How Josh Gad Almost Missed Out on the Chance to Voice Olaf the Snowman for Disney's Frozen

With no Jewish holidays coming up immediately, we bring you profiles of some well known and some not so well known Jews. Enjoy.

By Jim Hill for The Blog on Huffington Post

To be asked to participate in the first reading of a brand-new Disney animated feature was like a dream come true for Josh Gad.

"You have to understand that -- when I was growing up -- I was absolutely obsessed with the animated films of Disney's Second Golden Age," Gad explained during a recent phone interview. "I mean, I recall going to see The Little Mermaid in theaters no less than 20 times. My poor mother had to send me with various aunts and uncles and nephews & nieces who were old enough to take me. We almost ran out of relatives."

"And then when Aladdin was released to theaters in 1992, I remember watching Robin Williams tearing it up up there onscreen," Josh continued. "And I remember turning to my Mother and saying prophetically 'I'm going to do that one day.' So to then get that phone call and be asked to come take part in a reading for Anna and the Snow Queen was a complete thrill for me."

Now please note that the title which I mentioned above was Anna and the Snow Queen. Not Frozen, the new Disney animated feature that opened in theaters on November 27th, wracking up an estimated $93 million in ticket sales during its first five days in domestic release. That's because this was an earlier attempt by Walt Disney Animation Studios to turn Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairytale into a full-length animated feature.

"This was about three years ago before I went off to do Book of Mormon. This version of the movie was supposed to be done in 2D and featured songs by Alan Menken. And at the reading that I took part in, Megan Mullally read the part of Elsa the Snow Queen. And she was brilliant, by the way," Gad enthused. "But this movie, it was a completely different thing than Frozen. It had a storyline that stuck a lot closer to the original source material. And at this reading, Olaf was an entirely different character."

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The Most Interesting Jew in the World

With no Jewish holidays coming up immediately, we bring you profiles of some well known and some not so well known Jews. Enjoy.

Dos Equis’ pitchman is Jewish actor living in Marina del Rey.

By Adam Wills for JewishJournal.com

“He once had an awkward moment just to see how it feels. He lives vicariously through himself,” a disembodied voice states.

“He is the Most Interesting Man in the World.”

Seated at a table, surrounded by beautiful women, a bearded man with salt-and-pepper hair looks into the camera: “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty, my friends.”

At a time when many viewers use DVRs to skip over TV commercials, Dos Equis gets people to stop and watch its ads for their potent blend of machismo and absurdist humor. The debonair Latin pitchman, a creation of Euro RSCG, appears one part Earnest Hemingway, one part Baron Munchausen. We learn his “beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body.”

But the actor who portrays the Most Interesting Man in the World is more likely to attend a bar mitzvah than a Quinceañera. Jonathan Goldsmith, 72, whose face and voice are now inexorably linked with one of Mexico’s top-selling beers, is a New York-born Jew who lives with his wife on a 50-foot Beneteau sailboat in Marina del Rey.

“It’s 47.3 feet,” he corrected during a recent phone interview. “It had a bris … it was 53 feet.”

Goldsmith says he had a nice career as a character actor before his Dos Equis stint, which began in 2007. He appeared in films, like “Go Tell the Spartans,” and television shows such as “The A-Team,” “Knight Rider” and “MacGyver.” “But I’ve never gotten the accolades that I’ve gotten since this wonderful campaign started,” he said.

Given the campaign’s popularity, Goldsmith says he can’t venture outside without being recognized.

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Planting from the Remains

This year Tu B'Shevat 2014 begins in the evening of Wednesday, January 15
and ends in the evening of Thursday, January 16

by Larry Domnitch for jewishmag.com

It is common knowledge that the holiday of Tu BiShvat is associated with the planting of trees in Israel. Throughout the centuries, trees have been planted in Israel on Tu BiShvat as a celebration of the special qualities of the land, as well as its connection to the Jewish people. Prior to the scorching of the land by Roman legions following the Judean revolts over 1,800 years ago, Israel was adorned with lush forests and bountiful produce.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, when the Ottoman Turks ruled the land, the first waves of Zionist immigrants began to arrive with the goal of developing the land and restoring some of its former splendor. When Tu BiShvat arrived, they would assemble to mark the day with tree planting ceremonies. Clusters of young saplings were soon transformed into forests. Each forest that was planted brought the dream of a Jewish state a little closer -- a dream that seemed distant while the land was under the harsh rule of the anti-Zionist Turks. Just as every forest was precious, so too was each tree. The story of one particular tree symbolized the plight of Zionism in its earliest days and proved that adversity might be an obstacle, but not a deterrent. No impediments would prevent the development of the land of Israel.

While visiting Israel in 1898, Theodore Herzl sought an audience with the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was also in the Holy Land. After visiting the coastal settlements of Mikve Yisrael and Rishon LeTzion, Herzl traveled toward Jerusalem. As he passed through the Judean hills, he noticed its splendor as well as its barrenness due to neglect over the centuries. However, he noticed an island of green amidst the desolation. It was a small Jewish settlement, the only one in the area. The settlement, named Motza, possessed a population of 200 and was located a few miles west of Jerusalem. Its abundance of Olive, Date and Apricot Trees along with clusters of grapevines, gave it its fertile appearance.

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Tu Bishvat 101

This year Tu B'Shevat 2014 begins in the evening of Wednesday, January 15
and ends in the evening of Thursday, January 16

Tu Bishvat is a holiday intimately connected to the agricultural cycle of the Land of Israel.

Falling in the middle of the Jewish month of Shvat, the 15th day of the month is the New Year of Trees. Today, this holiday is often celebrated by planting saplings and also by participating in a seder-meal that echoes the Passover seder, in which the produce of trees, including fruits and nuts, are eaten.

Ideas and Beliefs

The Bible expresses a great reverence for fruit trees as symbols of God's bounty and beneficence. Special laws were formulated to protect fruit trees in times of war and ensure that the produce of trees would not be picked until the trees were mature enough and tithes were given from them. In order to calculate the age of trees, both for determining when they could be harvested and when they were to be tithed for the Temple, the Talmudic Rabbis established the 15th day (Tu) of the month of Shvat as the official "birthday" of trees.

Subsequent to the destruction of the Temple, Tu Bishvat lost much of its relevance, but in the middle ages it was rediscovered by Jewish mystics. In the modern period it has enjoyed another revival as a holiday that links Jews with the land of Israel and as a Jewish celebration of the environment.

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