The Gat Brothers, Breslov Hasidim, Sing Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer"

The Gat Brothers have come a long way from jamming on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem and playing in the Mamilla Mall, and achieving high scores and fame on Israel TV's Kochav haBa (Rising Star) talent show. 

Their story and their musical expression started long before their Jerusalem street appearances. They grew up in the largely secular resort city of Eilat and became observant 17 years ago.

As Dalit Halevi and Tova Dvorin wrote in Arutz Sheva earlier this year,

Aryeh told a Toronto daily that he and his brother, prior to becoming observant, spent their days dancing and singing on the streets of Eilat. Impressed passersby took video footage of them and uploaded in onto YouTube.

The staff of The Next Star found the videos and were impressed, and the rest is history. The brothers came on stage with guitars in hand and shocked the judges with a rendition of Paul Simon's "Sounds of Silence." Instead of becoming a gimmick - an act on a music competition television show by brothers who do not own a television themselves - audiences were hooked to the brothers' heartfelt connection to their music and easygoing manner.

Aryeh stressed during the interview that participation in the program was approved by the brothers' rabbis, and there was no mission to deliver a message to the public. Rather, the two performed on the show from a desire to express themselves artistically and use their talents to make a livelihood.

We found a video clip of the Gat Brothers rehearsing their renditon of Simon and Garfunkel's hit The Boxer and thought you'd like to see them in action again.

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.)