More Asian-Jewish Fusion – Thai Rendition Of Hava Nagila [Video]

We were a little reluctant to post this video because it feels more like a “laugh at Jewish folk songs” than a “laugh with Jewish folk songs” situation. But: (1) we needed an excuse to post the magnificent clarification that MR reader Paul emailed us about Tuesday’s group of Japanese tourists singing at the Kotel, (2) this new video is compelling in a slow moving train wreck kind of way, and (3) we’ve never really liked the Hava Nagila anyway (are we allowed to say that?).

First, the clarification:

They are Makuya. Makuya, who are ardently pro-Israel and ‘ohavei Yisrael’, have maintained a presence in Jerusalem for more than thirty years. Many of them have studied in Israel and attained great proficiency in Hebrew and Jewish studies, and groups frequently visit Israel (as, presumably, the group in the video).

Another reader text’d us to say that they were in Ben Gurion last year and the piano lounge was filled with a bunch of Japanese folks singing Jewish songs at the top of their lungs. So now you know.

And here’s today’s Asian-Jewish fusion serving: