Lesson in Greek

The Chanukah period is an excellent opportunity to remember that once 25 centuries ago we were mediated. As a child I was afraid of the Greeks because of the stories of "Hannah and her seven sons" and recounts the heroism of "Eleazar the Hasmonean who fought elephants." We all learned to hate the Greeks when we were children, they conquered the land of Israel many years ago and defiled us the Temple. Yes, yes, even then she would have gone to the country without Pfad daring to squeak. Until the Hasmoneans rebelled against the Jews who expelled the Greeks from Eretz Israel. Every year on Chanukah we are all proud of the brave Jews who swept our land from the occupiers and turned the country into an empire. In history lessons we learned a bit about mythology, philosophy, Athens, Sparta and the wars between the Persian and Greek empires. I do not know who is the historian who pushed the children of Israel in the history book about a thermophile battle that caused the Persians to fold and return to their country.

We were introduced to the letters of the Greek alphabet in geometry classes and later in physics and trigonometry classes.

In the beginning of the sixties, between the listening to the Hebrew songs of the flock of chickens and the Hagashash Hahiver band, the Greek singer and composer Aris-San, who appeared in the cafes of Jaffa and Bat Yam, arrived in Israel. Slowly Greek music penetrated the radio and then into the dance halls and we all pimped on piga-piga, boom-pam and other songs in modern Greek, all of us became moderates.

Aris San - Feiga Feiga

Aris San - Boom-Pam

In the mid-sixties, the film Zorba the Greek starring Anthony Quinn was shown worldwide, which caused all of Israel to fall in love with the sirtaki dance that became a hit in the world's discotheques.

The Sirtaki Dance

The nightclubs in Jaffa, Ramle and the Riviera of Bat Yam offered the ballers a Greek evening with Mazatim and dishes from Salonika and Piraeus. Israeli revelers enjoyed scenes of breaking dishes and glasses before the evening of dancing.

Anthony Dabour 2010 Greek Festival Wine Dance

Now we will take a course in spoken Greek. This time too I brought some hits in Greek accompanied by captions with an English translation. You do not have to go to Greece to enjoy a taverna, it's all on YouTube. I saved you the trip.