Israeli stand-up comes to Shaar

Yisrael Campbell, widely regarded as Israel’s premiere stand-up comedian, gave a very special performance and presented his film 'Circumcise Me' at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim on Tuesday night.

Now a resident of Jerusalem, Yisrael shared his long complex journey that eventually led him to the Holy Land. Born Christopher Campbell, he was raised as a Roman Catholic while growing up in Philadelphia. As Yisrael describes it: “I’m the first-born son of a manic-depressive Italian woman and a pathologically silent Irishman. This makes me wildly emotional in a very quiet way.”

Yisrael’s Catholic roots were strong. He attended Catholic school as a boy. His aunt was a nun and his mother lived in a convent for a while. But during his teen years his recovery from substance abuse led him to his spiritual path and through it he has remained sober for over 25 years.

This spiritual path led him to seek out a variety of religious and spiritual experiences, ultimately leading him to the cultural and religious fulfilment he found in Judaism. Along the way, Chris studied theatre in New York City at Circle in the Square Theatre Company and began performing stand-up comedy. As he began telling his story of recovery and discovery of his spiritual path, a unique voice began to emerge in his talk that was a familiar but original mixture of storytelling and what he calls “spiritual stand-up” comedy. Audiences related to Yisreal’s lifelong struggle to have a relationship with God and that gave a unique kind of depth and substance to his comedy. While going through three conversions to Judaism, first from Roman Catholic to reform Judaism, then to conservative, and finally to orthodox, Yisrael performed a series of one man shows including 'Einstein Was Right' and 'It’s Not In Heaven'. He took the name Yisrael and moved to Israel.

Recently, Yisrael’s unique story has attracted considerable media attention, leading to television appearances on CNN and ABC World News Tonight as well as interviews by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert and Rolling Stone Magazine. His life and unique story are chronicled in his critically acclaimed documentary, 'Circumcise Me.'