(New York Jewish Week) — “I’m preparing a tea so we can talk with leisure,” Sasson Gabay says over the phone from Israel.
The Israeli film and TV star, now 77, wants to get comfortable so he can talk about one of his favorite characters from his 50-year career: Nuhem Shtisel.
If that surname sounds familiar, yes — it’s a character from the popular and internationally acclaimed series “Shtisel,” about an Israeli haredi Orthodox family. Now Gabay has reprised Nuhem for a prequel series titled “Kugel,” streaming in the states exclusively on the platform Izzy.
And if kugel sounds familiar, yes — it’s referring to the Ashkenazi noodle dish, not another surname. The new series follows Nuhem, who frequents a kugel shop in his native Antwerp years before the plot of “Shtisel,” as he and his daughter Libbi (Hadas Yaron) navigate familial and romantic struggles. Nuhem’s heart is in the right place, but the diamond dealer often finds himself at the center of financial shenanigans that threaten his place in his family and his community.
As complex as that character sounds, it didn’t take much convincing to get Gabay — who is also well known for starring in both the Israeli film “The Band’s Visit” and the Tony-winning Broadway musical based on it — on board for the poignant and wryly humorous series that, like “Shtisel,” was created by Yehonatan Indursky.
“I loved [Indursky’s] writing. I loved his plot. I loved this poetic element in all his writing — wise, human and brilliant in my opinion,” Gabay said on a recent WhatsApp call.
On April 28, Gabay will join “Shtisel” star Michael Aloni and “Kugel” producer Dikla Barkai for an exclusive New York Jewish Week conversation about the new show at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. For those who can make it in person, attendees will also be able to sample (what else?) some of the city’s best kugel, and even meet the stars at a VIP reception. For those who can’t make it, a livestream is available, and it will be recorded.
As a preview — a taste of the “burnt end” of the kugel, Nuhem might say — Gabay spoke with the New York Jewish Week about filming in Antwerp, playing a deeply religious Jew while living a secular life, and the state of the Israel film and TV industry since Oct. 7.
Speaking with Sasson Gabay
This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
How did you react when they came to you with the idea for this series, and you learned you could play this character again?
The love that we got [for “Shtisel”] from the audience in Israel and abroad was such a warm response, so we just waited for it to continue, but Yehonatan Indursky didn’t write another season for us. But you know, in the back of my mind, I was sure that it was not a farewell to my character. And Dov Glickman, who plays Shulem, and myself, we were fantasizing of doing something together about it, but it didn’t happen. And then after a while, Dikla [Barkai], the producer who will be with us in this event, she came up with the idea. They discussed it with Indursky, the scriptwriter, and they came with the idea to me. And, I mean, before I knew anything, I said immediately yes, because it’s going back to material that you trust, and that you know.
How would you compare the tone, scope and experience of “Kugel” to “Shtisel”?
I think “Shtisel” is more… let’s say it’s more broad. It’s a broad series, with many layers, many characters, and each one has his own story. “Kugel” is more concentrated, more limited to a few characters. So it’s more intimate, and it’s maybe even more poetic, in my opinion. I call it a close -up, a psychological close-up.
You’re a secular guy — has playing a haredi Orthodox character ever felt strange? Or did you fit into it more naturally than you thought you would have?
Not only am I not Orthodox, I’m not from this community — I’m from the Iraqi Jewish community, which has nothing to do with Yiddish. I was born in Baghdad, I came to Israel at three years old. I don’t remember anything, but Yiddish is really far away from the culture that I came from. But nevertheless, you know, when you live in Israel, you are exposed, especially when I was young, to many cultures, many communities, many Jewish people who came from many countries. My dad had a grocery shop in Haifa, and as kids, we came to help him, you know, in the work. And I remember over there — let’s say, some 50, 60 years ago — there’s a lot of people who immigrated from many countries, from many backgrounds, from America, from North Africa, from Iraq, from Poland. And among them, there were also ultra-religious Orthodox Jews. So I knew this kind of people. I knew how they behave, and I watched them. To sum it up, it wasn’t strange to me.
What was it like filming in Antwerp, instead of Israel? Did you notice subtle differences in the two Orthodox communities?
When I was dressed as an Orthodox Jew, I was recognized by many people, many kids in the street, as my character from “Shtisel.” In Antwerp, [haredi Jews] admit that they see TV. In Jerusalem, they don’t admit it.
In Antwerp, I felt at home, in the Jewish restaurant, in the main streets of the Jewish community in the city. We were accepted as something natural. For example, we shot in the rabbinical court, in the actual place.
The ultra-Orthodox Jews there are more relaxed, they are more open, they are more accepted. In Israel, we have a problem that the Orthodox, many of them, at least the people who go to yeshiva, don’t go to the army and many times they’re not working, they’re just getting support from the government. So this is a political issue. I don’t want to get into it. But in Antwerp, the ultra-Orthodox are supporting themselves. They travel around the world more. They are more open, up to date, a part of modern society.
The hair and makeup process must be laborious for this kind of character.
I didn’t use a wig! But the beard and the payos [which were fake], it’s a lot of work. The mustache was mine and we mingled it in. At the beginning it was a process of two hours every morning. And then you and the makeup artist get used to it, and we managed to do it in one hour, and later on less than that.
It’s hard work — we have to memorize the lines, we have to analyze the scenes and the character and the action. And here, on top of it, was a beautiful challenge — the Yiddish challenge for me, and for the others also. I don’t believe any of us speak Yiddish at home. The other [cast] were younger, so anyway, they didn’t have the opportunity to speak Yiddish at all. And for myself, of course, it’s out of the question. But our challenge is to make it look easy and natural, and I hope we managed to do it.
You’ve been a pillar of the Israeli film and TV industry for so long — how has the post-Oct. 7 atmosphere affected that industry?
First of all, there’s the work, and the industry is very prolific, and there’s a lot of productions. We have a problem with films becoming very hard to make because the subsidies are often declined and are getting smaller.
We’ve experienced some less demand and less interest from festivals abroad. Usually we had more interest in our materials, even though almost a year ago I was in Toronto [for the Toronto International Film Festival], for the film “Bliss.” And there’s a lot of Jewish festivals, Israeli festivals. Often when we are going to festivals we experience demonstrations, and sometimes people try to shout during events, but we are used to it.
But I learned that all this pressure and sometimes paradoxical situation here in Israel is that: We’re living normally but at the same time living in an impossible situation, in war. So it’s kind of a paradox, a human laboratory that produces many stories, many visions. And I’m really, really glad to see a lot of artists, a lot of script writers and directors — I mean the quantity of people who are doing things with TV is really amazing compared to the financial possibilities.
How do you like New York? Do you have any favorite spots that you’ll try to get to while you’re here (and are any of them Jewish)?
I like New York very much. When I was in “The Band’s Visit” I fell in love with Broadway.
We spent three or four years give or take in the US [touring across the country after the Broadway run], and New York is addictive to me. I’m busy here in Israel, in Tel Aviv, mainly, but we come to New York at least once or twice a year.
As for Jewish things to see, not so much. You know the lox thing in the Jewish Museum, it’s downstairs? [Lox at the Jewish Museum, the museum’s in-house restaurant and cafe.] Yeah, this one I visited with my wife and son. I’m not so crazy about this lox thing.
Get tickets here to see Sasson Gabay, producer Dikla Barkai and “Shtisel” star Michael Aloni in conversation on April 28, either in person at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on the Upper West Side or streaming online.
