Welcome to Sababoosh - your weekly dose of Israeli culture

While many people around the world are looking for reasons to hate Israel, why not explore some reasons to love it? Welcome to a space to love Israel and get to know it better through its culture.

Hioosh,

This is an adventure more than 5 years in the making. Even before making aliyah around 4 years ago and building my life in Israel, I loved Israel deeply from afar (with a fair share of trips here) and couldn’t get enough of its music, language, and entertainment.

Fast forward a few years and I started a Whatsapp group called Sababoosh, which feautures a daily Israeli music and Hebrew slang. It has been going strong for about a year and a half and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to familiarize myself with Israeli music and slang. If those interest you, you’d be more than welcome to join the Sababoosh daily song of the day WhatsApp group here. My love for Israeli culture has only grown over the years.

October 7th changed everything and the last few months have impacted Israel and the world in many ways. My bloated time on Twitter/X has given me a window into the hatred that exists around the world for Israel and for the Jewish people.

Many people have been sharing so many reasons that they hate Israel and I thought, ‘why not focus on what I love?’ For me, there are so many things to love about Israel. For my own sanity and mental health, I thought that this could be a worthwhile effort and certainly a labor of love.

My vision for this Substack is to dive deeply into Israeli culture - music, slang, literature, TV and movies, sports, and everything else that makes up a culture. This is really just for me to enrich my own knowledge and love of Israel in an effort to become more ‘cultured’. If you’d like to come along for the ride, you’d be most welcome to join.

An added piece of this Substack will be an accompanying podcast, featuring interviews with cultural gurus and wise practitioners within the cultural space.

However you’re doing or whatever you’re feeling at any moment, you are welcome to step in and experience a bit of a feeling of sababoosh (sababa meaning cool or ok, and ‘oosh’ added for a cutsie feel, such as in hi-oosh or bye-oosh).

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, 18forty, and Dovid Bashevkin, the host, spoke about Bill Simmons, sports expert extraordinaire, opening an episode of his podcast with a message that the world is filled with craziness. He offered his podcast as a place to seek refuge and solace, away from the news. I’d like to emulate that here and not speak about the War, even though it is tied so deeply into Israeli culture. My own Israeli identity has been shaped by a lot that has happened over the last few months, but my vision is that this will be remain light.

My hope is that olim (immigrants to Israel) and those abroad will enjoy learning and thinking about Israeli culture. I really do think that this is a time in need of love for Israel and focusing on our strengths. For those who are already madly in love with Israel and its culture and those entirely new to the game.

As a welcome gift for you and yours, here is a playlist that is near and dear to my heart. It contains 100 of my favorite Israeli songs, mostly from the last few years, but with a few gems from yesteryear. I hope that you’ll enjoy and find your own favorites and search for more, whatever your taste is. I can almost guarantee that there is something for everyone in the world of Israeli music.

I will release a new piece every Thursday with an aim for an accompanying podcast episode once a month. Each week, I’ll share some highlights in Israeli culture and observations that have come to mind. Each article will focus on a different area of Israeli culture.

Each week will also include a song of the week (new or old) and a slang word or phrase of the week.

If you’d like to join, you’d be so welcome. Otherwise, if you see this, I hope you might give a thought to what you love most about Israeli culture, and nurture it.

May we all experience good news soon.