Kesher Talk

We don't need no stinkin Santa. Howard is wrong about Jewish Israelis adopting commercial Christmas celebrations. They don't need such narishkeit - they've got a perfectly good culture already.

As the rift between religious and secular has grown, non-Orthodox Israelis themselves have ignored just how Jewish, just how religious, they are—on the streets and at home. The rhythms of their lives, the vocabulary of their land, the soul of their country remain intensely Jewish. Israeli history is Jewish history. And Jewish rituals are often Israeli rituals. A 1993 study by the Louis Guttman Israel Institute for Applied Social Research found that 98 percent of Israeli Jews affix mezuzot to their doors, 91 percent believe it is “very important” to conduct the Passover seder, nearly 90 percent keep a kosher home to some degree, and 71 percent fast on Yom Kippur. The typical Israeli attends Shabbat dinner Friday night and lights Hanukkah candles; most Jewish children masquerade on Purim.

. . . In the Diaspora, Jewish space is mostly confined to the synagogue and perhaps, for some, the home. In Israel, the land itself is Jewish—be it the Golan’s ancient cities or its new collectivist settlements. In North America, Jewish time is time set apart, apportioned out to some specific Jewish ritual. In Israel, the whole country follows a Jewish rhythm, from slowing down on Saturday to vacationing during Sukkot. . . . The Jewish things Israelis choose to do, they do easily, unselfconsciously. So many Jewish activities, phrases, and concepts are woven into their lives, they think these actions are “normal,” as opposed to religious. In contrast to this coherence and harmony, most American Jews live fragmented lives.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Judith @ 1/04/2003 09:48:51 PM