The Falafel Juggler
Falafel Hanassi in Afula, one of the city’s most beloved establishments, gained fame not only for the taste of its falafel balls but for something else entirely, something that some might even call a "trick": The special talent of the three brothers who run the place sets them apart from competitors—it's their ability to toss hot falafel balls into a pita bread, and prepare servings in a record time of less than ten seconds.
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Golan Ohana, 50, and his two brothers manage their family's falafel shop, which was founded by their father. Ohana shares that he has been visiting the falafel stand every day since he was 17 and a half years old.
Ohana prepares the falafel in a unique way - he bounces the balls into a pita with flair and great zest for life: one hand tosses while the other waits with the pita for the falafel balls to land inside and complete the serving.
But it doesn't end there: after the juggling hand releases the falafel balls into the air, Ohana taps on the tray, adding rhythm to the show, all while greeting each of the customers who enter the shop.
"You don't just place the falafel ball in a regular way, but bounce it in the air, spin it, add flair and the customer enjoys it," Ohana explains. "One day, a doctor came here and told me that the way I make people smile acts as a reset for the body, like a detox. Another advantage of juggling is that the customer gets a show and a third advantage is that the customer enjoys the taste of the falafel."
All in all, it's just hummus and falafel
Ohana is modest and does not like to boast about the number of servings he prepares each day, nor about the number of balls he can juggle. But when we insisted on getting an answer, he revealed that his juggling record stands at seven balls simultaneously.
"We are blessed with nimble hands," he explains, "when customers would tell us that the pace of preparing the dishes wasn't fast enough, we started juggling. Every time a customer said, 'it's not fast enough,' we tried to do it faster, and that's how we practiced and improved a little bit each time. People smile, and that, to us, is completely unrelated to the salary for our work – it’s the most important thing for us."
How do people usually react?
"People are stunned. Some want to laugh but feel embarrassed, and some burst into laughter. The reactions are amazing," he says.
"They say kind words and compliment us. As soon as they see the show starting, they take out their phones, take videos and upload them to the Internet. People always tell me I should be in the NBA. They ask me, 'Don’t you get tired?', but I don't feel like I'm working at all when someone who hasn’t eaten yet is already smiling, no matter what they've been through. When you do something quickly and with agility, you do it joyfully, with vitality."
How did it all start?
"I got to this through trial and error," he explains. "I wanted to find the quickest way for the falafel balls to reach the pita without falling, and the movements developed from there. But there is always room for improvement, to do it faster, more beautifully, with a smile. Then, of course, slowly but surely, every time a customer came and suggested, 'Maybe you’ll juggle one? Two?' there was a new challenge each time.
"One day [television personality] Dudu Topaz came in. He was passing by during his shows with his minivan and he would enter here as if it was his own home. He would praise us like crazy, grab the tongs and laugh with us. Once, he said, 'You’re going to appear on TV,' and after two weeks, they invited us, and from there, it was just madness.
"People were standing in line. The Saturday after that, we were at the Sea of Galilee, and the entire beach recognized me from TV. Over the years, people from all over the country came to see the falafel juggling, and among them, quite a few famous customers visited Ohana."
Is there a competition between the brothers to see who can juggle the fastest?
"There is appreciation between my brothers and me," he says. "Eyal also juggles, and so does Itamar, a little. Everyone juggles, but the record is Eyal’s, who can make a falafel in 7 seconds. I used to study drumming in the past, and you can see when we serve a dish that it’s not just about the juggling – it also comes with drumming along the way.
Do you do this show for every customer that comes in, or do you sometimes take a break?
"The whole point is that it is done for every customer," he explains. "We have customers who have known us for years and are just waiting for us to juggle. I also juggle there, but today we have a team as well, and we are passing the message to the young staff, and they are also on the right path."
Tell me, I have a question that bothers me - why do people love falafel so much?
"It is indeed one of the surprising things, because it is, after all, just hummus and falafel," he says. "But in the word 'falafel,' there are the Hebrew letters for 'wonder,' and falafel is simply a wonder in my eyes; people just love it."