{"id":14723,"date":"2015-09-18T00:05:26","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T07:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=14723"},"modified":"2015-09-17T14:08:05","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T21:08:05","slug":"burger-with-a-side-of-elvis-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/09\/18\/burger-with-a-side-of-elvis-anyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Burger with a side of Elvis anyone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uri Yoeli, left, at the Elvis Inn, his restaurant\/convenience store\/gas station in Neve Ilan. (photo by Deborah Fineblum Schabb)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To appreciate how much Israelis love Elvis Presley, you just have to hear three generations of the Mizrachi family of Rehovot crooning, \u201cWise men say only fools rush in \u2026 but I can\u2019t help falling in love with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mizrachis \u2013 mom Aliza, sons Asaf and Yehoram, and granddaughter Kahila \u2013 had just downed some American-style burgers at the Elvis Inn, a restaurant, convenience store and gas station that proudly claims to be the only Israeli institution devoted to \u201cthe King.\u201d And they were busy inspecting the impressive Elvis memorabilia and tchotchke collection on the premises.<\/p>\n

Drivers passing through this corner of the hills surrounding Jerusalem often do a double take from the car window when they spot not one, but two way-more-than-life-sized statues of Elvis. Unless, of course, they\u2019re among those who, like the Mizrachis, make a special pilgrimage to the Elvis Inn, located in the small hillside town of Neve Ilan.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Elvis-themed bottles of wine on sale at the Elvis Inn. (photo by Deborah Fineblum Schabb)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Where else can Israelis hear all Elvis, all the time, piped into a 1950s-style diner while they feast on burgers and fries? Where else can they purchase an Elvis mini-alarm clock, a platter-sized \u201cElvis in Jerusalem\u201d plate, or a postcard with Elvis wearing tefillin in front of the Western Wall? (The latter souvenir comes thanks to Photoshop, since the King was never in Israel \u2013 the closest he got was Germany, and there is no evidence that he ever wore tefillin.) Better yet, buy a cup of coffee for 15 shekels (about $5 Cdn) and you get the ceramic Elvis mug to take home as a souvenir.<\/p>\n

But nothing of this Elvis sanctuary was in the picture when Uri Yoeli was a 12-year-old growing up in Jerusalem, the seventh generation of his family to do so. The year was 1958 and the Israeli preteen had a girlfriend who was a hardcore fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe gave me a picture of a man and said it was someone named Elvis,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThe next week she gave me a small record \u2013 One Night with You.\u201d Back then, his family owned one of just a handful of gramophones in all of Jerusalem, and being willing to repeatedly play the Elvis record instantly made Yoeli one of the most popular kids in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t understand one word of English but I knew this was great music,\u201d he said nearly six decades later. So began a lifelong devotion to the King, punctuated with trips to Graceland (Elvis\u2019 Memphis shrine) and an impressive collection of Elvis memorabilia, much of it now on display at Yoeli\u2019s Elvis Inn.<\/p>\n

Even during his years of Israel Defence Forces service, Yoeli\u2019s Elvis fascination continued; he bought whatever posters and records he could get his hands on. In 1974, when he had the chance to open a gas station in Neve Ilan, he put a few of the Elvis pictures on the wall behind the cash register.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I saw people\u2019s reaction: \u2018Wow, Elvis!\u2019\u201d he said. Thus, the Elvis Inn was born.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the venue has grown, adding the two oversized statues \u2013 the brass one is a towering 16 feet high \u2013 and attracting not only Israelis, but plenty of Americans on vacation looking for some old-fashioned home cooking. (Note: any Elvis fans who keep kosher will have to pass on the food at the inn.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To read more, visit jns.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Uri Yoeli, left, at the Elvis Inn, his restaurant\/convenience store\/gas station in Neve Ilan. (photo by Deborah Fineblum Schabb) To appreciate how much Israelis love Elvis Presley, you just have to hear three generations of the Mizrachi family of Rehovot crooning, \u201cWise men say only fools rush in \u2026 but I can\u2019t help falling in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[973,4330,4589,4588],"class_list":["post-14723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-elvis","tag-israel","tag-neve-ilan","tag-uri-yoeli"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}