“Happy” Tel-Aviv Style

Another upbeat music video – “Happy” Tel-Aviv style. One of the things that help us survive and thrive in Israel is our upbeat outlook on life. Enjoy!

Another Great Music Video to Keep the Unity Going

Here is another great music video with the purpose to keep the Jewish unity going strong….

Great New Song to Lift Your Spirits

I saw this on Facebook (thanks Rafi) and I thought I would share it with everyone. As I wrote, this makes you cry and smile at the same time, which sums up Jewish life in Israel.

 

A New Take on Ha”Tikvah”

The Fountainheads have a new video out for Yom HaAtzmaut – Israeli Independence Day:

Breaking Free

To celebrate my finishing the Pesach cleaning, (kashering tomorrow and cooking Sunday and Monday) I thought I would share this video by the Fountainheads. Enjoy!

Yom Yavoh….The Day is Coming

Latma prepared a special song about the future – when building in Yehuda and Shomron (Judea and Samaria) is not condemned but accepted as our right. This version has English subtitles, with the comic section before the song. Enjoy!

 

This Song Made My Day

I came across this song on Facebook and needed to share it. The title is “Ani Yehudi” and the lyrics are simple and sweet and uplifting. To paraphrase “I’m Jewish – not better or worse than anyone else – just Jewish.” It shows the diversity of Jews all over the world and especially in Israel, and encourages our feelings of unity. Enjoy!

Ani Yehudi

 

Jerusalem of Gold

Today we celebrate the unification of Jerusalem, which happened 45 years ago today. I couldn’t think of a better way (besides dancing in the streets of Jerusalem of course) to celebrate than by listening to the classic song “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav” – Jerusaelm of Gold. I found a video of Ofra Haza singing this, with English subtitles. Enjoy!

Back to Music

We have just finished the period of time in the Jewish calendar called Sefirat HaOmer. This period is a time when we count the days between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks). It is also a period of semi-mourning in the Jewish world. Weddings do not take place, and many people refrain from listening to music.

This morning I received a wedding invitation, and it reminded me that I should start posting music videos again.

Here is Shlomo Artzi, singing “Anachnu Lo Zrichim, a song that he had on his debut album in 1970 and redid in 1996. Timeless. (Translation of lyrics here.)

(To skip the commercial, just click on the words in Hebrew on the lower right hand corner)

Singing From the Heart

My kids listen to a lot of pop music, both Israeli and international. They like to look at youtube videos of music, and occasionally I learn about singers from them. The other day my son was looking at videos of “Music School”, which is an Israeli reality show where kids audition, and if they are “accepted” they get a famous singer to tutor them, and then they perform.

All of the kids had good voices, of course. Some were precocious to the extreme (one nine year old actually turned my stomach). Then I heard Michel Cohen, and I knew I had to put up the videos of him singing, at both his audition and his subsequent performance onstage.

Part of the charm of the show is showing the child with his family at home. Michel is from a traditional home and lives in Dimona, and he learned to sing while in the synagogue. The following video is a combination of his audition and the home visit. At the end of the audition he has two stars fighting with each other to be his teacher, and eventually Yehoram Gaon wins. (Sorry, all of this is in Hebrew, but the charm comes through even without translation).

He performs “Barcelona” on television, and I get goosebumps listening to him. Michel’s father is shown backstage, and at the end of the performance, when he greets his son after his big triumph. The real kicker, for me at least, is that they interview Michel’s father  for a few seconds after the performance, and he says that “thanks to G-d Michel is a good kid, and he learns Torah and prays nicely.” I got nachas from this father, who is proud of his kid for all of the right reasons.