The Latest Updates

There's so much happening with Cool Jew! Plenty of speaking gigs, festivals and fun press. Both the Canada Jewish News and OyChicago rolled out the red carpet coverage for Purim. And the Jewish Journal ran a really "Uncool" piece.

Not to neglect Pesach, this month's Costco Connection magazine shared an article I wrote with its more than 3 million readers about how Costco has become part of Passover.

And now... We're back on the road for Spring Tour. It's been a whirlwind already with our debut on XM Satellite Radio and an in-depth interview -- yet to air -- on Shalom TV. Still ahead: The Conney Conference on Jewish Identity and the Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Madison April 22nd, an encore performance at Breathe Books in Baltimore May 5th, LeHigh Pennsylvania May 6th and... more!

Meanwhile, CoolJewBook.com and ModernTribe.com have teamed up once again to help rock your holiday! We’re offering one lucky winner the following Passover accoutrements, all boxed up and ready to give to your favorite Afikomen lover.

The Hip Hop Seder Box features

* Cool Jew
* Moses Action Figure
* So Called Seder Hip Hop Hagaddah CD
* Zelda’s Marshmallow Passover Chocolate-Covered Frog

To win, visit either site and enter your email in the “Giveaway” box. You will be joining our email lists. Be sure to enter to win between Friday, March 27th and Monday, March 30th.

Thanks for entering! We’ll announce the winner on Tuesday, March 31st to make sure your Hip Hop Seder Box arrives in time for the first night of Passover on April 8th. Enter now!

With the "Four Questions in Four Tongues" (see p. 112-113) and much, much more, Cool Jew makes a great holiday gift and Afikomen prize. Order now to get yours in time for seder!

Visit my new 'zine, Tolerant Nation, which celebrates diversity, multiculturalism and cross-cultural dialogue.

Uncool Jew

Never thought I'd be so happy to see that headline in connection with my name, but David Suissa, an opinion writer at the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, worked it out. Thanks so much, Heebro!

In other happy news: today Cool Jew is No. 6 on Amazon's bestseller's humor/religion list.


Uncool Jew
By David Suissa


“Where are you from?” is a simple enough question. But when I asked Lisa Alcalay Klug the other day, she did everything she could not to answer. At first she tried to change the subject, and then she just smiled and said, “Right outside of Los Angeles.”

“But where outside of Los Angeles?” I wanted to know. What was she trying to hide? Was her coyness connected to her new coolness? Many of you might know that for the past few months, Klug has been traveling the country promoting her new book, “Cool Jew,” which has put her right up there on the Jewish hip-o-meter. So, was her hometown not in keeping with being a cool Jew?

Apparently so, because she finally blurted it out: “San Bernardino.”

Ouch. Is there any place less cool than San Bernardino? No wonder she kept stalling. Out of sympathy, I mumbled something about San Bernardino having a cool Chabad rabbi, but that didn’t get me far.

Eventually, after our long morning conversation at Delice café last week, I discovered the real reason why Klug was hiding the identity of her hometown. It wasn’t because San Bernardino is not a very hip place. Rather, it was because that was the place where she was introduced to that ancient malignancy called anti-Semitism, where, growing up, the attacks of “dirty Jew” she heard in school had to compete with the teaching of “proud Jew” she heard at home.

Both sides left a mark on her. more...