Now that is a tasty bagel
I can't say i've heard a lot of jewish music, but without the description i'd guess it would come from that culture!
when you said unplayable, well pretty much, considering strings can't pitchbend, lol ;) (I wouldnt have included that)
Otherwise, great, warm string samples! Nice authentic sounding reverb too, was that your doing or a natural part of the samples? (Which library are you using by the way?)
Melodies, harmonies are great. I love the chord progressions, great usage of the harmonic minor scale, its my fav :]
Flute flowed perfectly, I have no critiques in this department. Great blend of articulations, beautiful legato, love the staccato phrasing in the quiet section. The trill back into the main phrase was very well executed too. Melody was very well sequenced and developed, although I wasnt fond of the segment that occured at 2:25-2:229ish and later in the song. The third phrase pretty much felt like a copy and paste of the first section :P, so maybe try to flesh out the melody more by focusing on certain tones and cut some of the fast ornamental licks.
And when I hear something worldy, personally, I would look to hear a more exotic instrument. I know Jewish is a European culture and they use similar if not pretty much the same (except the jaw harp :P) instruments that you would hear in the western world. Well, I probably shouldnt have wrote this paragraph 'cuz I dont have any specific suggestions.
Strings were great, they served as a great harmony backdrop, although they were rhytmically awkward. The contrast between the bass and accented, higher string sections on the offbeat gave off a good dancey vibe. Maybe to increase the rhytmic basis include perhaps some plucked violins to go along with the first and third section.
At 0:49-0:55, I like the chord ideas, but the rhythmic placement seems rushed and overly detached.
1:00-1:30ish, I think the strings would sound nicer here if you had a semi-slow vibrato sample and utilized it here.
Other than that, the soft, plucked string section was great. Good dynamic contrast! Ending was great, I lke the pretty sudden ending, goes with the light-weighted, and brisk theme of the piece.
As far as the mixing, although it may go against typical orchestral settings, I'd bring the flute more up to the front so it has more prominence in the more boisterous string sections by increasing the volume, and slightly lowering the amount of reverb, if you can. There was also one high pitched note that was a bit painful and caused the sound to peak a bit, work some sublte compression and/or filtering on that thing and your mix will be golden.
Keep it up and good luck with the contest! Definetly an interesting listen! and sorry of these suggestions were a lot, i tend to go overboard in reviews -_-
PenguinSam 
