Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: 5 Surprising Locations Jews Live Today

From Iquitos, Peru to Namibia, Gibraltar, Japan, and Siberia, Jewish communities are found on every continent today outside of Antarctica. Each presenting a unique flavor of Judaism, these communities have continued to cling to their Jewish culture and keep their ancient traditions alive.

Join us in visiting these five locations to see how these very different Jewish communities maintain their culture in environments that you wouldn't expect Jewish traditions to thrive in.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila by Charan-Po-Rantan in Japan

Charan-Po-Rantan is a Japanese sister duo that has an "exuberant, alternative-cabaret-meets-circus vibe"  comprised of Momo Matsunaga on vocals, and her older sister, Koharu on the accordion.

As Susan Delson wrote in the Wall Street Journal,

Speaking through an interpreter in a video interview from Tokyo, Koharu said that klezmer, a Jewish music of Eastern Europe, is the bedrock of her style. She started listening to it in middle school, when their mother brought home a CD. Hearing Hava Nagila, she said, was a musical turning point.

Other influences from Eastern Europe include the No Smoking Orchestra, a Balkan beat band that includes the noted film director Emir Kusturica, and a traditional Romanian group called Taraf de Haïdouks. Contemporary groups like the indie-rock Yeah Yeah Yeahs also make the list, along with blues and rap music.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Mayim Mayim - The Israeli Folk Song/Dance That All Japanese Know

The popular Israeli folk song Mayim Mayim (i.e. 'Water, Water' in Hebrew), whose lyrics are based on a biblical promise for salvation, is now the well-known tune accompanying countless Japanese video games. Now that's a Jewish trace in a very unexpected place. 

As Gabriela Gaselowitz wrote in Tablet, 

Everyone in Japan knows Mayim Mayim.

How did this happen? It began in the post-WWII occupation of Japan, led by General Douglas MacArthur. As part of the (admittedly somewhat forced) cultural exchange, the United States decided to teach the youth in Asia folk dances.

They enlisted the aid of Rickey Holden, a prominent square and folk dance-caller, scholar, and educator.Holden does not appear to be Jewish, but he did visit Israel to study folk dance. That’s most likely where he learned Mayim Mayim. Over the course of 1957 and 1958, he went on a world tour that included Japan and Taipei.

It’s not clear if he’s solely responsible for teaching the dance in Japan, but in Taiwan it’s closely associated with him. (In fact, Israeli dance in general is popular in Taiwan, but it was Mayim Mayim that started it all.)

Here's a video of the original Israeli song in a film clip from 1959 followed by an example of its use in the opening sequence of a Japanese children's show.

Enjoy!

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(A tip of the kippah to Henry Goldberg for bringing this video to my attention.)

Yom HaShoah Special: Japanese Hashalom Choir Sings "Eli Eli" at March of the Living

Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the date in the Jewish calendar to mourn the loss of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

Eli, Eli is a poem by Hannah Senesh, the 23-year-old who left Hungary in 1939 to settle on a kibbutz in Israel. She was trained by the British to be a paratrooper to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Captured and killed by the Nazis, she is still a national heroine in Israel.

Through her brief but noteworthy life, Senesh became a symbol of idealism and self-sacrifice. Her poems, made famous in part because of her unfortunate death, reveal a woman imbued with hope, even in the face of adverse circumstances.

Her diary and literary works were later published, and many of her more popular poems have been set to music. The best known of these is Towards Caesarea, more popularly known today as Eli, Eli with a melody created by David Zahavi and sung by artists including Ofra Haza, Regina Spektor, and Sophie Milman. 
 
In 2018, Eli, Eli was sung by the Hashalom Choir of Japan at the March of the Living Ceremony in Birkenau in recognition of the role played by Japanese Diplomat Chiune Sempo Sugihara in helping 6,000 Jews flee Europe. Sugihara, vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania issued transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japanese territory, risking his job and the lives of his family.

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Throwback Thursday Musical Special - Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme Sing in Japan

Back in March 1988, Steve Lawrence (Steve Liebowitz) and Eydie Gorme (Edith Gormezano) performed live on stage in Tokyo. Their concert included 25 songs, including That's What Friends Are For, composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager.

Steve and Eydie were always our favorite singers, and we were saddened in 2013 to hear that Eydie died at the age of 84. Eydie's parents were Sephardic Jews from Sicily and Turkey, and she was a first cousin to singer Neil Sedaka.

Steve continued to perform until last year, when he revealed that he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

This rendition of That's What Friends Are For is a classic example of their song stylings.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places - "Sunrise, Sunset" from Yiddish "Fiddler" - in Tokyo!

Sunrise, Sunset in Yiddish? Sure, it's a featured song (Tog ayn, tog oys) in the Yiddish version of Fiddler on the Roof, now playing in an extended run Off-Broadway at Stage 42 in New York.

But it's also being played in Tokyo and on YouTube by a Japanese klezmer band called Jinta-la-Mvta. It's is a musical group founded in 2004 by Ohkuma Wataru, clarinetist and bandleader of the groundbreaking Japanese experimental folk band Cicala Mvta, and his partner and drummer Kogure Miwazo.

Ohkuma’s interest in Klezmer music began in the late 80s. He was one of the first Japanese artists who listened to and played the genre. He has a repertoire of dozens of Klezmer tunes through his distinct perspective, setting him apart among non-Jewish klezmer musicians. 

Considered as one of the few Klezmer experts in Japan, he has also penned various pieces on Klezmer and Japanese liner notes of Klezmatics and Frank London. Since the Great Northeast Japan Earthquake and the subsequent nuclear crises in 2011, the band started to perform not only on club stages and festivals but also at anti-nuclear protests and demonstrations on the streets of Tokyo, attracting a new and wide range of audiences and fans.

The  YouTube post includes a greeting to the Yiddish-speaking audience:

Tayere Yidn, mir zaynen tsuzamen mit aykh. Libe fun Tokio
(Dear Jews, we are together with you. Love from Tokyo)

Enjoy!

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