Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: Indigenous Nations Open Embassy in Jerusalem

Earlier this year the leaders of indigenous nations around the world opened an embassy in Jerusalem. Delegations from the South Pacific, North America, Canada and South Africa, came to Jerusalem for the inauguration. Various others sent recorded messages. 

The Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem does not represent a specific state or country. Rather, it embodies the voices of indigenous leaders and their people from across the world and will serve as a hub of information and a helping hand in the Promised Land. 

The embassy opening was attended by leaders of indigenous communities from around the world (New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands), Dr. Mike Evans, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, and representatives from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Speakers of the indigenous communities brought special gifts from overseas, expressed their true and strong support in Israel and finished with songs performed in Hebrew. The ceremony concluded with the grand unveiling of the embassy sign and the singing of Sh'ma Yisrael and Hava Nagila.

The representatives from Hawaii asked the indigenous leaders to stand and stretch out their hands over the audience of Israelis as they sang the Aaronic Blessing in Hawaiian. The delegation from Puerto Rico accompanied themselves on traditional instruments as they, too, sang blessings over Israel. A representative for the queen of Tonga read the Song of Moses from Deuteronomy 32:1–43.

Enjoy!

Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: Mexican Mariachi Music in Jerusalem

Mariachi Yerushalaim is a band that provides a live Mexican experience and ambience to its audience.

By using the traditional instruments and dressing in the authentic Mariachi attire, they put on a show that makes the audience feel as if they were actually in Mexico.

Yojanan Peretz, the pioneer of the group, made Aliya in 2018. Inspired by his former Hebrew professor Jacob Shekrel in Valencia, Spain he set out to scout the music scene in Israel. After months of extensive research, his heart was set on the Mexican genre.

In this interview with i24 TV, lead singer Yosef Daniel Villareal and the mariachi band sing and play Avadim Hayinu and Tequila near the walls of Jerusalem.

Enjoy!

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Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: The Gat Brothers Cover the Beatles Song "Two of Us" in a Beit Shemesh Forest

Aryeh and Gil Gat, known as The Gat Brothers and The Breslov Brothers and to some, The Amazing Rabbis, made a big hit on the Israeli TV talent show Rising Star in 2013 when they performed Simon and Garfunkel's hit Sounds of Silence before a cheering audience. 

When we posted the video here we got some of the highest ratings from our readers since we started Jewish Humor Central. We've been keeping an eye on Aryeh and Gil, looking for their performances on stage or in the streets of Jerusalem, where they sometimes take up residence on Jaffa Road and in the Mamilla Mall.

Last year they found a new location for their jam sessions -- a forest near Beit Shemesh, a city 19 miles west of Jerusalem.

In this video, they cover the Beatles' song Two of Us, from the Let it Be movie.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by Russia's Red Army Choir in Tel Aviv

A few years ago we posted a version of Adon Olam that was sung by Russia's Red Army Choir during a concert at the Sultan's Pool in Jerusalem in 2014.

Three years later a more diverse Red Army Choir gave another rousing performance of Adon Olam in Tel Aviv with singers in military dress and a group of folk dancers in traditional costumes.

Here's a video of the 2017 performance that's the 71st version of Adon Olam that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: The Gat Brothers Sing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" in a Beit Shemesh Forest

Aryeh and Gil Gat, known as The Gat Brothers and The Breslov Brothers and to some, The Amazing Rabbis, made a big hit on the Israeli TV talent show Rising Star in 2013 when they performed Simon and Garfunkel's hit Sounds of Silence before a cheering audience. 

When we posted the video here we got some of the highest ratings from our readers since we started Jewish Humor Central. We've been keeping an eye on Aryeh and Gil, looking for their performances on stage or in the streets of Jerusalem, where they sometimes take up residence on Jaffa Road and in the Mamilla Mall.

Last year they found a new location for their jam sessions -- a forest near Beit Shemesh, a city 19 miles west of Jerusalem.

In this video, they play Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, complete with harmonica accompaniment.

Enjoy!

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Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: Ethiopian Jews Celebrate Holiday of Sigd in Israel

If you look at an Israeli calendar you'll see that yesterday was a national holiday that few Jews outside of Israel have heard of. It's the Ethiopian Jewish holiday of Sigd.

Sigd is an Amharic word meaning "prostration" or "worship" and is the commonly used name for a holiday celebrated by the Ethiopian Jewish community on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. This date is exactly 50 days after Yom Kippur, usually falling out in late October or November, and according to Ethiopian Jewish tradition is also the date that G-d first revealed himself to Moses.

In this video from last year's celebration Ethiopian Jews explain the significance of the holiday.

Hag Sameach!

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Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places: Coronavirus Doesn't Prevent Israel from Celebrating International Yoga Day

In celebration of the sixth annual International Yoga Day, the Indian embassy in Israel organized Yoga sessions across the country.

For the past five years, Israel has celebrated in the thousands. This year amid the pandemic, India's new cultural center in Tel Aviv hosted a small Yoga session, broadcast online.

The center will eventually serve as a space for Israelis and internationals to celebrate Indian culture.

The Press Counselor of the Indian Embassy says that Yoga has tremendous health benefits for the mind and the body and can help to strengthen the immune system.

Namaste!

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Hava Nagila Around the World - Catholic Group Sings on the Sea of Galilee

Our list of Hava Nagila performances around the world keeps growing and growing. There have been so many that it's getting hard to keep track of the number and the locations. 

For out 88th version of this classic song we're posting a video of singing and dancing Hava Nagila on the "Jesus Boat" ride at the Sea of Galilee (Tiberias, Israel) by the Catholic Travel Pilgrimage Group during  Holy Land Pilgrimage 2019.

Enjoy!

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Nissim Black Merges Hip-Hop with Hasidic Finery in "Mothaland Bounce"

Mothaland Bounce is Nissim Black's latest hip-hop production. It's definitely not your typical Jewish song.

But as Henry Abramson wrote for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,

Fans of mainstream Jewish music may find Nissim Black’s latest single “Mothaland Bounce” jarring and alien, but they’re just not listening with an ear to the rhythm of Jewish history.

Set against the aural backdrop of an African basso profundo beat, and framed by scenes of gritty urban blight, the popular African-American-Israeli Hasidic artist boldly intones his rap-staccato credo in a manner that’s hard to square with his woolen tzitzit, long Polish bekishe and towering shtreimel.

Nissim Baruch Black (born Damian Jamohl Black) is an American rapper and producer from Seattle, Washington. Originally performing under the name D.Black, he released two albums, The Cause and Effect (2006) and Ali'yah (2009), and was featured on producer Jake One's debut album White Van Music (2008). 

He retired in 2010 to focus on his conversion to Orthodox Judaism, but returned in 2013 under his Hebrew name, Nissim, and began writing from a more positive standpoint.In 2016, he collaborated with Gad Elbaz on the song "Hashem Melech 2.0". The song was an instant hit peaking at #3 on iTunes world charts and over 350,000 Total downloads. 

In the fall of 2016, Nissim went on to release his single "A Million Years", which hit more than 1 million views on YouTube in one month. He followed up with his hit song "Fly Away" and the release of his latest LP "Lemala" in spring of 2017. Since then Nissim has been touring the world with dates in USA, Canada, Israel, Germany, Brazil, UK, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and more. 

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Jewish and Japanese Foods Fuse in Brooklyn

She is Japanese. He is Jewish. Together, they cook up all kinds of deliciousness. Meet Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel. Their love for each other led to marriage, and their love of cooking led to Shalom Japan.

The Brooklyn restaurant merges Japanese and Jewish culinary influences. On the menu? Matzoh ball ramen and a lox bowl version of chirashi. 

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Where Can You Get the Best Ice Cream? Gelato in Italy? How About Bamba in Israel?

When you live in a hot country, you take your ice cream seriously. And when you live in Israel, where the diversity of food is phenomenal, well… be prepared for something spectacular. Whether you eat it in a cone or cup, Israeli ice cream is rapidly gaining a reputation as some of the best in the world. 

Come on a quick journey to see how Israelis are using their extraordinary approach to food to conjure up new tastes in ice cream. Bamba ice cream, ice cream infused with mozzarella and basil, watermelon and Bulgarian cheese, orange, olive oil and salt, and even ice cream for dogs … Israelis aren’t afraid to try anything new. And of course, there’s all the regular flavors too.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Tisha B'Av Psalm Inspires Pop Song and Line Dance

Today is Tisha B'Av, an annual fast day in Judaism which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Land of Israel to Babylon.

The day also commemorates other tragedies which occurred on the same day, including the Roman massacre of over 100,000 Jews at Betar in 132 CE. It was instituted by the rabbis of 2nd-century Palestine.

Tisha B'Av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, a day in which all pleasurable activity is forbidden, and is marked by synagogue attendance the night before and during the day. But that doesn't mean there's no singing, or more accurately, chanting.

The highlight of the day's service is the chanting of the megillah of Eicha (Lamentations), written by the prophet Jeremiah. Eicha is read in synagogues and in groups meeting indoors and outdoors.

In some Jewish communities Psalm 137 is recited or chanted. It reads:

Psalms Chapter 137 1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, we also wept, when we remembered Zion. 2. We hung our lyres on the willows in its midst. 3. For there those who carried us away captive required of us a song; and those who tormented us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? 5. If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 6. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. 7. Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites, the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, to its foundation. 8. O daughter of Babylon, you are to be destroyed! Happy shall he be, who repays you for what you have done to us. 9. Happy shall he be, who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock.

פרק קלז א עַֽל־נַֽהֲרוֹת | בָּבֶל שָׁם יָשַׁבְנוּ גַּם־בָּכִינוּ בְּזָכְרֵנוּ אֶת־צִיּֽוֹן : ב עַל־עֲרָבִים בְּתוֹכָהּ תָּלִינוּ כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ : ג כִּי שָׁם שְֽׁאֵלוּנוּ שׁוֹבֵינוּ דִּבְרֵי־שִׁיר וְתוֹלָלֵינוּ שִׂמְחָה שִׁירוּ לָנוּ מִשִּׁיר צִיּֽוֹן : ד אֵיךְ נָשִׁיר אֶת־שִׁיר יְהֹוָה עַל אַדְמַת נֵכָֽר : ה אִֽם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְֽרוּשָׁלָם תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִֽי : ו תִּדְבַּק־לְשׁוֹנִי | לְחִכִּי אִם־לֹא אֶזְכְּרֵכִי אִם־לֹא אַֽעֲלֶה אֶת־יְרֽוּשָׁלַם עַל רֹאשׁ שִׂמְחָתִֽי : ז זְכֹר יְהֹוָה | לִבְנֵי אֱדוֹם אֵת יוֹם יְֽרוּשָׁלָם הָאֹמְרִים עָרוּ | עָרוּ עַד הַיְסוֹד בָּֽהּ : ח בַּת־בָּבֶל הַשְּׁדוּדָה אַשְׁרֵי שֶׁיְשַׁלֶּם־לָךְ אֶת־גְּמוּלֵךְ שֶׁגָּמַלְתְּ לָֽנוּ : ט אַשְׁרֵי | שֶׁיֹּאחֵז וְנִפֵּץ אֶֽת־עֹלָלַיִךְ אֶל־הַסָּֽלַע

But the liturgy of Tisha B'Av has found an audience beyond traditional Jews observing a sad day.

The words of the Psalms (highlighted in blue above) were incorporated into Rivers of Babylon, a Rastafarian song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. The Melodians' original version of the song appeared in the soundtrack album of the 1972 movie The Harder They Come, making it internationally known.

The song was popularized in Europe by the 1978 Boney M. cover version, which was awarded a platinum disc and is one of the top ten all-time best-selling singles in the UK.

Somehow the song has been adopted by line dance devotees, primarily in Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. The two videos below show the original song with lyrics followed by one of the line dance interpretations from Korea.

If you're fasting today, we wish you an easy and meaningful fast.

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