Anglo humor

July 4, 2008 - 11:32 AM by Jessica · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Pop Culture

The reality of Israel includes the overwhelming presence of bonafide Sabras, those native-born, resh-rolling, confidence-abounding locals whose ranks have grown to include a host of other kinds of Israelis, from immigrant Russians, Americans, Brits and Aussies to Ethiopians, South Africans, French, Spanish and every other nationality imaginable.

Americans in Israel constitute a group of about 200,000, but we’re generally lumped together with all the other Anglos — — as in Anglo Saxon, as native English speakers here are known — with the only differentiation being the twangs with which we speak, and how that emerges in Hebrew.

Last night, I attended one of those singularly ‘Anglo’ events, the premiere of Circumcise Me, about the comedy of American-Israeli Yisrael Campbell, in a film made by two other Anglos, photographer David Blumenfeld who originally hails from the States and writer Matthew Kalman who immigrated to Israel from England. It’s a short film, about 50 minutes long, about Campbell, a former Philadelphian, Angeleno and now Jerusalemite, as well as three-time convert to Judaism, his life in Israel and his life decisions. It’s funny, smart and clearly resonated with the packed, mostly immigrant audience at a local neighborhood theater.

I’m not going to give away the jokes — which are plentiful and funny — except to say that they will resonate with many audiences, Jewish or non-Jewish, Israeli or other. But there was something else that was happening in the Smadar theater last night, involving the microcosm of the smaller Anglo community within the larger Israeli community, the melding of two very different cultures that creates something new and different that doesn’t necessarily clash or impose one culture upon another. It’s a blend, maybe an unexpected one that can feel like an insulated bubble at times, but can also function as a way of viewing and understanding the Middle Eastern world in which we’re living.

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