Hi,

I live in an area with a lot of religious Jews. So, i have decided to start doing bar and bat mitzvahs. However, I can't seem to put a routine together because most things go against Judaism.

Many People in my area do the parties on Saturdays which means that I would have to follow the Jewish Religious Laws. So in case you are not familiar with them this would mean that i can not do any tricks related to money, nothing can be broken (or cut so no cut and restored rope) and there are many other rules. Which makes my only available tricks sponges, cups and balls, and cards. I would like a bigger variety when it comes to these religious parties.

Any ideas?

Ben Winter

edit: I almost forgot. No Balloon Animals for little kids. The Jewish Law why is a little hard to explain but just trust me on this.

thats ridicules
unless theyre hardcore orthodox, they wont care...
i live in israel, THE jewish country, and i did a bar mitzva gig once and did a few coin tricks and nobody said anything...
i also did a torn and restored routine (T&R transpo by david williamson)

I, too, am Jewish and do Bar Mitvahs all the time. I posted in another forum this line; Egg bag, sponge balls, rope, and cups.
You should be able to build that to 45 minutes in fairly short order.

And none of those violate Halakah (Jewish ritual law.) You are looking to complicate things, remember "don't run if they are not chasing you."

I would suggest asking a Rabbi if any of these tricks would be appropriate or not.

Trust me, i live in an orthodox Jewish TOwn. My town is about 1.8 square miles (about 15,000 people, about 9000 are jewish). In my tiny town we have 7 synagouges. 1 is conservative (the one that i go to), 1 is orthodox sephardic, 3 are orthodox ashkenazi, 1 is reform, and 1 is the local minyan where they are conservative but egalitarian and they play instruments during the service.

Paddy, Money does break Halakah on Shabbat and so does breaking things or ripping things. Egg bag is a good idea I never thought of that. I don't have a routine with one but i am sure that i could make one.

Daniel, They are orthodox that is the problem. Personally i would not care about coin tricks and such, but at these parties the women and men are not even allowed to dance together.

So, unfortunately my town is extremely orthodox which means i need to set my tricks to be shabbat appropriate.

Ben Winter

I would re-read paddys post... as he ws refering to his suggestions, not your own on money and rippng. He was saying that what he suggested was not against the "law." - Egg bad, sponge balls, ropes, and cups. None of which you break or ripp from what I have seen. There is so many effects availble, just have to go out and search.

I say if your so freaking worried, then dont do it. Either get the gulls to do it, live and learn. Stop throwing up road blocks and excuses.

^^^^^^^

Oh, i thought that he meant the things i said. My bad.

With ropes it depends what you do. You can't do any cutting rope effects. Proffesor's nightmare is still in I guess.

Ben Winter

Curly, I can do an hour with just rope and never cut a thing. There is a lot of rope routines out there start to look for them. Gazzo's cups and balls runs a minimum of 45 mins. I keep my cups and balls down to 20 to 30 mins.

I also just follwed some advice from a good friend and got some of Charlie Frye's stuff. His ball routine is fabulous and can run a good 10 to 15 mins with a set of Fakini balls. That alone is a reputation maker. I forgot about them for a number of years but I'm putting them back in my act now. I figure I will have them down well enough to use by Jan or Feb. if I start to practice on Tues.

im jewish too, as long as you're handling the money and not them they should be fine with it.

Then you don't understand orthodox Jews. I live around them. Trust me, if somebody is trying to entertain them with money tricks on shabbat then they will simply walk away. It does not matter that they are not touching it.

Paddy, can you really do a ball routine for close-up?? If so then where can you learn to do this. The only ball things taht i know are angle sensitive.

I hate to sound like I am denying everything, but with ropes you can not tie knots either. This goes into it a little bit.... http://www.aish.com/shabbatlaws/selfstu ... /Tying.asp In my town some people would allow knot tying but for the most part people will not like it. So the only good rope routine that i konw of without cutting or tying is professor's nightmare which could work. I would have to alter the ending a little bit so that i would not tie the knots at the end but it is definitely do-able.

That is why i need help coming up with possible ideas for different types of tricks. Just about everything on shabbat is not allowed, except for sponges, cards, and cups and balls.

Ben Winter

The idea of magic is non-kosher as far as Judaism is concerned. The idea of mystical powers smacks of Satanism to devout Jews. Then, too, you may be able to perform on Saturday...but not work; so you can't earn money from your Saturday act among the Jews; which defeats your purpose. Various sects of Jews debate over what does/doesn't constitute work. Some say anything is fine; as long as you are not paid. Others say that getting out of bed is labor enough to violate Sabbath laws. Some can get out of bed, but not cook...so they prepare Saturday meals on Friday...before sundown. Do not go there if you don't know what the local Jewish group is like. Most will not be so open about revealing such things to a goyim (non Jew), so you may never find out. If you are not Jewish, and part of a local synagogue, do not seek Jewish employment. Wait for a local Jew to approach you, and tell you what he/she wants. Would you go offer to do a 9/11 act for the local Islamics? Probably not, as it would probably offend them. Jews can be just as sensitive as Islamics about what offends them.