Sashita's ISRAEL Blog

Living the Dream… | December 20, 2009

As people in the United States are feverishly preparing for the most special day of Gift-giving, food-eating and wine-drinking, I am at a place where “Christmas spirit” is quite imperceptible. I did see some gaudy Santa Clause/Nativity scene images at Wadi Nis-Nas, a local Arab-Christian Neighborhood. Other than that, its just a regular autumn day in Israel.

However, I must mention that the celebratory week of Hannukah has just ended. Hanukkah marks the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem after its desecration by King of Syria Antiochus. It was memorialized every night by the lighting of Hanukiot: a special 9-candle Candelabrum.

Its really interesting that, much like Christmas in the United States, Hannukah seems to have gained a pop-cultural significance which, outside of certain communities, seems to outshine the religious meaning of the holiday. For example, the nightclubs in Haifa were sending invitations to ‘special’ Hannukah parties. What does it mean: same location, same DJ, same overused songs (“Tonight’s Gonna be a Good Night…”), just a pause in the middle for an announcer to light traditional candles, and for the sweaty crowd to takes shots of extra celebratory vodka.  

“HaZira”- Salsa Club in Tel Aviv

For the Minneapolis dwellers in the audience, to me this looked as if they would have put a Nativity Scene in the middle of the Loring Pasta Bar Salsa night…

In terms of my Scholarship-related activity, the most memorable visit so far was to a Rotary Club in Karmiel. The president of the club, Dalia, is a Jewish-Israeli, a professional psychiatrist with a private practice, and a fantastic, warm and energetic woman! Her husband works in the same field and got his Ph.D. in Psychology from Dartmouth. They live in a small house in Karmiel and co-own a stable of Arabian horses, whom they raise to compete in International tournaments, and who have received countless awards in Europe and in Israel. Dalia and her husband co-own this horsestable with a Muslim family from a neighboring village. And…they are best friends. They work on the horses, have family dinners and hang out together all the time. This kind of crossing of religious/cultural boundaries is, to say the least, RARE, and in my personal experience here: Unprecedented!

Now, this brings me to impressions of the country as a whole. My reader might be surprised, or even unnerved by the fact that each of my introductions of the people I met are accompanied by a cataloging reference to their ethnic/religious affiliations. Are we not supposed to look past these differences? My answer is NO. In the peaceful U.S. we have not yet come to a point where we can stop classifying each other according to religion/ethnicity/race/immigration status. And this is ESPECIALLY true in Israel! The various ethnic/religious/national groups are roughly patched together forming a giant quilt with no order or coordination. In places, the pieces are held together with nothing but 2-3 thin stitches, and it seems that the whole construction threatens to split at the seams. The image is dramatic, but even the locals will tell you that it is accurate.

Just within Israel proper (the boundaries of which are debated) there are Jews and Arabs. Among the Arabs there are Muslims, Christians, Bedoins and Druze. Among Jews, some are West European, some are Russian, some are Arab (from Morocco, Iraq, Egypt), some are Ethiopian. These backgrounds, of course, connote differences in status and treatment by society at large (read: degree of discrimination). The Druze are the most integrated into Israeli society. Even though they live in their own villages/towns, they serve in the Israeli military and are accepted as a non-threatening community. The Christian Arabs are viewed more favorably than the Muslims, even though they are still looked-down upon and the youth, for example, is rarely admitted to nightclubs. In general, Israel is still a new country that is trying to find its identity.

What surprised me the most when I came here, is the “Siege-mentality” prevalent among Israelis. In many places in American, and expecially in Europe, Israel is viewed as a financial and military powerhouse. The country is backed by U.S. money, has an obscene defense budget and has possession of nuclear weapons. In many ways, Israel is made to look like a regional bully. However, most people INSIDE Israel have a potent sense of living in a country that is perpetually IN A STATE of War. This mentality is not only a result of recent wars for Independence with the surrounding Arab Countries; or of the continuing sporadic violence with Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah; and not even entirely because of the swelling of Iranian nuclear capacity. The constantly reproduced anxiety that exists within Israel proper is also due to a deeply Historic sense of vulnerability. The crowning event of the process that I am referring to is, of course, the Holocaust. But even without it, the history of Jewish persecution runs centuries before the Common Era with enslavement and liberation from Egypt; building and destruction of Two Temples in Jerusalem; the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews from Spain; the long history of discrimination of Jews in Europe and pogroms in Russia…and only then, the Holocaust.  

A reader might ask, what is the point of this list of abuses. Indeed, every single nation/society/minority group had experienced persecution, violence and war. For me, the fact that modern Israel mentality is in the present burdened by the collective memory of persecution dating back before Common Era, is an the important element in making sense of the current Israeli reality. This burden in many ways dictates the way Israel manages both, its internal and external affairs. The fact that against all odds, Jews were able to establish their own state, here in Israel, still feels like a miracle, like a fragile silhouette, veiled in a gauze of myth.

In such a society it is almost inevitable that extra weight is placed on various group identities and affiliations, and with this comes a heightened degree of discrimination and racism. Growing up in Russia, it wasn’t rare to hear something like: “He is a really nice guy, even though he is a Jew.” Or, before I came to Israel a girlfriend, whom I love very much, but who perhaps doesn’t share my degree of sensitivity asked me: “You are going to Israel? But…there are JEWS there!” A similar blanket of ignorance is thrown on on entire groups within Israel proper. I have heard Jewish high school students refer to their Arab counterparts as “our lesser brothers.” Here I am constantly warned by the Russian Israelis not to come in contact with the Arabs or Druze, as it might be dangerous. At the same time, the Russians themselves are not exactly the most accepted community. A contemporary Russian-Israeli author Dina Rubin wrote that “Russians in Israel are treated as Jews in Europe.”

In any event, I guess I am cataloguing all these various veins of racism and hypocrysy because 1) I find it humorous. Every group is paranoid against another in order to boost their own status. And 2) because this exists Everywhere. In the same shape and form. And my, perhaps long-winded, attempt to encapsulate the anxiety among the different groups in Israel will allow the reader to imagine just how much adjusting and wiggling one has to do in all of one’s conversations with representatives from all of the above. This can get reeeally tricky really fast.

 Oh yes, and to finish, a small piece of trivia. All are aware that when the current U.S. President was running for office, much ado was made about his middle name: Hussein. Oh my Goodness: a Muslim infiltrator..an Arab-sympathizer..blah blah. I found it intersting that his first name, Barak, in Hebrew means “lightning” or “shine.” (The name of the current Israeli minister of Defense is Ehud Barak). So, my poetic conclusion is that Barak Hussein Obama with his Muslim-Jewish names, encapsulates the struggle for coexistence in the Holy Land. Its a stretch. I know.

Ok, and one last thought. There is a wisdom in the Prophets which (in rough paraphrase) states that a man should at all times carry in his pockets two pieces of paper. In the right pocket, a paper that reads: “The world was created for me.” And in the left:  ”I am nothing but ashes and dust.”  This image encapsulates beautifully the constant stuggle for meaning in our lives. On one hand, there is a sense that we can make choices and construct our lives according to our own vision. That we create our own meaning. And on the other hand, how often does life remind us of our powerlessness! How often does life throw a curveball in all our plans and exposes that our hopes and dreams are nothing but a mirage and a vapor. For this reason, I have finally understood why I enjoy so much to ride the BUS. It is because, for a brief period of time, maybe half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes, both the starting point, and most importantly, the destination, are frozen and clear!