Culture

When I first touched down in Tel Aviv and walked out of the airport lobby, I immediately remembered the date palms. I had been to Israel once before, on a family trip when I was eight years old. We came the summer of my brother’s bar-mitzvah, as part of a large tour group of at least 40 people. I definitely enjoyed myself thoroughly on this trip, and certainly appreciated Israel. However if you’d asked me at the time what my favorite parts of the trip were, my answer would probably have been playing Gameboy on the tour bus, hotel swimming pools, and falafel, in no particular order. Nonetheless, when I first glimpsed the date trees in front of Ben Gurion airport, a flood of other memories came back to me. Unlike other times when I’ve travelled to a foreign country, even if I have been there before as well, such as Mexico, I never have a sensory connection with that place like I realize I have with Israel.

I definitely feel like this trip has been less an academic experience than a personal exploration of my own Jewish identity. That is not to say that this trip has been anything but absolutely fantastic in terms of expanding my knowledge of the country, it’s relationship to the United States, and its own struggle for peace. What I mean is that as a Jew, especially a secular Jew, my own experience here takes on an added dimension. Having taken Professor Ziv’s course on U.S.-Israel Relations in the spring, I would definitely say I was more knowledgeable than most Americans on the topic of this abroad program. But I could have read a dozen books on Israeli culture and still not been prepared for the cultural experience of this trip. Proud yet diverse, brash yet warm, assertive and unapologetic, it is the culture of Israel that is often forgotten in American discussions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the broader Arab-Israeli conflict. Zionism means such different things for different people, especially amongst Jews.

I have known for a while that I have deeply held, yet very subtly complicated disdain for ultra-religious people, namely those of my own religion and ethnicity. This stems mostly from experiences of my life, experiences that I will not elaborate on here. However, seeing how difficult the peace process is in a society as vibrant as Israel’s, and seeing how much further complicated this is when a large current of public opinion is driven by ideology rather than rationality and self-interest, I cannot help but despair for the future of the State of Israel and the spirit of Zionism. And therein lies the beauty of Israeli culture—forged by the despair of thousands of years of Jewish oppression, and more than 60 years as a state without real peace, Israelis have learned to soldier on, despite the clouds on the horizon and despite the vast differences of opinion within their own society. And, my personal favorite part of Israeli culture, they do this without apology and without resorting to euphemism. Coming to understand this culture has been fascinating and rewarding, and I know I will continue to evolve my life-long relationship with this culture.