Sukkot homecoming for Israeli-born comic Modi

Tel Aviv was once known for exporting oranges, and now more for exporting microchips.

But the White City also can claim to fame that it exported one of America’s most successful comedians.

Modi, born Mordechi Rosenfeld, moved with his family to the United States at the age of seven and was raised on Long Island. After studying to be a cantor and working as a Wall Street banker, he switched to a less lucrative career in stand-up comedy.

Voted one of the top 10 comedians in New York City by The Hollywood Reporter, Modi is one of the comedy circuit’s most sought-after performers. Featured on HBO, CBS, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, and E! Entertainment, he has received rave reviews in The New York Times, Time Out New York and the New York Post.

Modi will headline Comedy for Koby

Modi will be coming home to Israel next week for six sold-out shows in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Herzliya and Beit Shemesh. The shows will raise money for the Koby Mandell Foundation, the largest provider of emotional support services via multifaceted therapeutic programs for the thousands of bereaved Israelis who have lost an immediate family member to terrorism or tragedy.

“I AM very much looking forward to coming,” he said in a phone interview. “I love performing in Israel. It’s so much fun and so special.”

Modi said one of the reasons his shows in Israel had sold out was that, through social media, he had developed a fan base among native Israelis, who will join the native English-speakers who normally attend Comedy for Koby shows.

“I’ve got to make sure everybody gets the premise of what I say, and I don’t lose them on a word,” said Modi, while acknowledging that much of the audience during the Sukkot holiday will actually be from Long Island’s Five Towns, where he grew up.

Modi also expressed concern about how to navigate the intense political situation in Israel, even though he has performed here during charged times in the past.

“It’s my first time coming to Israel when politics are so crazy,” he said. “I don’t usually do political humor. When they come to a show, people want to forget about their problems and tsuris [troubles].”

Modi said it was hard to follow the dispute over the proposed legal overhaul from the US.

“It seems so intense over there,” he said. “It’s not funny. But I need to know this stuff. The job of a comedian is to lighten the national mood. The Talmud says comedy is needed to make sad people happy and bring peace between people when they fight.”

Veteran Israeli-American comedian Avi Liberman, who organized Modi’s visit to Israel, downplayed the chances of the political crisis harming the show.

“We’re not that unfamiliar with polarizing political situations in the US,” he said. “People come to comedy shows to escape politics, so I don’t see that being a big part of his act.”

Rosenfeld has performed on the biannual Comedy for Koby tour in 2009 and 2015. Liberman brought another popular Jewish comedian, Elon Gold, to a very successful tour in Israel last Sukkot. Modi, Gold and Liberman all focus on Jewish humor in the US, but Liberman said they don’t really compete.

“We complement each other, and we’re all friends,” he said. “Success is good for all comics. We might touch on similar topics, but we have different takes, so it’s not really an issue. It might sound cliché, but the contest is with yourself. It’s not a sporting event with a winner and loser. If another comic is great, I think about bringing them to Israel.”

Modi said he also did not feel pressure to outdo Liberman and Gold.

“It’s a kind of brotherhood,” he said. “Elon can’t come back and do the same show again he did last year, and I can’t come the year after. It’s not a competition. It’s not like selling insurance with one policy. Comedy has all kinds of forms.”

One thing that only Modi has on his CV is that he performed at the launch party of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon in Houston before takeoff. Ramon even took Modi’s CD up with him to space. After the shuttle explosion, the CD – unlike other items – was never found.

“I haven’t really processed that whole thing,” he admitted.

Modi did learn lessons, however, from a recent performance in Berlin. He said he felt proud to be the star of a well-attended Jewish cultural festival in Germany, which was advertised on banners on buildings that he said looked like the ones with Nazi flags in World War II movies. He took a triumphant tour of the city in a Mercedes and felt like he was taking revenge on behalf of the Jewish people.

“This is where they planned on destroying us,” he said. “Now there are no Nazis, but there are Jews in a theater laughing. They’re gone. We’re still here.”

Modi said he felt similar pride performing for the Koby Mandell Foundation and helping family members of terror victims.

“That’s why we’re a special people,” he said. “I don’t know other nations who help each other so much.”

The Comedy for Koby tour will be back January 16-22 with comedians Rich Voss, Peter Berman, and Steve McGrew. Tickets are at www.comedyforkoby.com.