Chavarah- Jewish Community Learning

A blog of Jewish study and traditions. Notes from classes: Torah Study with Rabbi Marder, Toledot and Shabbaton as well as other details found of interest.

IF you want to be part of our Chavarah email group let me know at carol@traditionsrenewed.com

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Sociological Chaos in Israel


1/28 - Paul Liptz

Jewish Peoplehood was the title of the topic but it might have been called 130 years of Society Evolution in Israel. Paul Liptz continued his lecture series to help us better understand the people in Israel.

Giving us the historical hindsight from the perspective that Israel started and grew so fast that it really didn't have a proper basis or core defined properly to help guide it's development. (I think the phrase from Gone With the Wind, 'grew like Topsy' is appropriate). With each aliyah there were new challenges and changes in direction. Liptz described Israel today as in its adolescent period.

Starting from 1880's once the Ottoman Empire ends, the Jews in Palestine start the journey into what is Israel today. The first Jewish residents really were a religious group that kept to their own community. The early pioneers after the turn of the century were young enthusiastic 17 to 23 year olds with lots of 'chutzpah' and zeal for Zionism. It was extremely difficult and Kibbutz life made them into a very solid community.

There was a major change in 'who they were' as they were not what their parents were, they moved from city to rural life and had to learn all the skills again since the Jews had not been an agricultural society since around 70 CE! They learned out of desperation and they were clever and articulate and took on challenges that were beyond their experience. (Example here was the not so perfect roads they tried to build!)

In the 1930's the German Jews arrived in force and brought 'dignity' along with their skills to create successful institutions.

By 1948 there were 650,000 Jews but in 1951 that number doubled to 1.2 million. The fact that this happened without total collapse was astounding. One of four residents in Israel were Holocaust survivors who were overcoming trauma and yet had to live in a world that was confused and not ready to accept their issues. Israel was a lonely country in the early 50's with few allies. They overcame many difficulties of a country made up of immigrants from conflicting cultures.

In the 1980's and 90's there was the new influx of Jews from the FSU (Former Soviet Union) and the Ethiopian Jews. Language differences and extreme cultural differences made life confusing at best. It was pointed out that this culture clash leads to many misunderstandings. For example, the Ethiopians are very patient and take things literally while Israelis of European cultures tend to exaggerate and are pushy. When some Ethiopian soldiers were told that they had to run to a tree in Jordan if they disobeyed an instruction, the next time they were called on for disobedience they took off running for that tree, and they run fast! The officer had to chase after them in a vehicle.

The growth of Israel’s population of immigrants continues. Most recently there is a quieter rise in immigrants from France arriving. These people are not quite ready to give up their lifestyle in France for the lower standard of living they would have to adopt in Israel. So they keep their residency in Israel quiet and travel back and forth. And yet, there is so much anti-semitism in France now that it is very difficult especially for the more orthodox Jews there.

Today when looking at the Jewish Peoplehood it seems that the situation is really quite good despite the conflicts that are evident. Relative to the Jewish historic experience overall now Jews have options. For the most part Jews can choose where to live and with whom. Israel has many allies and even has friends among some of the "enemies". While there are still threats and security issues, the country and the people of Israel are strong.

One important thing Paul noted, we should work to strengthen the bonds and understanding between Israelis and Americans. So meet Israelis and form bonds with them, host students, correspond with people in Israel. There are many ways we can work to build the relationship.


Keep up with what is happening in Israel
http://israel21c.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=HomePage

Watch news in Israel on a regular basis:
http://jerusalemonline.com/

If you want to host a student from Technion PLEASE contact me, ATS has a great exchange program!

** Thanks to James Jeffries for the photo of Paul!

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