A hearty congrats to Kalman Feinberg of Teaneck, N.J., who wowed the judges with his “smooth tone” at the Great Shofar Blast Off this weekend in NYC. He won a trip for two to Israel; a true mensch would take his mother, who kvelled in the audience for him. (JournalNews.com reports that all 10 finalists, all men in their 40’s and 50’s, brought their mothers. Are you surprised?)

The Blast Off was conceived by the National Jewish Outreach Program, who have generously posted some of the finalists’ video entries. The first two are pretty dry, but Contestant #3 brings a bit of excitement to the task.

On the whole the clips are equally as entertaining as this animated parody, which seems to be deriding the the Blast Off for a turning a sacred ritual into a silly contest. Yo, if it’s good P.R., it’s good for the Jews, right?