Author and Comedian Joel Chasnoff to speak at the United Synagogue of Hoboken

Jan. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- On Sunday, January 9, 2010 at 10:30am, author and comedian Joel Chasnoff will speak at the United Synagogue of Hoboken (USH) 115 Park Ave, Hoboken, NJ.  Chasnoff is the author of "The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah”, a hilarious and poignant account of Chasnoff's year in the Israel Defense Forces -- a year that he volunteered for, and that he'll never get back. The lone American in a platoon of eighteen-year-old Israelis, Chasnoff takes readers into the barracks; over, under, and through political fences; and face-to-face with the absurd reality of life in the Israeli Army. It is a brash and gritty depiction of combat and an on-the-ground account of life in one of the most em-battled armies on earth. With equal parts irreverence and vulnerability, irony and intimacy, Chasnoff narrates a new kind of coming-of-age story -- one that teaches us, moves us, and makes us laugh. Admission is $18 for USH Members and $20 for Non-members.

Disillusioned with Ivy League post-graduate life, 24-year-old Joel Chasnoff makes real on his dream of giving back to Israel (and of being a badass gun-toting soldier) and voluntarily enlists in the Israeli Army.  As a member of the 188th Armored Brigade, a unit trained on the Merkava tanks that make up the backbone of Israeli ground forces, Chasnoff finds himself caught in a twilight zone-like world of mandatory snack breaks, battalion sing-alongs, and eighteen-year-old Israeli mama's boys who feign injuries to get out of guard duty and claim diarrhea to avoid kitchen work. More time is spent arguing over how to roll a sleeve cuff than studying the mechanics of the Merkava tanks. The platoon sergeants are barely older than the soldiers and are younger than Chasnoff himself. By the time he's sent to Lebanon for a tour of duty against Hezbollah, Chasnoff knows everything about why snot dries out in the desert, yet has never been trained in firing the MAG.

Reviews
“One of the funniest books you’ll ever read about the sometimes absurd alternative reality of the IDF.... What drives the book – which is named after the nickname Chasnoff’s commander gave to the unit – is Chasnoff’s uncanny ability to nail the various idiosyncratic elements of the Israeli psyche as mirrored in the 18-year-old boys he’s thrown his lot in with for a year.”—The Jerusalem Post

“An unusual story, humorous but not without heartbreak, told well by an intelligent and funny person.”—The Forward

“Laugh-out-loud funny.... [Chasnoff] has some serious and even shocking things to say about Israel and its relationship with American Jews, and I promise you that you will not think about your own Jewishness in quite the same way after you finish his smart, funny and provocative book.”—Los Angeles Jewish Journal

"In this illuminating work Joel Chasnoff does for the IDF what Mailer did for the Pacific campaign and O'Brien for the war in Vietnam. This is a chilling book." -- Anthony Swofford, New York Times bestselling author of Jarhead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3qqRb9rmgw



About The United Synagogue of Hoboken: The United Synagogue of Hoboken (USH), founded in 1905, is Hobokenʼs center for Jewish life, offering educational opportunities for all ages, religious services, and a wide range of Jewish cultural events. For more information, visit the USH website at http://www.hobokensynagogue.org, call 201-659-4000 or email office@hobokensynagogue.org The USH is located at 115 Park Ave in Hoboken, NJ.

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The United Synagogue of Hoboken (USH), founded in 1905, is Hobokenʼs center for Jewish life, offering educational opportunities for all ages, religious services, and a wide range of Jewish cultural events. See http://www.hobokensynagogue.org