What a fabulous year it has been for video. In May this year, ISRAEL21c launched its new video channel, 21see, to bring you closer to Israel, and allow you to meet for yourselves some of the extraordinary people who live in this fascinating country.
Over the last year, we’ve taken you to the moon and back with SpaceIL; on a poignant journey across the country to explore what it means to love; to the beach to see how Israelis relax; behind the scenes in Israel’s trendy fashion world; and even a trip around Tel Aviv’s famous food kiosks.
We’ve shown you how to make sabich, one of Israel’s most popular street foods; invited you along for a cook-out in the Jerusalem hills with celebrity chef Michael Solomonov; and introduced you to some of the best new craft beer makers in the country.
But what stands out for all of us after our first year of 21see is the people we have met and introduced you to along the way.
There’s Yaniv Kovalski, a 23-year-old Jerusalemite who became the first Israeli football player to win a scholarship to play college football in the US. Presenter Yogi Roth interviewed him for 21see before the news broke, discovering how Kovalski only began playing football at the age of 17, and taught himself to play by watching YouTube videos.
We met David Cohen, a former CPA from the US who worked for some years on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center, and decided in the wake of September 11th to move to Israel and open the country’s first microbrewery.
“3,000 dreams were extinguished in one day,” he told 21see. “And I said: ‘I will not allow myself to be remembered as a CPA from New Jersey, and this is the time to jump on that dream and make it happen.’”
We met Wassim Razzouk, a tattoo artist in Jerusalem whose family has been in the tattoo business for 700 years, and who still uses 500-year-old wooden hand-carved stamps of religious designs as stencils.
And there are Israeli fashion designer Ronen Chen, who takes his inspiration from architecture; and Yaniv Levy, manager of the Israel Sea Turtle Rescue Center, who has been helping to save the lives of 50 to 80 wounded sea turtles every single year for the last 18 years.
Our hosts — Kathy Cohen, Renny Grinshpan, Yogi Roth and Yuval Haklai — have been with you every step of the way, bringing you their unique take on the things that make Israel special.
Yogi, a sports analyst and filmmaker from California, gave us an in-depth look at the growth of American football in Israel, and the characters involved in it.
Kathy explored Israel’s burgeoning yoga SUP scene, tried her hand at selling artik (popsicles) on the beach, and even took part in the Tel Aviv Night Marathon. Renny took her dog, Chili, for a special day out in Tel Aviv, where there are more dogs per capita than anywhere else in the world. She also gave group dog-walking a shot, but decided not to give up her day job just yet.
Comedian Yuval took us on a special trip to meet the crew of SpaceIL, a contender in the Google Lunar XPrize to land a robot on the moon; and ended the year by putting his hard-earned college education to work by making donuts for Hanukkah.
We’ve got all sorts of fun and exciting new projects planned for 2018, and many more fabulous people for you to meet, so get ready for the action. Stay tuned to 21see – you’ll find out more about Israel in four minutes than many people get to see in a year.
You can see some of our best videos from 2017 below, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch the new ones as they come out.
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We cover what makes life in Israel so special — it's people. A non-profit organization, ISRAEL21c's team of journalists are committed to telling stories that humanize Israelis and show their positive impact on our world. You can bring these stories to life by making a donation of $6/month.
