You know those random moments of internet culture that stick in your brain? We all have them, usually from when the internet was younger and more chaotic than it seems now. Maybe it’s the white and gold/blue and black dress, the Gangnam Style dance or the famous Oscar selfie. You remember them at the most inopportune times and the next thing you think of is giggling in your car at the memory. For me, it’s this video: a 2006 Passover parody titled Who Let the Jews Out?
The first time I watched it I must have been about 6 years old. My dad turned on our giant family computer and typed in the URL for YouTube, which had no app and no ads. Then he pulled out this animated Passover video and my world has never been the same.
“Who Let the Jews Out” appears to have been created as part of a publicity campaign for a book I’ve never read called “Schlepping Through the Alps”. It was written by Johns Hopkins faculty member Sam Apple about Yiddish folk singer and “wandering shepherd” Hans Breuer. Although the subject of the book seems fascinating and I am known for my voracious reading appetite, the book was just above my grade level (age 6!) in 2006 and I have yet to review it. Maybe one day!
In a strange twist that confirms that YouTube ads in 2006 were very different than they are now, the video and the book don’t seem to have much in common (especially to someone who hasn’t read the book yet!) aside from the fact that the video opens with a smoking a sheep pipe that echoes that of Apple’s book cover. In addition, both the video and the book touch on the subject of Judaism. But that’s really where the similarities end.
“Who Let the Jews Out” opens with an animated sheep (yes, the one that smokes a pipe) climbing the stairs of the Pharaoh’s palace and speaking to the Pharaoh in a British accent. He says, “Oh, hello, Pharaoh. The Jews have fled. So, um, yeah.
The spirited pharaoh, upset at the idea that the Jews were no longer enslaved, instantly lost his mind. “It is impossible!” he says. “Who let the Jews in?”
What follows is a wild mess that has to be seen to be truly appreciated, but I’ll try to describe it here. There are dancing ancient Egyptians, a sea of frogs, hieroglyphics, Egyptian gods, and throughout a very angry pharaoh asking everyone, “Who let the Jews out?” The pharaoh also appears as the great sphinx at one point. (Oh, and maybe this is obvious, but let me point it out in case it isn’t: “Who Let the Jews Out” is sung to the tune of “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Obviously.)
The video then quickly shifts to the Red Sea. It is neatly divided, and the ancient Israelites drive through it in top-down convertibles. Of course, they hold Manischewitz and matzah, smile and hop into the other. One Israeli even makes a Star of David with his fingers. (I’d be remiss not to point out that an Israelite with a particularly long beard also holds the Ten Commandments, even though they don’t come until several parts of the Torah, but I’ll forgive the video for the biblical inaccuracy.)
Finally, as the video ends, the camera zooms in on a bumper sticker on the back of one of the Israelis’ cars: “PROMISED LAND OR BUST.” It then shifts to an Apple book theme featuring the fictional sheep, which notes that the book is getting a good response in the press, “probably because I’m on the cover.” And that’s it. That’s the whole travesty.
The video is less than two minutes long – 1 minute and 19 seconds to be exact – and yet it has stayed with me for about 17 years. Why? I do not know. Maybe because I was first shown it at a young, impressionable age. Maybe it’s because I’m tickled by the fact that the Passover video is an ad for a book that isn’t specifically about Passover. Maybe because I hadn’t seen any Jewish content online that seemed intended for children until then. Maybe it’s because I’ve always liked that a video doesn’t try to teach me anything, but instead is just silly, hilarious, fun, and catchy. Who knows?
What I do know is that even after all these years, I can’t stop thinking about Who Let the Jews Out. I’ll never forget the pipe-smoking sheep—and maybe now you won’t either.
