were Trouble."

The Weekly Schmooze collects the hottest Jewish culture news from around the world. Ranging from celebrities to philanthropy to quirky communities, we're here to schmooze about Jews. If you have any news to share with The Weekly Schmooze, write to: weeklyschmooze@gmail.com