By Daniel Goldschmidt My first summer in Israel has been full of excitement with very mixed experiences. As is usually true of Israel some of the events being happy and fulfilling and others showing the tension that exists in daily life here.
I would like to relate two religious experiences that are indicative both the religious diversity and prejudice that is found in Jewish life here. I belong too a Jewish religious persuasion that represents a position between Reform and Conservative, and where the entire religious service is in song and even some dance. In the summer we hold our services at the TelAviv Port which is a entertainment, shopping, and fine dining area It is held on the beach at sunset and attracts as many as 1500 people. It is exhilarating to experience this many people worshiping together with a religious persuasion that represents an alternative to the predominant orthodoxy here. It is promoted and hosted by the Tel Aviv Port authority.
The other religious experience was related to me by a close friend of mine whose Reform Synagogue I have bee attending this summer in a smaller city here. This synagogue has been attempting to acquire a small one room building for their services which are currently held in a small room at a Conservative synagogue. Every time they have made application even though the building is empty they have been blocked by Orthodox interests. Furthermore their worshippers have been stoned and attacked by Orthodox even though their clergy has denied it. These two situations point out clearly both the hope for religious diversification and the narrow minded prejudice that is apparent in Israel society.
Free entertainment is a important part of the Israel scene. Tel Aviv
holds an annual festival called White Night which commemorates Tel Aviv being selected as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003 and has been held for the last nine years. It is an all night event held all over the Tel Aviv area and besides everything being open has over seventy feature events held though out the city. It is highly listed as one of the world’s premier events by all travel guides. I can’t begin to express the excitement and fun that I experienced. Much of this type of activity but on a smaller scale happens every Thursday August evening at our local flea market here in Jaffa. The Old Jaffa Association also holds feature entertainment saturday evening in the square. Last Saturday it was a dixie Land band. It is quite a contrast that on Friday evening and Saturday our day of rest everything is so quiet yet on Thursday evening and Saturday evening everyone seems to be out celebrating and having fun.
Early in August I attended the domestic rally which is being held all over Israel to protest the high cost of living particularly housing,and the division between the average man and the affluent. . Their is a tent city that entirely covers Rothschild which is the main avenue of Tel Aviv, where people have been camped out for over a month in protest. The evening I attended it was reported that their were 160000 people taking part in the protest march. In my opinion their is a great deal of legitimacy in the complaints that the cost of living particularly housing is prohibitive particularly in the more metropolitan centers. Their appears to be two reasons why this has happened even though Israel is one of the strongest economic countries in the world today, with only a 5.3 % unemployment rate. One is the out of proportion amount that is requires in defense expenditure because of the tension surrounding us. The second is that when Israel privatized it’s industry and services they were sold to a very few individuals that caused a significant separation in economic classes. My impression though of the protest is that with that many people demonstrating every one conducted themselves in a peaceful and constructive manner. I feel that their is definitely some legitimacy to their complaints and that the government will do their best to listen and act accordingly.
During the entire summer we have been plagued with terrorists who have committed arson in our forests almost destroying Yad Vashem our holocaust memorial. Missile mortar and rocket attacks continue from Gaza. As I write this their have been attacks on a bus in the Eilat area and at least seven people have been killed.
Although I am obviously concerned this has not impaired my thorough enjoyment of living here. I am running in the surf of the beautiful Mediterranean sea which I live only five minutes from. I am enjoying the entertainment and night life of Jaffa. I look forward to the many fresh fruits when in season that are allowed to ripen on the vine. I continued to be thrilled with my life here although I am quite aware of the problems that I have discussed.
