Nostalgia Sunday – Sallah Shabati
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Movies, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
If you don’t know the film Sallah Shabati then go out and rent it right away because you don’t know Israel. Yes, that’s how strongly I feel about it. Go, go, go out and get it now.
Okay, are you back? Good. Without giving away anything of the plot, Sallah is a film about the immigrant experience and although Israel has changed since 1964 when the movie was made, there are certain constants of Israeli society that humorist Ephraim Kishon put his finger on 44 years ago which still remain the same – bureaucracy, cronyism, societal divides, JNF tree plantings – all the things from which great humor is derived.
The film stars Haim Topol – who went on to have a successful international careers, as well as a very young Arik Einstein, an equally young Gila Almagor and a host of other well-known Israeli actors. It won two Golden Globes and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.
Now, the Cameri Theater is reviving the highly successful musical version of Sallah, which first premiered at Habima in 1988. It promises to be good. Here’s the movie version of Sallah’s big number, “Mashiach HaZaken.”
And a clip from the 1988 stage version starring Zeev Revah.
TechAviv hits the web
Earlier this month, TechAviv launched a new blog described as “1,000 Israeli entrepreneurs and investors that come together off and online to showcase, discuss and help fellow Israeli startups succeed.” Founded by Yaron Samid in the summer of 2007, Tech Aviv has built, first offline, a network of Israeli entrepreneurs located in Silicon Valley, New York City and of course in Israel. TechAviv came on my radar just a couple of days ago but has obviously been on the radar of every Israeli startup that I’ve ever heard of – evident in their list of Israeli startups and investors.
I’ve always been impressed by how unified and supportive the startup scene is here. It’s something I first noticed when working for a myriad of startups during the dotcom boom of the late nineties (none of which exist today!). Now with the advent of blogs and social networking this support system has become even more organized and successful. This past Wednesday, TechAviv hosted a meetup of several Israel-based startups at the IDC in Herzliya. Three startups, Devunity, Contrust and Waze all presented and showed off their websites and services. Next week I’m going to start a feature here called Israel 2.0 where I will focus and write about a different Israeli startup. Other big things are coming very soon on this blog, so stay tuned.
Running the Circuit
It wasn’t the New York Marathon, but the 10K race I ran in last week was big enough to attract star runners from all over Israel – even though there were no cash prizes for the winners. It was the first marathon I ever ran (even though I’ve been seriously jogging and running for nearly 10 years), and a great introduction into Israel’s running culture.
This is the third time the race I ran, called the Benaya Marathon (named after Benaya Rhein, who was killed in battle in Lebanon), has been run, and this year it attracted over 250 runners from around the country. While the first one was an ad hoc affair, where anyone who wanted to could run, the last two have been handled by a professional marathon management company, which gave all runners an electronic chip that recorded everything there was to know about the race – time, route, speed, pace, etc. Results were listed by age group, and about 15 minutes after the last runner crossed the finish line, the list of who came in what place was displayed, followed by the presentation of trophies to top runners in each category. It’s professionally run, but it does cost 50 shekels to register.
Never having run a marathon before, I treated the whole experience as an extended workout, running the 10K instead of doing my usual circuit on the treadmill. So, for me, the marathon was more of a “personal best” thing, and I was happy to beat the time I predicted I would make for the route. But there were quite a few competitive runners there, who apparently follow the circuit of mini-marathons, preparing for the “big ones” – the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv half-marathons (the latter had over 7,000 participants this year!), and the uber-race, the Tiberias Marathon, which follows a 40+ kilometer route around the southern Kinneret. That’s where the big money is – $25,000 for last year’s winner, Kenya’s Leonard Mucheru Maina, plus an additional $15,000 because he broke the course record. The winner of our race was David Raskai, a policeman who is a serious runner, having come in first in a raft of races over the past year. And yours truly? I’d rather not say – It’s a personal best thing, remember?
Foto Friday – Chabad in India
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Israeliness, Life, Religion
There isn’t that much to say. Chabad Houses are known stops for Israeli backpackers on their post-army service trips. Whether in Katmandu, Bangkok or Mumbai, these are places where travelers can drop in, get a hot meal, perhaps even celebrate Passover or Sukkot with friends from home. Whatever animosity secular Israelis may hold towards the local haredi community all but vanishes when it comes to parents wanting a safe haven for their kids as they wander the big wide world. Now that sense of security has been irrevocably shattered. Here are a few images of Chabad in India from quieter times, taken from Chabad.org.
A sign in English and Hebrew points the way to Goa, India’s Chabad House. (Photo: Meir Alfasi)
School children run outside the Chabad House in the Colaba Market area of Bombay, India. (Photo: Menachem Gansbourg)
One of Goa’s many Jewish visitors prays while wearing tefillin. (Photo: Meir Alfasi)
A Jewish man puts on tefillin in the last minutes before sunset. (Photo: Meir Alfasi)
Israelis will doubtless continue their love affair with all things Indian, and Israel’s strategic relationship with India will undoubtedly be strengthened. Chabad-Lubavitch will continue to grow. But the greater ramifications of this traumatic event — an attack on Israel and Jews, Americans, Britons, and, by extension, Western civilization — are as yet unknown.
For those wishing to give immediate help, a fund has been established in memory of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg.
Bazooka Joe and Poochie
Filed under: Business, Food, History and Culture, Israeliness, Pop Culture
Bazooka bubblegum might not have represented a revolution in chewable candy back when the product line was launched over 50 years ago, but the brand’s use of mini-comics as an added-value piggybacking promotion was a stroke of genius. The Topps baseball card publisher hired comics pioneer Wesley Morse to develop “Bazooka Joe and his Gang,” an enduring and endearing ensemble of characters that has included the turtlenecked Mort, canine companion Walkie Talkie, Jane the love interest, Hungry Herman and Toughie (a complete and illustrated chronology of the development of these characters over a half-century is enumerated here).
Joe’s cheeky adventures and one-liners have hit it big in Israeli consumerist pop culture over the years as well, thanks to a licensing deal through huge food maker Strauss-Elite, the Israeli spin-off even enjoying success as an export back to the US thanks to its kosher certification.
The quest to keep Joe relevant has been an ongoing and international process, with baggier jeans added to the character’s wardrobe in the grunge- and hip-hop-loving Nineties and new plans to even get Barack Obama involved in Topps-marketed products.
Here in Israel, a marketing campaign costing NIS 2 million is underway to cast a new character to join the Gang, as YNet’s Hebrew website has recently reported. Young Israeli chewing gum aficionados are encouraged to pitch their ideas to the Strauss-Elite decision-makers via homemade production videos, with the winner to be unveiled some time in January.
YNet quoted Elite-Strauss marketing executive Gali Shabad with words of praise on the campaign, which she claims “connects the general public to a cultural icon that we all grew up with, through the use of an interactive marketing platform” (translation ours).
Hopefully the new Israeli Gang-member will enjoy enduring longevity – unlike our beloved Poochie, may he rest in peace.
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