Nevsu (Amharic for "soul") is an Israeli Dom Com. It ran for three seasons between 2017-2021 and was created by Shai Ben-Atar, Liat Shavit, and Yossi Vasa. The series revolves arounds the trials and tribulations of Gili Chalacho (Yossi Vasa) and his wife Tamar (Meyrav Feldman). Gili is a successful advertising exec, and Tamar an artist. Together they have a five year old daughter, Ma'ayan. They're no ordinary Israeli family, though. Gili is an Ethiopian Jew who was brought to Israel in Operation Moses
, where Tamar is an Ashkenazi Jew descended from Holocaust survivors.
Yes, this is a comedy. Much of the laughter comes from Culture Clash, with Gili's hard-working single mother Alamito (Meskie Shibru), parsimonious but lazy uncle Shmelash (Solomon Mersha), kid sister Ortal, and kid brother Eliran mixing with Tamar's overbearing mother Nitza (Hana Laslo) and hapless father Yakov (Gadi Yagil). The show examines issues of racism, differing religious observance, prejudice against immigrants, and generational trauma - most of it drawn from the cast's Real Life experiences. This gives it an authenticity that probably helped land it the 2018 International Emmy Award for Best Comedy.
This show provides examples of:
- Adam Westing: Michael Aloni shows up as Tamar's stalkerish ex-boyfriend...Michael Aloni.
- Affectionate Nickname: Nitza calls Yakov "Yankele" - the Yiddish diminutive of his name.
- All Jews Are Ashkenazi: Pointedly averted; the lead character and much of the supporting cast are Ethiopian Jews.
- All Jews Are Cheapskates: Shmelash is infamously cheap.
- Awful Wedded Life: Gili's coworker Mendel at the ad agency implies this is the case for him. Apparently he only ever gets any on his birthday.
- Berserk Button: Gili hates secondhand clothes. This is due to him living in a merkaz klita (absorption center) when he first came to Israel, where all the clothes were secondhand.
- Don't insult Nitza's cooking.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Nitza is a lovely woman, and Yakov still finds her alluring. Also applies to her actress, Hana Laslo.
- Birthday Suit Surprise Party: Due to a colossal misunderstanding, Gili arrives at his birthday party in a Hollywood Native costume, complete with loincloth, spear, and facepaint, ready for some kinky roleplaying with Tamar.
- Chubby Chaser: Gili admits that this is his thing; when he met Tamar, she was 15 kilos heavier.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Tamar's sculpture, titled "Gili" no less, is...rather phallic.Mendel: At least you're circumcised.
- Drives Like Crazy: Shmelash. Apparently it took him over 30 attempts to get his driver's license.
- Ethnic Menial Labor: Alamito and Zawdito both work as cleaners at the hospital.
- Former Teen Rebel: Both Tamar and Gili admit to this. Gili hotwired his social worker's car more than once, while Tamar admits to pilfering from her mother's purse for cigarette money.
- Henpecked Husband: Yakov. He more or less accepts it.
- Hidden Depths: Yakov turns out to be a gifted poet.
- Jewish Mother: Though Nitza checks off every stereotype, Alamito has shades of this as well.
- Lethal Chef: Nitza, whose bland, flavorless Ashkenazi cooking is contrasted with the flavorful, yummy cooking of Supreme Chef Alamito.
- Mistaken for Servant: Quite often people mistake Gili for being some sort of menial laborer.
- Nosy Neighbor: With a side order of Jewish Mother. Nitza lives next door to Gili and Tamar. She opens their mail and comes over whenever she wants.
- Not What It Looks Like: When Alamito is demonstrating a complicated sexual position to Nitza Gili walks in, leading both Alamito and Nitza to protest this. Gili merely shakes his head and tells them to lock the door next time.
- Older Than They Look: Alamito looks more like Gili's sister than his mother, and Gili is supposed to be the same age as Tamar. In Real Life, Meskie Shibru is eight years older than Yossi Vasa, who was born in 1975. Meyrav Feldman, who plays Tamar, was born in 1985.
- Old People are Nonsexual: Averted. Yakov and Nitza have an active sex life, as does Shmelash.
- Picky Eater: Apparently Ma'ayan is this. Gili warns his mother of this when she's making tripe stew for Ma'ayan, telling her that she barely eats Dino Nuggets. Alamito acidly suggests that he tell her it's dinosaur tripe.
- Porn Stash: A variation. Nitza opens Tamar and Gili's cable bill and states that she just knows they couldn't have ordered a movie called Blondes Prefer Mocha.
- Precision F-Strike: When Tamar gets wise to Gili faking sick to avoid chores. Especially notable because of the paucity of cursing in this show.Tamar: Eize maniak! (Literally translated: "That fucker!")
- Pretty Boy: Michael Aloni. So much so that even Gili seems to develop a mild crush on him.
- Real Men Take It Black: A variation with tea. When Nitza and Yakov's friends bring over fancy tea, Yakov complains that he just wants a cup of Wissotzky (the Israeli equivalent of Lipton in the States or PG Tips in the UK).
- Retired Badass: Though Yakov may only have been a jobnik in the army, he worked in the defense industry for a very long time and still knows how to handle a gun. This is shown in his bonding with Yuval, Giora's boyfriend at the firing range.
- Sassy Black Woman: Deconstructed with Alamito; she's given quite a bit of characterization and a fleshed out backstory. But her co-worker Zawdito plays this straight.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Shmelash is not exactly enlightened in his attitudes toward women's place in the world. This leads to conflict in his relationship with Zawdito.
- Straight Gay: Yakov's friend Giora. Giora's partner Yuval is more Manly Gay.
- The Talk: Alamito tries several times to have one with Ortal, now that she has a boyfriend. When it finally happens, Ortal exclaims in disgust that not only is she still a virgin, but her boyfriend believes in shomer negiah (not touching the opposite sex unless it's one's spouse).
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Gili is not above using this to get time off work or get out of housework. Tamar eventually gets wise to him.
