1.Dumbing Down Startup Nation

In what may be the most outrageous diplomatic act of kissing ass and a quid pro quo if ever there was one, Israel's education minister announced that the Israel Prize will be awarded to President Trump. There are no stops when it comes to what Bibi Netanyahu will do to stay out of jail. Like the ridiculous FIFA Peace Prize, 47 has agreed to accept it. Shocker!

"Trump was informed he had won the prize during a meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a–Lago estate as the pair discussed plans to push the ceasefire in Gaza into its second phase, a process that has stalled in recent months." The Netanyahu family made plans to celebrate the new year in Florida where their child Yair resides, costing Israeli tax payers millions every year. Dozens of rooms at the Four Seasons during the most expensive week of the year alone had to be justified, so a meeting with 47 was arranged during which nothing was accomplished. The 20-point plan remains stuck at point number 1 with no timeline on next steps. The body of Ran Gvili has not yet been released and Hamas has regained control of nearly half of Gaza and will (duh) not disarm.

Happy New Year, Mr. President.

For more on this here is a Times of Israel story, "Trump to be awarded next Israel Prize, the country's top honor."

2.Table Tennis With Chalamet

Another one from Josh Safdie, who with his brother Benny brought us Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems. This time it’s a "strange and stressful ping pong epic" on the big screen. "I have to laugh, because among many other things, Marty Supreme is about World War II. Set in 1952, the film addresses many aspects of the war’s impact in an irreverent fashion, including the occupation of Japan and, most shockingly, the Holocaust," writes Reuben Baron in HeyAlma's "We Need to Talk About That Strange Holocaust Scene in Marty Supreme."

"Playing for Hungary, (character) Béla Kletzy was the world champion of table tennis from 1935 through 1939. One of the guards in Auschwitz was a fan and recognized him, giving him the opportunity to go outside the camp on bomb disposal missions. On one of these missions, Béla came across a beehive and did something embarrassing yet brave: he smeared the honey all over his body to sneak it into the camp for the other prisoners to eat. Marty Supreme’s flashback stands out for the confusing mix of emotions it evokes: Béla’s story is about a moving act of kindness, yet involves imagery that can’t help but evoke nervous laughter."

Wondering if the movie is worth a watch? See the trailer below and read Roger Ebert's 4/4 stars review here.

3.Your Show of Shows

"Sid Caesar once dominated American television so completely that it was hard to imagine Saturday nights without him. In the early 1950s, his live sketch-comedy program Your Show of Shows drew tens of millions of viewers. That show and its other iterations —  The Admiral Broadway Revue, Caesar’s Hour and Sid Caesar Invites You — launched the careers of Mel Brooks, Neil Simon and Woody Allen, and helped invent television comedy as we know it.

"Caesar and an ensemble cast that included Carl Reiner and Imogene Coca performed movie and musical parodies, domestic skits featuring warring suburbanites and bits highlighting Caesar’s knack for 'speaking' foreign languages in convincing gibberish. A parody of the hit show This Is Your Life has often been called the funniest sketch in the history of the form (see below).

"And yet, as David Margolick recounts in his new biography, When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy, Caesar’s fame proved surprisingly fleeting. Caesar died in 2014 at 91. But well before then, his name had faded, even as his influence endured."

Read more in, "Before SNL there was Sid Caesar - and a roomful of Jewish writers"

4.The Book of Esther

"In his newest novel, Queen Esther, Irving gives us a Jewish heroine as colorful, high-minded and enjoyable as any of his protagonists. Esther loses her father to illness on the ship from Austria and her mother to an antisemitic hate crime in Portland, Maine. She makes it to an orphanage many John Irving lovers know, the one run by Dr. Wilbur Larch of The Cider House Rules. As a teen, Esther is adopted by the literature-loving and fiercely secular Winslows of Penacook, Massachusetts, to help raise the youngest of their four daughters, Honor.

"This book has all the elements of Irving’s fiction: a deep concern with history shared in a way that doesn’t feel didactic, a disdain for religion and war, rich representations of queer characters. But here, we also find a repudiation of antisemitism and a sympathetic take on Zionism."

Read the interview with Irving in Kveller's "In Queen Esther, John Irving Gives Us a Powerful Jewish Heroine."

5.Don't Lift That Lid!*

"Nearly every family in the United States owns at least one slow cooker. If they don't, they know someone who does. Irving Naxon (the first Jewish engineer who worked for Western Electric) invented the slow cooker and applied for a patent in 1936. Eventually, he sold his patent to Rival who later produced the Crock-Pot.

"National Slow Cooking Month in January encourages us to make delicious meals and maximize our time by using our slow cookers, also known by the brand name, Crock-Pot."

While January is also National Bath Safety Month, National Blood Donor Month, National CBD Month and more, we'll have fun with the food-related items in this space. You can look up for yourself what's to come or you can be surprised each week by our coverage.

*Lifting the slow cooker lid adds 15-20 minutes to your cooking time. Did you know?

Tablet Magazine's "Meet the Jewish Inventor of the Slow Cooker" shares Irving Naxon's story.