too much jew - The Hebrew Hammer (2004) Discussion

well im jewish and i was wondering the same thing. i was laughing so hard but i doubt non jews would get the jokes

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I think all the nonjews, such as christians, found this movie funny because they saw how ridiculous and silly some of the things that both the jews and the christians and africans act.

I'm not jewish and I don't know about a lot of the jewish customs, but I still found this movie down right funny.

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[–] brewsterlewster 19 years ago

was is hebrew or yiddish?

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[–] travelingnome 19 years ago

pretty sure it was yiddish

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[–] ZachFrank42 18 years ago

It was a little of both

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[–] limor_z1 19 years ago

I know the first 2 but I don't know the lest one..."Sheked Bevakasha" means quiet please but you speled it wrong it's sheket bevakasha....and i'm Jewish

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[–] yoyom98 19 years ago

I am jewishand Sheket bevakasha means please be quiet
i didn't get the hebrew in a cad stuff, and the first thing r jewish costums in different holdiays
I loved this movie too, but probably some ppl didn't really get it

No matter how dark the night, day always comes, and the journey continues

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[–] Quasarsphere 19 years ago

I'm as goy as they come, and I went to the lavatory in my trousers with laughter watching this movie.

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[–] Captainontarian 18 years ago

What the hell is a goyim? are you by any chance using derogitory terms for christians?

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[–] yala_bi 18 years ago

"Goyim" literally means "nations". In conversation it just means "people who aren't Jewish". It is not derogitory.

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[–] psychyouout 18 years ago

goyim is derogatory. i am jewish and i use it all the time, it is not meant to be derogitory, but it is a way of looking down on non-jews.

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[–] Kentaura-1 18 years ago

i am jewish and i use it too. just for fun though. my gentile friends know what i mean and are not offended.

it is actually yiddish. goy(singular) and goyim(plural) is a derogatory way of refering to gentiles. gentile, however is not derogatory. (as im sure you all know) :P

CHAG PESACH SAMEACH EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[–] dustystar 18 years ago

I use "goyim" in a non-derogatory sense for non-Jews (and I'm Jewish).

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[–] Boutros2 17 years ago

I think of the vernacular "Goyim" being similar to the use of the Japanese term "Gaigin", to refer to all those who are not Japanese. It's at worst condescending, but not derogatory.

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[–] flavia18 17 years ago

Anyone can misuse a word - think about how many times the word "Jew" - or, for that matter "boy," "girl", "dog", "cat" have all been used in a derogatory fashion. To white: call a Black man a "boy" and see what happens. Would you want someone calling your mother a "dog"? And yet there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words.

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[–] Jules26 14 years ago

Agreed. As George Carlin would say "It's the intention, not the word". I for one have no problem being referred to as a Shiksa (no clue how to spell it) or anything else (including a frog and a cracker) as long as it's not said in a demeaning way.

That being said as an atheist, I loved this movie! I'm sure I didn't get half the jokes (that always happens with cultural movies, you can appreciate, but never fully).

I saw it as a spoof of some customs and many stereotypes.

There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.

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[–] z800525a-1 18 years ago

I'm Jewish and I loved it. My wife is Irish (a shikse) and she understood it as well...

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[–] rotnakluap 18 years ago

Any good Jew who either did birthright or was in NFTY (Northern Federation of Temple Youth) would know that Skeket Bevakasha (it's yiddish, so any anglicized spelling is, as far as I'm concerned correct)means, in more words or less, shut up.

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[–] buffy_israel 18 years ago

Sheket Bevakasha is not Idish, but Hebrew.

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[–] donfinny 16 years ago

ignoring the ironic misspelling of "speled", you can't misspell a transliteration.

and...Hey!

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[–] RedHead0186 19 years ago

I just watched this movie with a Jewish friend of mine. I understood most of the Jewish references/themes presented in the movie, and I certainly understood enough to enjoy the movie. Some of the finer details I didn't get, but had them explained to me. I was suprised by how much I did know on my own, though.

"Something's happening. I'm not the Jedi I should be." ~Anakin Skywalker

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[–] akpak 19 years ago

why do jews drive cadillacs?

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[–] eyjo12 19 years ago

I´ve never heard that jews drive Cadillacs, but the Cadillac thing was a Superfly reference.

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[–] Shakezilla2 19 years ago

Jews drive cadillacs because during WWII, buying German cars would fund the Nazis. Along with these cars, Japanese cars were thrown in the mix because they aided the Nazis. So, they went for American cars. Ford cars couldn't be purchased because Henry Ford was an anti-Semite. So GM cars were cool. And, like most, people go for the expensive cars that make them feel rich and powerful. So that's why Jews drive Cadillacs.

And then again it is a Superfly reference, so it's a double whammy. But then again, it is a huge spinoff of Blaxploitation movies, so of course they're going to have a Cadillac somewhere in the movie.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/11/21/suvs/

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[–] travelingnome 19 years ago

Wow! Thank you Shakezilla2, for clearing that up.

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[–] ceymooney 17 years ago

AH! big thanks, shakezilla2. of course i know the stereotype but not the origin. that makes perfect sense.

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[–] neuroside 19 years ago

I had a jewish History teacher and he said that in New York Cadys were known as Jew Canoes. lol

"Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question." - E.E. Cummings

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[–] vivalasam87 18 years ago

ohh my lord in Heaven that is sooo money!!

Jew Canoes lol!

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[–] marcusm-1 18 years ago

Jew Canoes! That kick's ass. My grandfather (Sidney Ottmar...can't get much more Jewish than that) drove Caddys for years.

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[–] arie_fr 19 years ago

First off- I'm a proud Jew. Actually, to put it into perspective, I'd probably be considered fairly religious by any secular Jew.

Now I know you're thinking- what does this have to do with this absolutely horrible movie. And I'll tell you: this movie is quite possibly the most degrading piece of trash I've ever seen. Jewish connotations are made rather stereotypically or have twisted what are considered (semi-)religious terminology and are simply not funny. Any Jew who considers themselves even remotely religious would be (or should be) offended. (I'll be honest- it took me more than one viewing of the film to realize what kind of scheme was being pulled. I'm slow, what can I say. It may seem to be a slant on pretty much any Mel Brooks movie which stereotypes Jews, but Brooks always seems to do it tastefully and doesn't use it as the focus of his films.)

I'm not sure what degraded Jewry more, this film or a notorious Mel Gibson movie of late. While one took a shot at how people have stereotyped Jews for more than 1000 years, the other gives the impression that Jews killed Jesus, a view which was officially and finally countered by the Church under Pope John Paul II (of course any reasonable historian who has studied the period will be able to, or even the late pope would have, that he was killed by the Romans). Not particularly what you thought, is it.

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[–] johnslegers 19 years ago

According to the bible, Jesus (who was a jew) went againt Orthodox jewry and Jewish laws. Because of that, the jewish establishment wasn't quite fond of him and turned him in with the Roman authorities (who were in control of Judaea at that time). He then was given the death pentalty as a traitor (for calling himself the King of the jews).

Also according to the bible, Pontius Pilate (Roman governor of Judaea) felt compassion with Jesus. He felt that Jesus was wrongly sentenced to death, and came up with an idea that would certainly set him free. He told the jews that he would give grace to one of two prisoners, which was said to be a Passover tradition. One of these prisoners was Jesus, and the other was a murdered called Barabbas. To his surprise, the jews chose for Barabbas and thereby took away Jesus' last chance.

This is why the jews are held responsibile for Jesus' death. Whether or not this is historically correct is a different issue, but this is the way the story is told in the Christian bible.

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[–] SisterMonty 19 years ago

1) I'm not Jewish, I'm Roman Catholic but 80% of the people I hang out with are Jewish, including my Orthodox roomate from last year.
2) The Romans and the political leaders killed Jesus, its the whole point of the story. And who ever said it earlier was completely right, Jesus was Jewish and infact for a long while Christianity was merely looked at as a radical sect of Judaism
3) I liked the movie, especially Blitzen killing Santa (I take issues with the whole celebrating Christmas starting just after the 4th of July thing)
4) I can understand however how some people could take offense to it. Many of my Catholic friends hate "Family Guy" becasue it mocks Irish-Catholic. But "Family Guy" was created BY and Irish-Catholic. In the same token, "The Hebrew Hammer" was created BY a Jewish guy. But I can understand that to people of any religion or culture who are deeply committed to it, any type of mocking, even in the spirit of self send-up, could be deemed insulting.

Thats my peace.

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[–] SevenKal-ElGuiry 19 years ago

I'm not jewish, but i'm peticostal and i got most of the Jokes, i know some Jews and they do like to whine and complaine, the worst are the mothers, i know what the hammer goes threw when he's eating at his mothers house

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[–] filmscribe 18 years ago

I dont know how any of you are supporting your assertions about who killed Jesus. There is no secular record from the time, the gospels provide the only evidence for jesus' crucifixion. Doubtful that the guy even existed.

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[–] Coonrad23 17 years ago

Good point sistermonty. As with the Borat movie Sascha Baron Cohen is Jewish and people made claims that he was anti-semetic. Thats why its called a comedy. Anybody take offense to the African American Jokes?

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[–] imdb1001-1 17 years ago

What the ? I can't believe how many people who claim to be religious have no idea what they're talking about. The "whole point of the story" is supposed to be that Jesus came to earth with the *purpose* of dying for our sins. It doesn't matter *who* killed him, the point was that he died. If you must point the blame, it was the jews - Pilate found he broke no Roman laws and only executed him reluctantly at the request of the Jews. But would you have preferred that they *didn't* kill him and you would inevitably go to Hell without his sacrifice ? The real blame lies with everyone who sins and makes the sacrifice necessary, i.e. YOU. I'm not religious at all and even I know that.

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[–] opimus9000 18 years ago

Just to comment, the Sanhedrin couldn't have met to plot against Jesus because it was passover, and the Sanhedrin can't meet on passover according to Jewish law under any circumstances. Also, Jews never favored the death penalty, in Jewish law, a Beit Din was considered to be brutal and bloody if it killed 1 person ever 80 years for far worse crimes. It has to be acknowledged that the gospels were written many years after the crucifixion, and that the motivation was to alienate jews in order to convert pagans, and create a distinction between the two sects.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Captainontarian 18 years ago

ok, you realy, realy need to put this into perspective. If it was ment to offend jewish people, then why do you seem the be the only one who noticed. It was far from anti-semitic. It was, as was said before, by jews, for jews.

P.S the passion of the christ was not anti-semitic. It portrait a few individuals negitively regardless of race or religion. and if corrupt priests arranged the death of jesus, then why not show it. it dosn't condem a whole religion

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[–] JLovrak 18 years ago

Look, it's been 2,000 years. You need to buck up and accept that two millenia ago, some people who happened to share the same religion as you set up an innocent man to die a horrible death because they didn't like his ideas. It doesn't mean that you're a bad person anymore than the Nazis or the Klan having Christians in them makes me a bad person for being a Christian, and let's face it, Christ's crucifixion is an essential component of Christianity. But I get sick of hearing people trying to pass the buck on who killed Christ. First off, WHO CARES?! It happened 2,000 years ago, the important thing is that it happened! Secondly, Caiaphus said "His blood be on our hands and on our children." basically gladly taking the blame for Christ's execution vicariously even though the Romans did the actual act.

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[–] schythe 18 years ago

arie_fr: "Jewish connotations are made rather stereotypically" "I'm not sure what degraded JEWRY more, this film or a notorious Mel Gibson movie of late"

ok 1st off of course its steroetipical, the name is the HEWBREW HAMMER, i would like to ask you what exactly you were expecting by the title alone. and next you used the word JEWRY... what is that? like jew jewelry or something? that alone is stereotipical and i feel you should harm yourself for saying it and yes im a jew so i can say this so HA! no really what is jewry? i thought the word was judaism, shows what i know doesnt it?

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[–] Kentaura-1 18 years ago

jewry is actually a word, just to make that clear. i understand the confusion, but it is still a real word.

all the other things i agree with though. i think it is the stereotypes(to some extent) that make it so funny. it is a part of our cuture and it's a movie filled with inside-jokes among the jews. hahaha.

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[–] diskdoctor 18 years ago

Now that’s kind of wild, if you ever read the Jewish account of the Crucifixion, the Romans aren't even mentioned. I won’t even get in to all the derogatory names used for Jesus and the Virgin Mary in the Talmud and the Torah…

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[–] Kentaura-1 17 years ago

and what are they? as we have experienced so many times before, the tanakh can and WILL be misinturperated. not only because people are stupid, manipulating and bored, but also because hebrew is a completely different language, which is hard to translate sometimes. the torah mentiones a "virgin" that will be the mother of the messiah. only the hebew word doesnt really mean virgin, it means MAID!

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[–] jspsych 17 years ago

Diskdoctor....there is absolutely no mention of Jesus or Mary in the Torah. The Torah ends with Moses's death, which is thought to be about 1000 years before Jesus. The Talmud has a few passages which Christians have taken to be Jesus, but as this website shows: http://www.angelfire.com/mt/talmud/jesusnarr.html , there are a number of problems with this. The main ones being that the figures lived hundreds of years after Jesus, they were stoned (not crucified), and they were executed on Passover eve. Jesus was crucified on Passover DAY.

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[–] gaeilgelily 17 years ago

That's true. There is a man named Yeshu mentioned in the Talmud, but it is not the Jsus of the Bible.

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.

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[–] TimesNewRoman 19 years ago

I absolutely <b>adored</b> this movie. i must have watched it about 5 times in a week because of all the people i showed it to. i had to re-rent it! I showed it to a friend of mine who isnt jewish and she didnt laugh at all during the entire thing. but then when i showed a friend of mine who is very jewish he laughed SO hard my brother came out from the other side of the house to see what all the noise was. bahahaa. i love this movie!!!

i own it now... hehe. my mum (who never watches movies) grew up with her parents acting like hammers mother wasnt watching but could hear it and every so often she would burst out laughing and go ha! mothers are like that and wed pause the movie and stare at her till she went... shut up. haha!

Oh I'm sorry, I was thinking about soup.

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[–] stav9 19 years ago

well i'm jewish, i'm from Israel, so i understood the hebrew and yeddish parts and all the jewish jokes.
i think the movie is AWESOME, i loved it.
about the cadillacs - i think it was just for laughs...

that movie is histerical!

"shabbat shalom *beep*

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[–] josephr115 19 years ago

;)LOL!!! ... i mean i make a joke about cadillacs and suddenly everyone is making up these historical reasons as to why jews actually drive cadillacs... I mean cmon.. im jewish and if you havent realized MOST JEWS DONT HAVE CADILLACS!!! finally someone realizes that ..stav9 (Mah Nishma Kelev).

The whole point was that many of my friends who are not jewish didnt get some of the jokes in the movie, i mean they used a lot of hebrew terms!!! I also thought the jewish themes like the shabbat meal and the jewish justice league were hilarious.

Since I am Orthodox I can better appreciate some of the jokes. I saw one guy who was offended by the movie.. I can see why for those really frummie uptight bochurim who wont eat gibrax and keep the rules even though they dont know why they are keeping them... lol i mean the most common answer i hear when i ask someone why they do something is..
"the rebbe did it so there must be a good reason"
DUDE!!!!
this is not a "Na'aseh ViNishmah"... the rebbe is NOT god!

I guess i liked the movie more since im orthodox but im willing to challenge the accepted beliefs to a certain point. Some may call me a rebel.. but ive seen both sides of the world (religious and secular) and you gotta live in both of them not just on one side.

All in all, the movie rocked and i ordered it online so now i can watch it againa nd again!!!! YES!!!!

"No temas, que yo soy contigo; no desmayes, que yo soy tu Dios que te esfuerzo;
siempre te ayudaré, siempre te sustentaré con la diestra de mi justicia."

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[–] dberko1 18 years ago

Actuslly, Mah Neshma Kalva

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[–] FatJock 17 years ago

If you want to know why Mordechai drives a Cadillac watch Superfly - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069332/. The Tiny Tim photo montage is a direct copy of the cocaine montage in that film as well. As is sniffing the analgesic using a small spoon round his neck when Hammer is in bed with Esther, clearly Jonathan Kesselman is a big fan of Ron O'Neill/Priest.

I stumbled across The Hebrew Hammer after looking for info on Adam Goldberg having seen him in 'My Name Is Earl' and 'Deja Vu.' I'm glad I did as it's been a while since a film has made me laugh out loud as much as this e.g. having dinner at Mrs. Carver's house Mordechai excuses himself and goes to the bathroom then shouts to ask where his mum keeps the plunger...there are so many other hilarious visual and verbal gags that I'll be keeping an eye out for Mr. Kesselman in the future.

As for the whole Jewish/non-Jewish debate I don't care, this film cheered me up no end on a dull Monday morning. In fact I'm off to watch both the HH and Superfly again.

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