Thursday, December 21, 2006

In Case You Didn't Know

Few realize that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's wacky comedic creation, Borat Sagdiyev, is not speaking Kazakh or even gibberish, but rather Hebrew, the biblical language of the Jewish people.

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. In high school, he belonged to a Zionist Jewish youth group, Habonim Dror, and upon graduation spent a year working and studying on a kibbutz, or collective farm, in northern Israel. He has since returned for several visits, his Hebrew is excellent and his understanding of Israeli culture superb.

2 comments:

Soccer Dad said...

Didn't something happen near him on a trip to Israel a few years ago. I seem to remember that a man was killed in a room next to his in his hotel.

YMedad said...

didn't know that