Responding to "Borat"  - November 2006

Jews, Cognoscenti, Literati Respond to "Borat" 

Dec. 15	Associated Press	In Israel, moviegoers speak Borat's language
Nov. 24	Forward	Top Kazakh Rabbi: In My Country There’s No Problem
Nov. 12	Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	Olcott: "The REAL Kazakhstan"
Nov. 11	Wash. Post	Lipman: "Why Russia Banned 'Borat'"
Nov. 03	Slate	"Borat" Is Wrong About Kazakhs
See also:
Sep. 2004	New Yorker	"The Borat Doctrine"

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Associated Press - 12.15.2006

In Israel, moviegoers speak Borat's language



JERUSALEM -- Like moviegoing masses around the world, Israelis have crowded theaters to watch the hit spoof "Borat." But they are laughing for another reason: They actually understand what the anti-Semitic, misogynist Kazakh journalist is saying.

The 35-year-old British comedian is no stranger to Israel. He is an observant Jew, his mother was born in Israel, and his grandmother still lives in Haifa. After high school, he spent a year working and studying on a kibbutz, or collective farm, in northern Israel. He has since returned for several visits, and his Hebrew is excellent.

The irony of a Hebrew-speaking anti-Semite is not lost on the admiring Israeli audience, which has made the movie a hit here.

"It is extremely funny and kind of cool to realize that you are understanding something no one else does," said Gaby Goldman, 33, of Tel Aviv. "He sounds almost Israeli, he sounds like one of us."

Israelis begin giggling right from the opening scene, when Borat departs his hometown in Kazakhstan for the "U.S. and A.," assuring a one-armed man in fake Kazakh: "Don't worry, I will bring you a new hand in America."

The subtitle gives the direct translation, but there's no need in Israel. It merely repeats what Borat has just said in Hebrew.

The film is peppered with Hebrew expressions and Israeli slang, inside jokes only Israelis could truly appreciate. In one scene, Borat sings the lyrics of the legendary Hebrew folk song "Koom Bachur Atzel," meaning "get up lazy boy." Even Borat's signature catch phrase -- "Wa wa wee wa," an expression for wow -- derives from a skit on a popular Israeli comedy show and is often heard in Israel.

Some American Jews fear Baron Cohen's faux anti-Semitic humor will go over people's heads and reinforce bigotry. But in Israel, Borat's fans are clearly in on the fun.

"It was sort of like a wink to the Hebrew speaker," said Oded Volovitz, 32. "It was a message that basically said, 'Although the movie is very anti [Jewish], I am still with you, I am still the same Mr. Cohen. I'm just trying to send a message here, and I hope you guys understand it.' "

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Forward - 11.24.2006

Top Kazakh Rabbi: In My Country There’s No Problem

By Nathaniel Popper

In the fictional version of Kazakhstan in the hit movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” the only Jews in the country are larger-than-life caricatures that get trotted out for a ceremonial “Running of the Jew.”

In the real Kazakhstan, the top rabbi, Menachem Mendel Gershowitz, has never been forced to run anywhere. In fact, Gershowitz said, Kazakhs frequently treat him like royalty.

“One time, I spoke with a Kazakh businessman,” Gershowitz told the Forward. “He asked me: ‘Tell me, Bush is Jewish also, yes? Clinton is Jewish?’ They think the opposite — not that Jewish is strange, but that Jewish is the whole world.”

Gershowitz, whose Borat-like speech patterns come from a childhood in Israel, was in New York this week for a gathering of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries from around the world. He is one of five Chabad rabbis in Kazakhstan ministering to an estimated 25,000 Jews.

Despite the popularity the movie has enjoyed, Gershowitz has heard little of it in the Kazakh capital, Astana, where he lives. He is hoping that the movie never finds its way to Kazakhstan, as he fears it could hurt the warm relationship that the Kazakh president has with the Jewish community — and with Israel. “If he will think that the Jews are against him, and don’t like what he does, we will get the result,” he said.

While in America, Gershowitz, 26, has watched a few clips from the movie online and found them amusing, but he is not planning to go to a full screening before flying home.

“I want to see it, but I heard a lot of bad things about this movie also,” he said. “I understand it’s not so kosher. It’s not glatt kosher.”


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