American pop culture vs secular Israeli pop culture

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  • #1239317
    bmyer
    Participant

    Is it better worse or the same to listen to secular Israeli music over American music? What about TV and movies?

    #1239821
    Sadigurarebbe
    Participant

    If the content is assur why would there be a difference?

    #1239998
    Avi K
    Participant

    I am not up on current pop culture. However, secular Israel pop culture has traditionally been much better from a Jewish point of view than American pop culture, which is generally emptiness. Naomi Shemer, Yehoram Gaon and Arik Einstein in particular wrote very good songs. BTW, Einstein denied that he wrote “Hu Chazar b’Teshuva” about Uri Zohar. He said that he wrote it after he saw a TV show in which parents whose BT children cut off contact were interviewed.

    #1241263
    bmyer
    Participant

    “If the content is assur why would there be a difference?”

    If someone is doing something assur wouldn’t it be better if they were doing something less assur?

    #1241278
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    bmyer – I agree. I definitely think there are different levels when it comes to these things.

    I think that SadiguraRebbe may have thought that you were talking about a case in which both have the same assur content, and didn’t realize that you were trying to find out which one has content that is less bad.

    #1241399
    bmyer
    Participant

    Even if they have the same assur content would one be better or worse hashkafically?
    I.E. Could it be easier to stop one over the other?
    Is one less or more accepted in your community and would that be good or bad?
    For an american is Israeli stuff “jewish” so that’s worse? Or maybe their less prone to get affected because their farther removed from that culture (and might not even understand it)?

    #1243344
    NeutiquamErro
    Participant

    Secular Israeli culture is frankly embarrassing. It’s a rotten facsimile of Western pop culture with ‘traditional’ Jewish influences, and it’s facile, immature and laughable. That the purported ‘Jewish State’ feels the need to copy Western pop culture is bad enough, without it being a crude, facile cheap version. They’re genuinely bad at it. And as to the opening question, neither are okay, and furthermore, neither are really worth your time anyway.

    #1243584
    Avi K
    Participant

    Neut, so how do we use Russian and Polish folk music for our zemirot?

    #1244257
    Mammele
    Participant

    Since no else is speaking up, I guess I have to man up…

    Avi K: our zemiros contains no crude language, no thanks for the comparison.

    Seriously speaking, if people a lot holier than you or me deemed folk music fit for zemiros, that doesn’t make it okay for us to listen to vulgar lyrics, or “kasher” music that has non-Jewish vibes.

    #1244317
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    The Song Hashem Melech, Hashem Malach is from a totally secular source

    It was used as both an Arabic/french song and a Latino Song

    #1244311
    NeutiquamErro
    Participant

    Frankly, I didn’t consider that comparison worthy of a response. I was very specifically displaying my disgust at not only the low moral standards of ‘pop culture’ in general and Israeli ‘pop culture’ specifically, but at the fact that the artistic standards are through the floor too. Even putting aside the moral repugnancy in question, it’s simply rubbish, and the Israeli cultural scene is particularly embarrassing. In neither respect does the above comparison work. Plainly there is a world of difference between pastoral Polish melodies and modern pop, and besides at least some of those tunes were actually nice enough to be worth kashering. Thanks for your help, though, Mammale.

    #1244666
    WinnieThePooh
    Participant

    ZD- the fact that someone took a secular song and put “religious” words to it, does not mean that the pop culture from which it came is ok. And the fact that a song is popular does not mean that it is ok to sing the shem hameforash to a rock tune.

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