Israel Hour Radio

This evening I watched the season premiere of “The Voice” in Israel (known as “Da Voice” in Hebrew…seriously). And I loved it a lot more than I thought I would.

Even though I’m drawn to anything that has to do with music, I’ve never been such a big reality show ju**ie. I guess I was always turned off by all of the time wasted learning about the contestants and their sob stories. I mean, come on…I’m truly sorry you lost your father/home/livelihood/pet/marbles early in life, but it would take 10 minutes before we’d actually see the guy PERFORM. Just get on with it already!

But Israel’s Channel 13 had been promoting tonight’s premiere heavily, with an interesting panel of mentors: Idan Raichel, Eden Ben Zaken, Noa Kirel, and Static. So I decided to give it a shot.

I’m glad I did. I found the show to be incredibly meaningful – a true reflection of what makes living in the Jewish State so magical.

1. I tuned in late, but the first contestant I saw, Noya, had just been selected to continue in the competition. She chose Static as her mentor, gave him a hug, and immediately met her family backstage where she recited “Mizmor L’todah” – Psalm 100 – to express her gratitude to God for her successful audition.

2. The next contestant, Elisheva, was an olah from Chicago who moved to Israel 9 years ago. Her Hebrew was great, but she would often fill in words she didn’t know in English. Just like I do every day.

3. Another contestant, Renana, got her love of singing from her father, who was a Sephardic cantor for many years. The judges invited him to join his daughter on stage and sing a song from his cantorial repertoire.

4. The final contestant of the evening, Itai, brought his best friends along for the audition: twins Gali and Ziv Berman, who endured 738 days in Hamas captivity after being taken hostage on October 7, 2023. Itai fought hard on behalf of his best friends, attending rallies, protests, vigils, and doing whatever he could to advocate for their release. When the judges discovered that these heroes were in attendance, they brought them out on stage…and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

I could personally relate to each one of these contestants.

As an observant Jew, prayer is an important part of my daily routine.
As an oleh chadash from the USA, I appreciated seeing a fellow English speaking immigrant on stage.
As the son of a cantor myself, Renana’s story is my story.
And as a concerned citizen of Israel, I of course prayed for the safe return of Gali, Ziv, and the rest of the hostages – and cried for hours upon watching them all come home.

Sure, I’ve been inspired by contestants on US reality shows over the years. But to see these 4 individuals – with whom I have so much in common – on TV tonight in the course of a single, hour-long program, it reminded me how fortunate I am to live here in Israel amongst people who share my traditions and values. I look forward to being inspired and entertained for the rest of the season!

ערוץ 13 עידן רייכל - Idan Raichel סטטיק - העמוד הרשמי Eden Ben Zaken - עדן בן זקן Noa Kirel

Thanks to the many communities who have made my upcoming November US tour such a success! I have only two remaining dates available:
Monday, November 2 on the West Coast
Tuesday, November 10 on the East Coast

Synagogues, JCCs, Federations...grab one of these dates FAST!