This year, you can virtually celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut Israeli style, with a renowned Israeli musician’s performance.
Yom HaAtzmaut, or Israeli Independence Day, is often celebrated in Israel with barbecues and family time in the park. The nighttime features stages with music, like Summerfest, but spread across 20 to 30 different cities in Israel, according to Milwaukee Community Shaliach Uria Roth, an emissary from Israel.
Kobi Oz, of the well-known Israeli group the Teapacks, will be your performer. Oz will meet Milwaukee on Sunday, April 18, 2 p.m. on Zoom and other platforms. A Q&A with Oz will immediately follow the concert. The event is organized by Milwaukee Jewish Federation and the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center. Registration is required at MilwaukeeJewish.org/Yamim.
Oz has appeal across generations in Israel, according to Roth, who has organized the event for Milwaukee Jewish Federation. “He’s a little bit Sephardic, Eastern and Western, pop rock,” Roth said.
“He’s a great example of the real thing. It’s Israeli music,” said 18-year-old shin shin Noam Rabinovich, an Israeli emissary in Milwaukee for one year before her required army service. She heard Oz speak at her high school in Israel once and said she’s familiar with the Teapacks.
“People do listen to it. It gets played on the radio. This is what we hear. If you want Israeli music, this is the most authentic that you can get,” she said.
This is asli Israeli music, she said. That means it’s pure and original in Israeli teenager talk, though the term is borrowed from Arabic.
If hummus is really good and it’s not diluted with other ingredients, it’s “asli,” Rabinovich said.
Kobi Oz and the Teapacks are like that, she said: “This is the original, the OG.”