A Feast for the Eyes: Living in a golden age of Israeli TV

I thought we were all white colonizers, but a plethora of hugely diverse TV shows has proven otherwise #blessed

Mar 07, 2024

With a wave over the last decade of viewers 'seeing themselves' more in the characters on TV and in movies, we can look to Israel as a commendable example of diversity.

In a time when a sadly large portion of the world sees all Israelis as a bland chunk of white colonizers, Israeli TV jumps in and presents a different reality. TV-washing, they might say? No thanks. Over the years, various shows have popped up on Israeli networks ranging from Ethiopian Israeli characters (Nebsu) to Russian Israelis (Sovietzka) and everything in between. It would be quite an undertaking to break down all of these shows in this one post, but I will highlight three of my favorites:

Kupa Reisheet (Check Out)

Sovietzka

Chanshi

I always feel like an episode of Israeli TV infuses me with Israeli culture in a way that I don’t always get from daily life. I spend plenty of time in grocery stores, but not everyone working at the register is Kochava (Kupa Reisheet) and I don’t often strike up a conversation with an Ethiopian oleh, so these shows present the opportunity to learn. When I watch American TV (and I’ve watched a lot of it), I am hopefully entertained and might chew on some ideas about life, but I don’t inhale cultural learnings that increase my sense of belonging in the way that I do in Israel.

In fact, amongst all of the areas of culture that we will explore both here and in the Sababoosh podcast, TV and movies might be the most powerful. They grant us windows into life and into the lives of people who we thought were quite different from us. These media also grant us access to trends in art, music, fashion, food, etc. in a way that other experiences just can’t.

I don’t think that TV and movies should take the place of authentic interactions and experiences with people who are different from us, but they can be used as a handy tool to learn the basics and develop some curiosity.

Something that I’ve been thinking about for a while is the difference between judgement and curiosity. I think that learning about others through literature, TV, and movies, can nurture a sense of curiosity in us that we didn’t know we had. These shows gift us a front-row seat to lives very different from our own.

What can we learn about being Israeli from trends in Israeli TV?

“Israel—which had only one television channel until 1993—is so flooded with programming from America and from other countries around the world that native writers and producers are forced to take creative risks in order to grab viewers’ attention.”
- Joy Press, “Why Israeli TV Is Irresistible to American Producers”, Vanity Fair, August 2019

The secret ingredients of Israel’s bevy of entertaining shows are creativity and risk-taking. It would seem that Israeli showrunners look at the formula for a hit show and throw it out the window. The competition for viewers’ attention is fierce and Israeli show and movie creators have to wow us in a way that other countries might not. As we learned from Aleeza Chanowitz, creator and star of ‘Chanshi’, in the most recent episode of Sababoosh (below), developing entertainment ideas in Israel can be easier than in other countries as those who have the power to make shows are more accessible in Israel than in the US. The ivory tower of Hollywood that might grant priority to nepo babies and industry elites doesn’t really exist in the Holy Land. Fortune favors the bold and I would wager that there might be more bold creators per square meter in Israel than in other places.

Show Intros

1) Kupa Reishit / Checkout

קופה ראשית

This promotional image says ‘variety pack’ more than it suggests one flavor. This loveable cast of characters is so dynamic and entertaining due to its range of characters from such different backgrounds. This series takes place at a grocery store where the only ones zanier than the customers are the staff members themselves. Some shows might seem to be pandering to different populations by including them in the cast (as a checklist to cover various groups), but this one actually presents a not unlikely reality - people of wildly different backgrounds working and living together. While many Israeli shows feature a certain group and really dig in, this show delivers a range of backgrounds at once with stereotypes that turn out to be inaccurate and sometimes actually accurate. The show makes fun of itself, but it is also clear to the viewer that some authenticity is coming through and there are heartwarming lessons to learn.

My favorite character and it is not easy to choose just one is Amnon Titinsky, played by the beloved Dov Navon. Titinsky is an outrageous cheapskate who goes to ridiculous lengths to save money at the grocery store. The possible winner of craziest feat of his (spoiler alert!) is when he donates a kidney to an employee who he fakes being his cousin in order to capitalize on the employee discount. His fanny pack puts him over the top as a gem.

Sovietzka tells the story of a young Russian woman who was born in Israel after her parents and grandmother made aliyah from Russia. Not only do we learn about the experience of a few Russian immigrants throughout the course of the show, but it is easy to gain insights into the immigrant experience in general and the intergenerational dynamics at play. This concept especially attracted me as I know relatively little about the Russian immigrant experience (not that there is just one) even though two of my best friends in high school were Russian. Watching the show has granted me curiosity about the Russian wave of immigration after the refusenik period and I am currently enjoying the autobiography of Natan Sharansky, Fear No Evil, which I would highly recommend.

And now for our third and final example: Chanshi. Chanshi tells the story of a young Orthodox woman from Brooklyn who travels to Israel on a whim in search of Israeli soldiers and wild experiences. After adjusting to some of the raunchy humor, the show develops a commentary on aliyah, having unrealistic expectations, and appreciating Israel outside of the perfect picture that some of us might have.

One great feature of Israeli television is that a great deal of it is available for free on the different networks’ websites, including Kan and Mako. Dozens and dozens of programs at the tips of your fingers. Dramas, comedies, documentaries can all be found and it’s never been easier to jump right in.

Until Next Week

Thank you for reading this week’s post. I hope that you’ll continue to enjoy these and that you’ll tune in next week for the next episode of Sababoosh on Israeli comedy.

Shabbat shalom and have a great weekend!

Song of the Week

כשהשמש שוב
kih-sheh-ha-sheh-mesh shoov
When the sun returns

Nunu, in some ways Israel’s Katy Perry (of years past), brings this delightfully light and sweet song about the sun rising again. Amidst all of the darkness of the last few months, this song came out when we needed it most. Nunu departed from her often quirky tunes in favor of an easy hopeful song.

Slang of the Week

ברמות
Bih-raw-moet
Literally - ‘on levels’, slang - soo much

You can add this word to the end of other adjectives to amplify them, i.e. tu-eem bih-raw-moet / טעים ברמות = super tasty