The Difference Between Us and Them
The words are simple, but heartfelt. They speak only of the gifts that G-d gives us. The audience, completely secular Israeli, watches contestants on a kind of American Idol show for Israeli kids. Watch their reaction, not only to the performance (done without all the gyrations that an American kid would be expected to perform) but to the lyrics, and you will gain a bit of reassurance about the place of HKBH among non-frum Israelis today, as well as to what the Israeli public would really like to see.
Consider the final line, and what makes us different from the children of Hamas.
As might be expected, the dress code in the hall is not that of mehadrin busses. I am therefore not embedding the actual YouTube on this site, but providing only the link. Consider yourself forewarned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66vbM0udBKc&sns=em
[Thanks to Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, NY, for alerting his list to this gem.]
Undoubtedly there are more “typical” Western performances on the show too (I’m not going to click through them to check). But the point is that even among the secular, these messages are also a part of the culture.
Maybe the Ministry of Absorption should have put this kid on its commercials. “Come raise your superstar in Israel!”
Thank you for the heads up. It’s great to read hopeful things here also.
For the benefit of CC readership and R’ Adlerstein there is a great way to see youtube videos or give others links to them with no hesitations. There is a site http://viewpure.com/ that will allow you to enter in the youtube url and it will show only the clip with no other suggested videos or other things that you don’t want to/shouldn’t be seeing.
It will also create a unique url that you can email to others – here is the one for this video
http://viewpure.com/66vbM0udBKc.
Thank you, this is very heartwarming.
This is the time of year when many from our camp draw oversimplified parallels, making us to be the heroic Chashmonaim and the secular Israelis the evil Misyavnim. This clip is just one of countless examples that prove that this is not quite accurate. I recall a visit my wife and I made to her staunchly chiloni-leftist uncle and aunt in Haifa. I asked if he knew of a shul in the neighborhood where I could go daven, and he told me how to go, noting in passing that he’s gone there a few times when he’s had to bentch goimel.
The nitzotz is clearly there, and we can ignite it with some goodwill, common sense, and a lot of patience.
I tried clicking on this link, but it says that it has been removed by its owner. 🙁