Hebrew Heaven

I've been keeping secrets from my readers. It's been in the works for months now—Bettina and I are going to be in Israel in 6 days!

Let me explain: in February, my sis and I both registered for a 10-day trip, courtesy of an organization called Birthright Israel, which provides educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26, during the summer and winter seasons. Since our 18th birthday half a year ago, Bettina and I have been fantasizing about traveling on our own to the Holy Land, and now we're so excited to actually be going very soon! The last time we were in Israel was with our family, in Summer 2007, and we spent 10 weeks living in the amazing city of Tel-Aviv. I have so many fond memories of Israel; the beaches, the hummus and falafel, the history and culture, the thrill of hearing people all around me speak a different language...

And so, in preparation for our upcoming journey, I've decided to re-immerse myself in the Hebrew language. Guess which website I'm using to help me on my noble quest? Let me give you a couple of clues:

• It's the 3rd most visited website according to Alexa.com
• It's slogan is "Broadcast Yourself"
• Google bought it for $1.65 billion 4 years ago

That's right! YouTube to the rescue! This month I've discovered a treasure trove of movies that I know and love translated to Hebrew, so I can pick up a bit of the language while understanding exactly what's being said! It all started when I searched for videos of the cartoon show "Animaniacs" in Hebrew. The search didn't yield much, but at least I got to see the "Monkey Song" in a different language.

The next jackpot I found was Disney films in Hebrew! There's this one YouTube channel that has about a dozen animated treasures all dubbed with stellar voice actors. Adam, Bettina, and I watched "The Lion King" altogether, and it was such an amazing experience listening to the character's voices in a different language. The translated songs are my favorite parts, especially "Hakuna Matata" and "I Just Can't Wait to be King".

Some other movies translated in Hebrew we saw were "Alice in Wonderland", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Jungle Book", and "Aladdin", my new favorite translated movie so far (the guy who plays Genie is so funny, comparable to Robin Williams even)

The YouTube Channel: 1guyofer

List of Movies Included (besides the ones I've already mentioned):

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Dumbo
• Peter Pan
• Pinocchio
• Hercules
• Pocahontas
• The Sword in the Stone
• The Little Mermaid
• Beauty and the Beast
• Toy Story
• Toy Story 2
• Monsters Inc
• The Incredibles
• Enchanted
• The Prince of Egypt

(Edit: 1guyofer is no longer an active YouTube account. Sorry.)