Secular Isaelis TAKE BACK Shabbat by Remixing Traditions

From The Jewish Standard

There's a very interesting movement in Israel of secular Israelis retaking the songs and melodies of their ancestors. Pop musicians are increasingly remixing and interpreting traditional tunes and verses, creating Jewish experiences that are not tied to religious law or any organized religious denomination.

This video is of the Revivo Project, which convenes to sing Middle Eastern and North African Jewish tunes, as well as Sephardic interpretations of Ashkenazi traditional tunes, while participants eat, drink and even smoke nargila (Hooka).

This "spiritualization of Israeli culture" is a big focus of Yossi Klein Halevi, who frames it as an emerging phenomenon responding to disillusionment with collapse of the "messianism" of both the left (via the Oslo Accords) and the right (via withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank). Fascinating video of Klein outlining his thesis, including the actual music involved, in the comments.

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