Zach Margs’ Israeli antics bring joy to global Jewry

Once you hear the words “Kapara, where you from?” said in an Israeli accent, you know that you’re going to spend the next minute laughing at a video made by comedian Zach Margolin, otherwise known as Zach Margs.

From being an Israeli waiter on a Tel Aviv beach to an El Al security agent, to an irritable shawarma vendor, to the family gathering around the seder table, there’s no element of Israeli – or Jewish – life that Margolin hasn’t joked about.

Margolin, born and raised in a Jewish family in London, has spent many family holidays in Israel. He started making videos while in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has since amassed more than 225 000 followers on Instagram and more than 124 000 on TikTok. His most popular videos are the ones that poke fun at Israeli and Jewish culture. In June alone, he had more than 40 million views.

“I always say [that] if an Israeli tells me they like my videos, it’s the number-one compliment because I’m kind of making fun of them,” he said. “It’s great because Israelis have the best sense of humour ever, so they’ll tell you straight up it’s not funny or it’s hilarious”

Margolin was recently in South Africa with Jewish Food Fund Yad Aharon & Michael, where he performed a stand-up comedy show for the Yad Aharon Young Ambassadors programme for young adults in their 20s and 30s who are beginning their professional journeys.

Margolin has always been interested in comedy, even being part of a comedy troupe while he was at university. So it felt like a natural step for him to start doing stand-up comedy, which brings in elements from his videos but also stories from his childhood and travels.

“I love doing live stuff. It’s fun because I get to meet the people who are seeing the videos,” he said “It’s a completely different beast doing live shows compared to video, but I was doing the live stuff before I was doing the social media stuff.”

His comedic Jewish videos started as a private joke among him and his friends, where he would make fun of the things he saw people do when travelling to Israel, and would share the experiences he had there.

“I used to do this thing on my Instagram account when it was private called ‘the Instagram rules of Israel’. I noticed that everyone in Israel was posting the same Instagram stories, like the Ben Gurion walkway; the aroma iced coffee; schnitzel on the beach; or going to Shalvata,” he said.

“Everyone’s doing the same stuff. It’s so funny that everyone’s just copying each other. So, I created a character named Zacharia, who would teach you what to post on Instagram when you’re in Israel. And it was me speaking in an Israeli accent, saying, ‘Today, the rule of Israel is to do the Ben Gurion walkway. Okay, when you get to the airport, you have to post the walkway. You also have to write home. If you don’t write home, it doesn’t count.’ Then I would screenshot people’s actual Instagram stories and post them in my story.”

It was only a while later, in August 2023, that he decided to try posting a funny video of himself in Israel, impersonating an obnoxious waiter at a restaurant at the La La Land beach in Tel Aviv after receiving less-than-great service.

“He just was so bad that I started impersonating him because he kind of looked like me because we were both wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts, and then he was wearing a tank top, so I rolled up my sleeves, and then he had a bucket hat on and I went to the kiosk in the beach and bought the same bucket hat, picked up a tray, and just started impersonating him,” he said. “My friend Emma said, ‘This is funny, let’s film it.’”

He then thought it would be fun to poke fun at the interrogation at Israeli airport security and family Shabbat dinners, with those videos also going viral.

He said the events of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent rise in antisemitism gave him a sense of responsibility to share Jewish pride and humour, even in dark times.

“I wanted to bring joy to Jews. You know, we all saw antisemitism. So I said I’m gonna be so out there and proudly Jewish on my Instagram and try to make people laugh, and I’m not gonna be political and try to get into politics. My role in this war, because there is a social media war as well, is to bring joy.”

Though his content started by making fun of people coming to Israel, the more time he spent in Israel, the more he started to understand the nuances of Israeli culture and started to play with it.

“I’ve done one video where it was Israelis reacting to the siren versus reacting to the rain. Israelis, when they hear the siren, they’re chilled, but then the rain, they’re terrified. And I did another one where it was like trying to make plans with Israelis in advance because if you try and make sure we do something next Wednesday, they’re like, ‘Ask me Wednesday, whatever, today’s Sunday, mah [what].’”

He said that since his videos have gone viral, especially within the Jewish community around the world, it made him want to continue to share his Jewish pride and comedy despite the hate.

“Once it starts going viral within Jewish communities, you forget how many people have seen it,” he said. “I love to meet people and see someone that says you’ve made me laugh this year, and you’ve made this year a little bit better. It’s the best feeling in the world.”