Russian Parody Not So Funny to Some Israelis
JERUSALEM — She speaks mangled Hebrew, piles her platinum hair in a garish heap and wears glasses that look like headlights. Add a cashier's smock and Russian accent and you have Israel's latest sensation: Luba.
Luba is a fictional supermarket checker and a regular character on "Eretz Nehederet" -- or "Wonderful Country" -- a television comedy show known for its piquant spoofing of both the powerful and humble.
Played by a man, Tal Friedman, Luba has won the hearts of many Israelis with her blend of moxie and world-weary exasperation. Obnoxious shoppers -- and Israeli viewers know who they are -- get it right back from Luba, tortured tongue and all. In Luba's world, the specter of firing remains ever-present. ("No job," she laments, "no language.") She reminds customers that life is tough so regularly that kasheh -- Hebrew for "difficult" -- is now a national catchword.
Schoolchildren and TV news reporters quote her. Knesset members want to be seen with her. Internet chat rooms revel in her. And the just-ended Purim holiday, an occasion for Halloween-style dressing up, was a field day for would-be Lubas. Babies and even dogs were decked out in blond wigs, cashier vests and oversize glasses.
For all the frivolity, though, Luba's popularity has prompted sober discussion of the satirical depiction of an immigrant from the former Soviet Union at a time when that group has made significant inroads into Israel's mainstream.
The community now accounts for nearly 1 million Israelis -- or close to a sixth of the country's population -- after an influx of Jews in the early 1990s, most from Russia. Because many cashiers came from the former Soviet Union, Luba draws on recognizable aspects of Israeli life. Her robotic recitation of the daily marked-down items, for example, mocks a common Israeli checkout routine.
But some immigrant leaders see her as an unflattering representative of a community that boasts a large number of highly educated professionals. Many newcomers find it discomfiting to watch the rest of the country roll with laughter while the burly Luba wrestles with her adopted language and rude shoppers.
"She's 50-plus. She's fat. She's blond and she has big breasts. Plus she speaks awful Hebrew," said Marina Solodkin, a Knesset member who arrived from the former Soviet Union in 1991. "We have
