Amazon's Sukkot Gift Boxes Spell Out "Happy Tuchus"

What happens when you design a product featuring the phrase "Happy Sukkot" in Hebrew letters, but don't know that cutting and pasting the words from an internet source can result in their appearing backwards and totally changing their meaning? That's what happened this month when it was discovered that the Sukkot gift boxes sold on Amazon were printed with the Hebrew words "Happy Tuchus".

As Larry Yudelson reported in The Jewish Standard, the boxes were discovered by Jessica Russak-Hoffman while searching for Sukkot gift wrappings on Amazon.com.

But what led Russak-Hoffman to press the buy button was the extremely incompetent product design by someone who didn’t realize that when you cut-and-paste Hebrew from the web to an app, there’s always a chance the Hebrew letters will forget they’re supposed to flow from right to left.

Which is how a design which wishes “happy sukkot” in English can present Hebrew characters that approximately spell out tuchus — the Hebrew-derived Yiddish word for bottom or buttocks — which — who knew! — is what you get when you write “sukkot” backwards.

(Tuchus, Merriam Webster informs us, was first cited in English way back in 1886; derived from the Hebrew tachat, “under, below,” it is too slangy, even in Yiddish, to appear in the three Yiddish dictionaries we have at hand.)

But if you want to wish your friends a Sukkot-themed bottoms-up this year, you may be out of luck. The particular product that Russak-Hoffman bought is now unavailable; her tweet went viral, with 70,000 views, not only due to the backsided nature of the Hebrew text, but also the hilarious marketing photos, which included the Sukkot/Tuchus boxes on the table for both Pesach and Chanukkah observances.

Compounding the error, Amazon's photo of the Sukkot boxes shows the breaking of a matzah, which of course is a feature of the Passover seder and has nothing to do with Sukkot or tuchuses.

We'll be celebrating Sukkot and Shabbat for the next three days, and we'll be back with our usual mix of humor and music on Sunday.

Chag sameach and Shabbat Shalom!

 

 

Gal Gadot Tells Hebrew Joke to James Corden on The Late Late Show

Last week Israeli film star Gal Gadot was a guest on James Corden's Late Late Show. Corden played a game with Gadot called "Gal-Ga-Yes or Gal-Ga-No" in which she had to successfully complete four tasks. 

The first test was to throw a grape in the air and catch it in the air on her first try.

The next task was to tell a joke in Hebrew and make Hagar Ben-Ari, the band's bass guitarist, laugh.

She told the joke very quickly and Hagar laughed, but the joke was not translated into English.

If the joke went too fast for you to get, here's the translation: 

Why is a baby like instant coffee? It's easy to make and it keeps you up all night.

Enjoy the next two tasks and Gadot's success with them.

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Gal Gadot Teaches You Hebrew Slang

Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress and model. At age 18, she was crowned Miss Israel 2004. She then served two years in the Israel Defense Forces as a soldier, whereafter she began studying at the IDC Herzliya college, while building her modeling and acting careers.

Gadot's first international film role came as Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious (2009), a role she reprised in several subsequent installments of the film franchise. She went on to achieve global stardom for portraying Diana Prince / Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe, beginning with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), followed by the solo film Wonder Woman (2017), the ensemble Justice League (2017), the sequel Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), and the alternate cut Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021).

But did you know she can also be a Hebrew teacher, at least when it comes to teaching us Hebrew slang? In this video, Gal teaches us 14 Hebrew slang expressions and explains how they are used.

Enjoy!

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"Funny Monday" Brings Israeli Stand-up Comedy to English Speakers

Comedians Yohay Sponder and Shahar Hason got their start as comedians in Israel catering exclusively to Hebrew-speaking audiences. As the two became more and more well-known to Hebrew speakers throughout Israel, they noticed a huge demographic in the country that was missing out on the laughs. 

Sponder and Hason took the risk of crafting and re-writing their material from Hebrew to English (and from Israeli humor to American humor), all the while unsure whether or not they would even get a laugh out of an English speaking crowd. Their hard work and dedication to broadening the audience of one of Israel’s most unique cultural elements has launched the growing scene of Israeli Stand-up in English.

Last year Sponder, Hason, Yossi Tarablus, and some of their friends took their show, Funny Monday, on a tour of Europe and visited Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Manchester. Here is a video highlight of the tour.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with a North African Version of Yigdal by Marlene Samoun

Most synagogues conclude the Friday evening service with the liturgical poem Yigdal. 

Yigdal (Hebrew: יִגְדָּל‬ means "Magnify [O Living God]") is a Jewish hymn which in various rituals shares with Adon Olam the place of honor at the opening of the morning and the close of the evening service. 

It is based on the 13 Articles of Faith formulated by Maimonides (The Rambam). A translation can be found in any bilingual siddur in the language of the country where it is sung.

Today we're welcoming Shabbat with a version from North Africa sung by Marlene Samoun, a French singer, accompanied by violinist Rachid Brahim-Djelloul. The lyrics alternate in Hebrew and French.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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So You Think You Know Hebrew? Renny Grinshpan's A to Z Guide to Hebrew Slang

How's your Hebrew? I mean the Hebrew that you learned in school or in camp. If you think that's going to make you understood by Israelis, fuggedaboudit. What you need to be understood in Israel is Israeli slang, for which there are few dictionaries and formal education.

Renny Grinshpan, a Canadian model and comedian who made aliyah in 2014, has become famous in Israel for her comedic commentary on Israeli culture.

As Andrew Tobin reported for JTA last year,

Grinshpan’s most popular video is a tutorial on Hebrew slang that has been viewed 1.7 million times on Facebook since it was posted in September. Standing alone in front of the camera, she goes through the (English) alphabet from “achi,” or “brother,” to “zorem,” or “go with the flow.” At the letter “h,” for example, she explains: “Haim sheli, meaning ‘my life,’ can be used to address even your most casual acquaintances.”

Enjoy!

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Comedian Elon Gold on Israeli Speech Mannerisms at UN Conference

Earlier this year the World Jewish Congress and Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations hosted more than 2,000 dignitaries, public officials, NGO representatives at the UN headquarters for the second Ambassadors Against BDS summit. 

The opening session of the conference was held in the iconic General Assembly Hall of the United Nations.

One of the speakers at the UN conference was comedian Elon Gold, whose performances we have shared with you on Jewish Humor Central.

At this session, after remarks supporting Israel and acknowledging the presence of Natan Sharansky and Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations Danny Danon, Gold launched into a stand-up routine about the unique characteristics of Israeli speech patterns and mannerisms.

Enjoy!

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Israeli Wonder Woman Actress Gal Gadot Starts Saturday Night Live with Hebrew Monologue

Last week Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress who plays the lead role in the Wonder Woman movie, took a star turn hosting Saturday Night Live. The show was broadcast in Israel for the first time and Gadot opened her monologue with a special message in Hebrew.

After a shoutout to her Ema and Aba, Gadot told her Israeli listeners that the writers here know nothing about Israel and had her eating hummus in every sketch. The American audience ate it all up.

Enjoy!

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Actress Natalie Portman Teaches You Hebrew Slang

How much Hebrew slang do you know? What's the real meaning of Al Hapanim, Chai B'seret, Balagan, and Zayin? 

In a video posted by Vanity Fair magazine, Actress Natalie Portman explains the street language meaning of these and other popular Israeli expressions.

Portman is fluent in Hebrew, having been born in Jerusalem to an Israeli father and American mother. She learned to speak Hebrew while living on Long Island and attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County in Jericho, New York.

Enjoy!

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Remembering Mary Tyler Moore's Hebrew Lesson on Shalom Sesame

Mary Tyler Moore, the actress who died last Wednesday, wasn't Jewish. But she marrried Dr. Robert Levine in a ceremony performed by a rabbi at the Pierre Hotel, a marriage that lasted 33 years.

One of the episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, where she starred as Van Dyke's TV wife, centered around a Bar Mitzvah. Titled Buddy Sorrell, Man and Boy, it featured comedian Morey Amsterdam as a man who, deprived of a Bar Mitzvah as a boy, secretly studied with a rabbi to give his mother some belated nachas.

Moore made an appearance on the very first episode of Shalom Sesame, where she got a Hebrew lesson from a girl named Maya.

Enjoy!

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Yihye Tov - A Love Letter to Israel From the Students of SAR Academy

The students of SAR Academy in Riverdale, New York, have recorded a love letter to Israel in the form of a new version of David Broza's iconic song Yihye Tov (It will be good) expressing hope for peace in our time. 

It's a hope that has been voiced for many years, longer than the 35 years that have elapsed since Broza first composed it. Over the years he added about 30 new verses, bringing the song up to date as prospects for peace continued to rise and fall.

Vocals were performed by the SAR Academy Choir and middle school students.
Song production, arrangement and recording at SAR Recording Studios were done by Shim Craimer.
Video was done by Batya Sharbat & Becca Glassberg, and Lyrics & Direction by Benji Hain.

Below the SAR version and English translation we're including a video of David Broza performing his original song at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, in Hebrew with English translation in subtitles.

Enjoy!

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SAR Version With New Lyrics



English translation of the lyrics:

I’m sitting here in class and hear some more bad news
Israel’s so far away but it’s close by in my heart

I’m scared and I’m worried about family and friends
And I’m trying so very hard to keep the hope alive

Life will be good
Yes, life will be good
with unity and love
We support you
and pray to Hashem
for peace in Israel

I think of our forefathers in exile for thousands of years
who dreamt of returning home but never got the chance

And now our generation is living out their dreams
but we must never forget the sacrifices they made

Life will be good
Yes, life will be good
with unity and love
We support you
and pray to Hashem
for peace in Israel

So come on, what should we do? How can we make a difference right now?
How can we help the children of Israel deal with what they must face?

We all know that Am Yisrael will live forever
and we can accomplish anything if we march together hand-in-hand

Together we’ll tell the world that Israel has the right to exist
and that it must protect its people from every possible threat

We will all pray with one heart for peace throughout the land
and send a loving hug to Israel from the children of the world

Life will be good
Yes, life will be good
with unity and love
We support you
and pray to Hashem
for peace in Israel

David Broza Singing His Original Version

Maccabeats Channel Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah in Lecha Dodi

The Maccabeats, the Yeshiva University a cappella group, has become known for its high quality singing, especially around the Jewish Holidays. But their repertoire also includes liturgical music, such as this beautiful rendition of Lecha Dodi, the focal point of the Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming of the Sabbath) service.

We referenced this song, the Maccabeats' breakthrough hit, in previous posts, but never actually posted a video of it in an on-stage performance. It has been set to many melodies. So here it is, channeling Leonard Cohen's signature song, Hallelujah. 

We find this combination of words and music particularly inspiring, and we hope you'll enjoy it too as we welcome Shabbat tonight. Scroll down below the video to see the lyrics in Hebrew, English, and in transliteration.

Shabbat shalom.

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	English translation	Transliteration	Hebrew
Chorus:
1	Let’s go, my beloved, to meet the bride,	Lekhah dodi liqrat kallah	לכה דודי לקראת כלה
2	and let us welcome the presence of Shabbat.	p'nei Shabbat neqabelah	פני שבת נקבלה
Verse 1:
3	"Observe" and "recall" in a single utterance,	Shamor v'zakhor b'dibur eḥad	שמור וזכור בדבור אחד
4	We were made to hear by the unified God,	hishmiʿanu El hameyuḥad	השמיענו אל המיחד
5	God is one and God’s Name is one,	Adonai eḥad ushemo eḥad	יי אחד ושמו אחד
6	In fame and splendor and praiseful song.	L'Sheim ulitiferet v'lit'hilah	לשם ולתפארת ולתהלה
Verse 2:
7	To greet Shabbat let’s go, let’s travel,	Liqrat Shabbat lekhu v'nelekhah	לקראת שבת לכו ונלכה
8	For she is the wellspring of blessing,	ki hi maqor haberakhah	כי היא מקור הברכה
9	From the start, from ancient times she was chosen,	merosh miqedem nesukhah	מראש מקדם נסוכה
10	Last made, but first planned.	sof maʿaseh b'maḥashavah teḥilah	סוף מעשה במחשבה תחלה
Verse 3:
11	Sanctuary of the king, royal city,	Miqdash melekh ʿir melukhah	מקדש מלך עיר מלוכה
12	Arise! Leave from the midst of the turmoil;	Qumi tze'i mitokh ha-hafeikhah	קומי צאי מתוך ההפכה
13	Long enough have you sat in the valley of tears	Rav lakh shevet b'ʿeimeq habakha	רב לך שבת בעמק הבכא
14	And He will take great pity upon you compassionately.	v'hu yaḥamol ʿalayikh ḥemlah	והוא יחמול עליך חמלה
Verse 4:
15	Shake yourself free, rise from the dust,	Hitnaʿari me'afar qumi	התנערי מעפר קומי
16	Dress in your garments of splendor, my people,	Livshi bigdei tifartekh ʿami	לבשי בגדי תפארתך עמי
17	By the hand of Jesse’s son of Bethlehem,	ʿAl yad ben Yishai beit ha-laḥmi	על יד בן ישי בית הלחמי
18	Redemption draws near to my soul.	Qorvah el nafshi g'alah	קרבה אל נפשי גאלה
Verse 5:
19	Rouse yourselves! Rouse yourselves!	Hitʿoreri hitʿoreri	התעוררי התעוררי
20	Your light is coming, rise up and shine.	Ki va oreikh qumi ori	כי בא אורך קומי אורי
21	Awaken! Awaken! utter a song,	ʿUri ʿuri shir dabeiri	עורי עורי שיר דברי
22	The glory of the Lord is revealed upon you.	K'vod Adonai ʿalayikh niglah	כבוד יי עליך נגלה
Verse 6:
23	Do not be embarrassed! Do not be ashamed!	Lo tivoshi v'lo tikalmi	לא תבושי ולא תכלמי
24	Why be downcast? Why groan?	Mah tishtoḥai umah tehemi	מה תשתוחחי ומה תהמי
25	All my afflicted people will find refuge within you	bakh yeḥesu ʿaniyei ʿami	בך יחסו עניי עמי
26	And the city shall be rebuilt on her hill.	v'nivnetah ʿir ʿal tilah	ונבנתה עיר על תלה
Verse 7:
27	Your despoilers will become your spoil,	V'hayu limshisah shosayikh	והיו למשסה שאסיך
28	Far away shall be any who would devour you,	V'raḥaqu kol mevalʿayikh	ורחקו כל מבלעיך
29	Your God will rejoice concerning you,	Yasis ʿalayikh Elohayikh	ישיש עליך אלהיך
30	As a groom rejoices over a bride.	Kimsos ḥatan ʿal kalah	כמשוש חתן על כלה
Verse 8:
31	To your right and your left you will burst forth,	Yamin usmol tifrotzi	ימין ושמאל תפרוצי
32	And the Lord will you revere	V'et Adonai taʿaritzi	ואת יי תעריצי
33	By the hand of a child of Perez,	ʿAl yad ish ben Partzi	על יד איש בן פרצי
34	We will rejoice and sing happily.	V'nismeḥah v'nagilah	ונשמחה ונגילה
Verse 9:
35	Come in peace, crown of her husband,	Boi v'shalom ateret baʿalah	בואי בשלום עטרת בעלה
36	Both in happiness and in jubilation	Gam b'simḥah uvetzahalah	גם בשמחה ובצהלה
37	Amidst the faithful of the treasured nation	Tokh emunei ʿam segulah	תוך אמוני עם סגלה
38	Come O Bride! Come O Bride!	Boi khalah boi khalah	בואי כלה בואי כלה

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Chinese Chorus Sings in Yiddish and Hebrew

Would you expect a Chinese Chorus to sing the Yiddish song Oifn Pripitchik and the Hebrew song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav? Well, Jewish traces show up in the most unlikely places, and Hong Kong is no exception.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Student Chorus performs the music of many cultures in many languages, and Yiddish and Hebrew are part of their repertoire. They also sing in Finnish, Japanese, German and Latin.

The video we're sharing today is titled Choral Selections from Schindler's List. We had forgotten that these two songs were included in the Steven Spielberg film. But here they are, preceded by a violinist playing the plaintive theme from the movie, with which he also closes the medley.

Shabbat shalom.

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Funny Israeli Commercials: John Cleese Authorizes Air Strike While Eating Chocolate Spread

It's been awhile since we last posted a funny Israeli commercial, but this week we found a new one featuring Monty Python veteran John Cleese in the role of a Western general discussing possible air strikes against an unnamed target.

The commercial is getting lots of publicity in Israel. As Gabe Fisher wrote in The Times of Israel,

...in a new Israeli commercial, the British comedian and former Monty Python member appears to approve a strike on the Islamic Republic, along the way promoting Sababa Egozim chocolate-hazelnut spread.

The commercial, released on YouTube Thursday, features a group of Israeli military leaders entreating a trio of Western generals, led by Cleese as “General Rogers,” to approve an attack on an unnamed target, saying they “will be in and out in 33 minutes” and that “we have the right to defend ourselves!”

Cleese then takes a taste of a conveniently-located container of the sweet spread and dryly says “Sababa Egozim,” which the Israelis take as permission to order a strike.

“Sababa” means “cool” in Israeli slang (taken from the Arabic, like many Hebrew slang words) and “egozim” are “nuts.” Put together, though, the term is slang for “super cool” or “hell yeah.”

Enjoy!

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BBC Comedy Uses Google to Translate Hebrew and Gets in a Pickle

With a quarter of a million Jews in England, you would think that a television production company wanting to put a Hebrew phrase on a tombstone for an upcoming episode of a comedy series would find at least one who could come up with a good translation.
 
But the producers of Episodes, a sitcom in its second year starring American actor Matt LeBlanc, either didn't have the time or the smarts to do so. What did they do instead?

When they wanted to put the phrase "dearly missed" in Hebrew on the tombstone of a character in the series, they turned to Google Tranlsator. Unfortunately, Google must have giggled when it translated the phrase as "pickled at great expense." And it compounded the error when it reversed the Hebrew letters.

Line by line, when read from left to right, the inscription says:
BA'AL V'AV AHUV (Beloved husband and father)
HECHEMITZ B'YOKER (Pickled at great expense)
AHUV BA'AL MISHPACHA (Beloved head of family)

As Nathan Jeffay wrote in The Guardian on Sunday,

Everyone in Israel is talking about the British-American BBC comedy Episodes. Not that it is airing there, but the show has recently become famous for its disastrous use of freebie online translation.

In episode three, Merc Lapidus, one of the lead characters, attends the funeral of his father. The episode was shown in the UK several weeks ago and is airing in the US later this summer.

The gravestone, as per Jewish tradition, is bilingual – the local vernacular, in this case English, along with Hebrew. But the entire Hebrew inscription is written backwards, starting with the last letter and working back to the first. The reason, of course, is that Hebrew runs in the opposite direction from English, from right to left. And it gets worse. If you go to the trouble of reading the text, you'll discover that the man commemorated, a certain Yuhudi Penzel, has been "pickled at great expense". This is what you get if you use Google Translate to render "dearly missed" into Hebrew. The blooper is now going viral in Israel.

Hebrew, with a particularly high number of words with multiple meanings, and complex linguistic relationship between the ancient and modern language, poses particular problems. I recently bought a bottle of grape juice. Kosher laws require that fruit is only picked from a plant over four years old – pick it younger and the fruit is called orla and can't be eaten. Seemingly an online translation threw up the more common meaning of orla: my bottle reassured me that I could drink it "without fear that it contains foreskin".

 (A tip of the kippah to Esther Kustanowitz for bringing this story to our attention.)

Israel Day Celebrated in Maryland with Kaveret Poogy and Dance

Last Sunday Israel was celebrated not only on Fifth Avenue in New York City, but also in Rockville, Maryland, where we were spending the weekend. 

Thousands of adults and children gathered at Rockville Town Square to enjoy an Israel @64 Festival sponsored by the Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington.

On a glorious sunny day, the square was filled with booths displaying Judaica, jewelry making, sand art, face painting, tefilin demonstrations, and lots of Israeli food. 

For us the highlight of the event was a one hour concert by Danny Sanderson and a musical troupe that brought to life many of the most popular songs by his band, Kaveret (Poogy) which has been a major presence on the Israeli music scene since 1973.

The band, several of whose members met during their service in the Israel Defense Forces, was formed in 1973. It broke up in 1976 by consensus of the band members. Subsequently, Kaveret veterans Gidi Gov and Danny Sanderson along with female vocalist Mazi Cohen and other musicians, formed a spinoff band named Gazoz, and later, another named Doda. As it turned out, six of the seven band members became stars in the Israeli music and entertainment scene in their own right after the band broke up.

The seventh, drummer Meir Fenigstein (whose nickname "Poogy" served as inspiration for the band's name abroad and for some of its material), went on to become a film festival producer.

Many songs by Kaveret became embedded in Israeli culture and are familiar also to the new generation of Israeli youth.

In 1974, Kaveret represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song, Natati La Khayay ("נתתי לה חיי", "I Gave Her My Life"). It finished 7th. In the same year, Kaveret played one of the biggest concerts in Israel ever. While the population of Israel was only 3 million people, over 500,000 fans came to listen to the band perform. "The streets of Israel were empty", said band member Efraim Shamir after the event took place.

Here's a video of Sanderson and the band playing Natati La Khayay and Shir HaMakolet, and a Chassidic dance set to music from Fiddler on the Roof.  

For Poogy fans, we're including a video of the original performance of Natati La Khayay by the band at the Eurovision contest in 1974. For a transliteration and English translation of the song, click here. Enjoy! 

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Taglit-Birthright Israel Gets Targeted for Spoof by Israeli Comedy Show

Taglit-Birthright Israel is an organization that sponsors free 10-day heritage trips to Israel for Jewish young adults between 18 and 26 years old. (Taglit is the Hebrew word for discovery.) Birthright Israel's goals are to diminish divisions between Israel and Jewish communities around the world and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and connection to Jewish history and culture. 

As of summer 2011, over 250,000 individuals (over 22,000 each year), from 52 different countries have participated since the trips began in the winter of 2000, and 70% of trip participants came from the United States. From 2007, annual capacity was increased to 37,000 participants a year.

You're probably thinking: What an amazing success story. And you're right. But all this good will doesn't make Birthright Israel exempt from the kind of sharp parody that Saturday Night Live uses to skewer everything and everyone who makes news. And in Israel, Eretz Nehederet is the TV show that is often called the Israeli Saturday Night Live.

Eretz Nehederet has chosen Taglit-Birthright Israel as this year's target of its politically incorrect satire. In its first program of the season, Eretz Nehederet features a running parody of a Birthright trip to Israel that mocks American Jews for their enthusiasm and naivete (and obesity and JAPpiness, of course) and Israelis for their gold-digging and trigger fingers.

It doesn't have a happy ending. In fact there is no ending because it's a long running gag. If they keep releasing episodes with English subtitles, we'll keep bringing them to you. Just be aware that this is what Israeli viewers consider funny, given the high ratings the show keeps getting. We're sure some of the stereotypes are right on, but that's what they are...stereotypes.  Just something to keep in mind while you're laughing.  Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

"The Footnote," Israeli Wry Comedy, Gets Oscar Nomination For Best Foreign Film

Last September we shared a story about a new wry comedy from Israel titled "Footnote" (The Hebrew title is He'arat Shulayim) that was selected to be shown at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center. Now comes the news that the film, for which Joseph Cedar was given the prize for Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.

From our perspective, reporting from Jerusalem this week, it's clear that the nomination has made a big impression on the public. Everyone is talking about it with great anticipation, especially since a film from Iran has also been nominated for the same honor.

  

Here's the plot synopsis: Thanks to a clerical error, Eliezer Shkolnik, a respected if little-known Talmudic scholar, is informed that he’s won the coveted Israel Prize; in truth, the prize was meant for his son, Uriel, a much more flamboyant, widely-read Talmudist. The authorities ask Uriel to help them rectify the situation, but Uriel argues the case for his father’s deserving the honor. 

Meanwhile, Eliezer plans to use the occasion as an opportunity to intellectually take down his son and the whole generation of a la mode Talmudists. Cedar has here created the wryest of Jewish comedies, a emotional competition that pits father against son, built around the understanding of sacred texts. Rarely has the weight of a culture’s intellectual past been depicted so forecefully, nor shown to be as vibrant. 

The film, which was shot at sites in and around Jerusalem, depicts situations that bring smiles to residents who know too well some of the less than perfect aspects of Israeli building construction.  For example, the way participants in a meeting have to navigate around the small conference room and the non-functioning water cooler in the hallway.

In the video below, JN1 TV correspondent Jordana Miller interviews Israelis in the street to get their views on the film and what the nomination means to them.  Enjoy! 

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)