Israel
has more than 200,000 foreign workers and most have had little or no
previous contact with Jews.
Yair Nitzani, an Israeli comedian and TV
news host has been trying to bridge this cultural gap by explaining Jews
and Jewish life to three workers in the TV studio and the many others
watching at home.
He did a series of short explanations on a show called Behind the News: We Explain to Foreign Workers.
Nitzani's
translations from Hebrew to English leave something to be desired. As a
result we get some unintentionally funny translations in addition to
the funny explanations. For example, the Hebrew word zarim can
be translated as foreign, but also as strange. Nitzani uses strange,
which sounds strange, but maybe that's the point.
In an earlier post we shared a clip of Yair explaining to three "strange workers" about the "three types
of Jewish" (meaning three types of Jews) living in Israel, how to tell
them apart, and what it takes to become Jewish.
In today's episode, Yair contrasts Jewish holidays with non-Jewish holidays to the delight of the studio audience.
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.)
Posts
Is it really that funny to misinform nonjews who know nothing about judaism?
ReplyDeleteI love the translation of certain words that can be translated more than one way, like "zarim" - which is "foreign" but also means "strange" (I would have also accepted "alien") - and "chamatcha" - which is clearly taken from the Haggadah, where it means "wrath," but somehow in modern Hebrew also means "mother-in-law," which is kind of its own joke. :)
ReplyDeleteso funny!!!!
ReplyDelete