A New York import

November 24, 2009 - 10:01 AM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, General, Immigrant Moments, Life

My friend’s father has a saying, “Our imports are better than our exports.” He’s generally referring to the presence of Jews from other movements within liberal Orthodoxy, and the skills and understanding that they bring with them. And while I wouldn’t want to hijack his saying to mean something else, it occurs to me that it can be applied to a few other situations. Not, for example, to Israel as a tech industry nation, for example, where our exports are actually as good as our imports, for example, if not better. Nor to food, where I think our tomatoes and oranges, avocados and organic herbs are a hell of a lot better than our imports. Then again, we’re not doing much importing of tomatoes and avocados, right?

But his saying could be expanded to refer to Israel’s ‘importation’ of people over the decades, the ingathering of the exiles, the Easterners and Westerners, Europeans and Mediterraneans, Americans and South Africans, South Americans and Australians, you get the idea. Namely, all the great people that have made their way here to enrich and enliven this country. But sometimes, our imports take a break from Israel and head to greener pastures to make their fortunes and find fame. At that point, they become, well, exports.

One prime example is comedian Yisrael Campbell, the former Philadelphian who converted three times — Reform, Conservative and Orthodox — and moved to Israel where he married and had three kids. He and his family moved to New York last summer to pursue a plan to put his one-man show on Off Broadway, and they’ve succeeded, as “Circumcise Me” recently opened at the Bleecker Street Theater. Reviews have been decent, and those of us who know and love Yisrael, can attest to the fact that this is a show well worth seeing, especially if you’re into Israeli exports.

Share with others

Tags: Bleecker Street, New York, Off Broadway, Yisrael Campbell Circumcise Me

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.

Share with others