Cafe Gibraltar

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The Mimouna Festival, marking the end of Passover, is celebrated in a special tent in Jerusalem, April 16, 1990. (photo: Alpert Nathan/GPO)

Ten things you didn’t know about Mimouna

Mimouna, the traditional festival celebrated by North African Jews on the last day of Passover, is often overlooked when discussing the Jewish holiday of liberation. Here are 10 things you might not know about the celebration that once brought Jews and Muslims together. By Ophir Toubul 1. The name of the holiday, “Mimouna,” has several…

By Cafe Gibraltar April 10, 2015

LISTEN: The rarest records, from India to Palestine

The members of Tel Aviv’s Fortuna Records have spent the last several years collecting some of the rarest records from the Middle East. The music runs the gamut from classical Egyptian to Palestinian folk to Greek-Israeli music. Check out a mixtape of their favorite rarities, accompanied by their stunning (and often strange) album covers. By…

By Cafe Gibraltar November 23, 2014

A still from Dotan Moreno's film "Shuk."

To my Ashkenazi girlfriend, and the one who is yet to come

It’s fairly common these days to hear people in Israel claim that there can’t be racism because everyone is marrying everyone else, regardless of ethnicity. Except that’s not really true. By Adi Sadaka Part 1: A certain kind of truth When I began studying film five years ago, one of the first movies they showed…

By Cafe Gibraltar October 28, 2014

Still from the play "Frekha Shem Yafe" (Frekha is a Beautiful Name), directed by Hana Vezana Grunwald. (photo: Annie Atedgi)

Can a Mizrahi girl fit into Israel’s national story?

I grew up in a place where my first name was nothing more than a word on my identification card. Where the Holocaust was something that didn’t belong to me. Where my story had no place. All because of my ethnicity. By Adi Sadaka Ever since I was a young girl and through my years growing…

By Cafe Gibraltar October 19, 2014

Re-learning history: A tribute to North Africa’s Jewish artists

Though often forgotten in Israel today, some of North Africa’s biggest cultural assets were in fact Jewish. Meet the stars who shaped Maghrebi music, from the classical to the contemporary. By Ophir Toubul ‘There arose the idea of taking people who have nothing in common. The one lot comes from the highest culture there is…

By Cafe Gibraltar October 9, 2014

Mass grave of victims of the Farhud, 1941. (photo: Ministry of Education and the Ben - Zvi, Jerusalem)

Farhud, 1941: Iraqi Jews remember a massacre

On the holiday of Shavuot in 1941, Iraq’s Jews experienced a pogrom that claimed over 180 lives and ended in mass looting. But there’s another story from the Farhud that often goes undiscussed: the bravery of Muslims during the crisis. “The Farhud” / Foreword By Orit Bashkin (translated by Asaf Shalev) Silently but not without some…

By Cafe Gibraltar June 10, 2014

Baby Oriental (YouTube screenshot)

Now trending: Orientalism for babies

Most of the world is not familiar with post-colonial theory, and this album’s success is due to the audience’s naiveté. But forget politics; let me hug a baby and sing songs of nostalgia, anew. By Ilana Shazur Whoever chose the name “Baby Oriental 2” likely never heard of the term Orientalism. Had they heard of it,…

By Cafe Gibraltar June 4, 2014

Fairuz. (YouTube screenshot)

LISTEN: Classic Lebanese sounds, from jazz to Fairouz

Jeries Murkus Ballan is a 25-year-old musician and performer who lives between Nazareth and Haifa. Ballan, who teaches music, plays the bouzouki and works in dance and theater, brings us a mixtape of classic Lebanese songs, including everything from classical to jazz. By Khen Elmaleh Tell us a bit about the mixtape The mixtape is…

By Cafe Gibraltar March 22, 2014

Performers prepare for celebrations in honor of the anniversary of the city's liberation. (photo: Osnat Ita Skoblinski)

Neither Russian nor Israeli: Lessons from a journey to the homeland

After years of denying her Russian identity, Osnat Ita Skoblinski finally made peace with the cultural world of her friends and family. However, she never expected her first trip back ‘home’ to bring out feelings of hate and revulsion. By Osnat Ita Skoblinski My parents, who immigrated to Israel in the 70s, refused to have a…

By Cafe Gibraltar March 16, 2014

Neta Elkayam and her band.

Outside the jukebox: Female sounds of the Middle East

To mark International Women’s Day, Café Gibraltar is proud to present ‘Bat HaMakom/Bint al-Balad,’ (Local Woman), a compilation of songs – some of them debuted here for the very first time – by the most innovative female artists making music in Israel today. You can download the album for free, courtesy of the artists. Click…

By Cafe Gibraltar March 8, 2014