A new Israeli TV show, called ha-Paytan, features young men competing with their vocal renditions of traditional liturgical melodies. Remarkably, writes Liel Leibovitz, the program manages to touch a spiritual chord:
The men vying for glory on the show are, with almost no exception, thoughtful and sweet and immensely talented, and when they sing, they do so with all their heart. Which is a must when the song you’re trying to sell is intended not only for man’s ears but also God’s. Instead of the archetypal entertainers we get on The Voice and elsewhere—the bad-boy rocker, the sensitive crooner, the country boy, the R&B dynamo—ha-Paytan offers real people displaying real emotions, just as they do, one imagines, every Shabbat when letting loose on the bimah. . . .
[E]ach contestant brings his unique tradition to his lyrical interpretations. Some sing tunes learned by their grandparents in small synagogues in Morocco, others songs imported from Turkey or Yemen or Egypt. Each episode, then, is a mosaic of Jewish music, offering the pleasure of hearing so many variations on the same basic themes and contemplating once again the richness and diversity of our culture. Which is why you finish each episode of ha-Paytan feeling wholesome, a sentiment rarely associated with evenings spent lazing on the couch and glaring at the screen.
Read more on Tablet: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/194069/israeli-tv-good-for-your-soul