“I’m preparing a tea so we can talk with leisure,” Sasson Gabay says over the phone from Israel.
The Israeli film and TV star, now 77, wants to get comfortable so he can talk about one of his favorite characters from his 50-year career: Nuhem Shtisel.
If that surname sounds familiar, yes — it’s a character from the popular and internationally acclaimed series “Shtisel,” about an Israeli Haredi Orthodox family. Now, Gabay has reprised Nuhem for a prequel series titled “Kugel,” streaming in the United States exclusively on the platform Izzy.
And if kugel sounds familiar, yes — it’s referring to the Ashkenazi version of a casserole, not another surname. The new series follows Nuhem, who frequents a kugel shop in his native Antwerp years before the plot of “Shtisel,” as he and his daughter Libbi (Hadas Yaron) navigate familial and romantic struggles. Nuhem’s heart is in the right place, but the diamond dealer often finds himself at the center of financial shenanigans that threaten his place in his family and his community.
As complex as that character sounds, it didn’t take much convincing to get Gabay — who is also well known for starring in both the Israeli film “The Band’s Visit” and the Tony-winning Broadway musical based on it — on board for the poignant and wryly humorous series that, like “Shtisel,” was created by Yehonatan Indursky.
“I loved [Indursky’s] writing. I loved his plot. I loved this poetic element in all his writing — wise, human and brilliant in my opinion,” Gabay said on a recent WhatsApp call.
On April 28, Gabay will join “Shtisel” star Michael Aloni and “Kugel” producer Dikla Barkai for an exclusive New York Jewish Week conversation about the new show at Congregation Rodeph Sholom on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. For those who can make it in person, attendees will also be able to sample (what else?) some of the city’s best kugel, and even meet the stars at a VIP reception. For those who can’t make it, a livestream is available, and it will be recorded.
As a preview — a taste of the “burnt end” of the kugel, Nuhem might say — Gabay spoke with the New York Jewish Week about filming in Antwerp, playing a deeply religious Jew while living a secular life, and the state of the Israel film and TV industry since October 7, 2023.
