Sixth Festival of Spoken Ivrit returns to London

The 6th Annual Festival of Spoken Ivrit launched last week at a special event attended by 82 Hebrew teachers from Jewish schools across London and the UK.

This year’s festival is named ‘Eain lee Erez Acheret’, translated to ‘I have no other land’, inspired by an Israeli song written by Ehud Manor, one of Israel’s most renowned lyricists. The festival also marks the 120th anniversary of the death of Theodore Herzl, founder and president of the Zionist Organisation.

Present at the official launch at a private home in north London was Ephraim Sidon, winner of the Bialik Prize, playwright and satirist, author of ‘The Lion in Rhymes’, ‘Ferdinand Fedhzor’s Plots in a Nutshell’ and ‘Ouzo and Muzo from the Kakaruzo Village’, the latter of which features in this year’s festival.

Sidon flew to London especially to open the event and spoke about children’s and adult literature, the differences between them and how to turn a book into a play.

To celebrate the Festival, the Israeli Hour Theatre for children and youth is running 68 shows of three plays at Jewish schools in London and across the UK including Leeds and Liverpool.

“The Rabbit from Moshi” is based on Shlomit Cohen Asif’s book. The play is a colourful and special stage version with spectacular puppets, telling the story of the rabbit Mamoshi on his journey through the forest, trying to find new friends.

“Ouzo and Mozo from Kfar Kakaruzu” is a show full of imagination and humour based on the well-known book by Ephraim Sidon, about two brothers who turn from loving brothers to enemies following a silly argument.

“Theodore the Boy Who Dared to Dream” is a play written especially for the festival, which takes Herzl, just before the Zionist Congress, back to his childhood, where he discovers his ability to dream, initiate and unite many around a common idea that at first sounded like a fairy tale.

The Independent Jewish Day school in Hendon was treated to a performance of ‘Theodore the Boy Who Dared to Dream’, which was attended by Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely.

Matan Bar Noy, head of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) in UK & Europe and the main partners for the event, noted that the play is relevant to the challenging times the Jewish community is going through.

“The connection between the Jewish people and the diaspora is always significant not only in the time period of war. The Hebrew language for the younger generation is the base and the key to the future of the State of Israel and the entire Jewish people all over the world.”

Tali Tzemach, organizer of the festival said: “This year, in light of the difficult circumstances, while the waves of anti-Semitism in the world are rising, the festival is especially important as it allows us to strengthen ourselves and our children, to be proud of our Judaism, our country and our mother tongue.”

On Sunday, 4th February the three plays will be presented in Ivrit at London’s Jewish hub JW3 especially for the Israeli community, on behalf of Israeli House London, with the participation of a team of wonderful actors.

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