before the two-step the Dougie and the Harlem Shake or flash mobs and Tick-Tock challenges and elaborate wedding choreography human beings have danced 10 000 year old cave paintings depict early human beings getting jiggy with the Hebrew Bible tells us that Miriam Moses sister led the Israelite women in a joyous dance to celebrate the splitting of the Red Sea Judaism has changed quite a bit since Miriam took up her tambourine we've built a rich and diverse culture that incorporates Traditions from all over the globe and that includes our dances which put a Jewish spin on this
ancient form of human expression I Wanna Dance So what's a Jewish dance anyway number one the horror ah the horror probably the most widely recognized Jewish dance this circle dance might start off all proper and demure but within five minutes everyone is sweaty at least one person's foot has been impaled by a high heel and a bunch of half-drunk men are hoisting you up onto a chair with little regard for your comfort or safety classic but did you know that the most iconic Jewish dance isn't actually Jewish at all the word horror May rhyme with
Torah but its roots are in the Greek horos a traditional Circle dance performed all across the Balkans in Southeastern Europe until the 20th century you are more likely to see the horror at a Christian celebration than a bar mitzvah but everything changed in 1924 when Romanian bore Jewish dancer choreographed a horror for a theater company touring the Jezreel Valley yeah that's right choreographed the first Jewish wasn't a spontaneous burst of Celebration but a carefully planned performance the dance caught on among early Zionist pioneer years who would end their days of back-breaking agricultural labor with a
spontaneous horror around the campfire these Pioneers may have well invented the saying work hard play hard because their dances went on for hours assume the Infectious joy of the Horus spread to Jewish communities around the world and today the horror is essentially synonymous with Jewish celebration number two the mitzvatants our next dance hails from 18th century Ukraine when a new sect took the Jewish World by storm the hasidim or Pious ones sought a union with God through meditation dance and joy khasidim said the founder of the movement are moved by the melody that issues forth
from every creature in God's creation it was an appealing message for a long-suffering people in the 19th century at the movement's height it's estimated that almost half of all Eastern European Jews identified as Hasidic today various Hasidic sects continued to use dance as a way to connect joyfully with God one particular dance gained special traction among many Hasidic sects the Mitzvah tanosaur Mitzvah dance is a traditional wedding ritual in which prominent men in the community dance before the bride a nod to the talmud's command to Glad in the bride and grew the bride stands perfectly
still holding one end of a long ribbon or belt while a male relative holds the other end and dances in front of her usually refraining from eye contact so he can focus on his performance the dance is considered a moment of spiritual Transcendence when the dancers called Down The Souls of the couple's ancestors from the Heavens to bless the newlyweds in a community that upholds strict boundaries between men and women the mitzvahants is a unique and sometimes controversial encounter some sex avoid the tradition believing it skirts the boundaries of modesty but for other sex the
mitzvatans is a special spiritually powerful moment in the wedding celebration number three the yemenite step for centuries the yemenite Jewish Community thrived turning out Taurus Scholars and Mystics yet yemenite Jews were United by their spiritual yearning for Zion and by 1950 nearly the entire yemeni Jewish Community was living in Israel transforming Israeli culture their dances were no exception Israeli dancers were fascinated by the yemeni Jews moves which today feature prominently in many Israeli folk dances perhaps the most well-known of these dances is the yemenite step popularly performed at weddings and other momentous occasions with simple
three-step swaying motions the dance is captivating and easy to follow now with only a handful of Jews left in Yemen and more than 400 000 yemenite Jews in Israel the dance is Alive and Well hundreds of yemenite Israeli Jews both young and old gather an annual temanada cultural events the dancers combine contemporary beats with traditional yemenite songs dancing the ammonite step for hours on end number four the mazinka brooms appear in many cultures wedding traditions but I bet you didn't know that some Jewish weddings Feature A Dance with a broom the mizinka is kind of
hilarious in my opinion it begins slowly with parents of the bride and groom sitting side by side in the middle of the Dance Floor the bride and groom stepped forward honoring their parents with flower crowns as the temple speeds up their guests dance around them then with the broom and dustpan sometimes elaborately decorated the parents sweep around the newlyweds as though they are sweeping them out of the house I'm sorry but that's amazing especially because the dance is often performed when parents marry off their last unmarried child why is it called the mazinka well it's
dance to the tune [Music] otter is given away now before you get the wrong idea do gerunds aren't exactly eager to sweep their kids out of the house but some say the dance reflects a historical reality in 19th century Eastern Europe where the dance likely originated marrying off daughters was difficult and expensive since the bride's father had to provide a dowry marrying off the last daughter was a cause for celebration that's for the new bride but for the entire family with their last child married off the parents become the queen and king The Matriarch and
patriarch of future generations and they are honored with flower crowns the mazinka is a beautiful Lively dance marking what for many parents represents a Bittersweet transition number five Israeli folk dances dance is a way to connect the past to the present drawing on centuries of history and culture but what happens when a nation is reborn uniting a vast and far-flung dasper for the first time in 2000 years how do you merge distinct identities into a unified National culture how do you meld the traditional dances of the diaspora into something new and uniquely Israeli Israeli choreographers
were up to the challenge they pieced together Hasidic Balkan Russian Arab and yemenite elements and added their own unique Zionist flavors many of the dances centered on classic Zionist ideals returning home to their ancestral land Reviving The Spirit of the days of old and expressing a deep love and connection to the land of Israel one of the first dances that caught on my mind celebrated the discovery of water at kibuznan after a seven year search another zemerate Incorporated dance moves drawn from Eastern European Jewish culture which early Israelis often dismissed as old-fashioned and outdated today
Israeli folk dance remains a way for Jews around the world to connect to Jewish and Israeli Pride as the Jewish state has modernized and changed so have its dances reflecting the country's Rich Multicultural identity for centuries Jews have come together in celebration each Community dancing to its own Tomb in Israel those Tunes have begun to meld and from the endless ecstatic circles at Jewish weddings or bar mitzvahs a feeling of shared Destiny in community has emerged
