Why does that Kazakh sound like my rabbi?
Borat is a big hit in Israel. The reason is not that the man behind Borat, Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, is mocking anti-Semites with his own virulent verbal attacks on the Jewish people, but rather that Cohen did it in Hebrew. That’s right: Borat‘s Kazakh was actually a pastiche of heavily-accented Hebrew sprinkled with ...
Borat is a big hit in Israel. The reason is not that the man behind Borat, Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, is mocking anti-Semites with his own virulent verbal attacks on the Jewish people, but rather that Cohen did it in Hebrew.
That’s right: Borat‘s Kazakh was actually a pastiche of heavily-accented Hebrew sprinkled with some Polish, Armenian and gibberish. Israeli audiences often don’t even need to read the movie’s subtitles, there’s so much Hebrew.
The comedian, who is half Israeli and travels to the country often, sings the famous Hebrew folk song “Koom Bachur Atzel” (Get Up, Lazy Boy), and mentions the fictitious Kazakh scientist “Dr. Yarmulke,” who proved that women and squirrels have the same brain size. He also uses a popular vulgar expression in Hebrew to refer to his sidekick’s mother.
It was sort of like a wink to the Hebrew speaker,” said one Israeli who saw the movie. “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.'”
More from Foreign Policy

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose
Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy
The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now
In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet
As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.