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Some critics of the melting pot consider it to have been a necessity in the first years of the state in order to build a mutual society but now claim that there is no longer a need for it. They instead see a need for Israeli society to enable the people to express the differences and the exclusiveness of every stream and sector.
Some critics of the melting pot consider it to have been a necessity in the first years of the state in order to build a mutual society but now claim that there is no longer a need for it. They instead see a need for Israeli society to enable the people to express the differences and the exclusiveness of every stream and sector.


Others, mainly [[Mizrahi Jews]] and [[Sh'erit ha-Pletah|holocaust survivors]] from Europe, criticized the early melting pot process. According to them, they were forced to give up or conceal their original [[Cultural heritage|heritage]] and [[culture]], which they brought from their homelands, and to adopt a new "[[Sabra (person)|Sabra]]" culture. This has been articulated by the Anglo-Jewish writer [[Emanuel Litvinoff]] who lamented the denigration of the Yiddish language and objected to a Zionist 'chauvinism.'
Others, mainly [[Mizrahi Jews]] and [[Sh'erit ha-Pletah|Holocaust survivors]] from Europe, criticized the early melting pot process. According to them, they were forced to give up or conceal their original [[Cultural heritage|heritage]] and [[culture]], which they brought from their homelands, and to adopt a new "[[Sabra (person)|Sabra]]" culture. This has been articulated by the Anglo-Jewish writer [[Emanuel Litvinoff]] who lamented the denigration of the Yiddish language and objected to a Zionist 'chauvinism.'


== Additional Foreign Influences of Israel==
== Additional Foreign Influences of Israel==

Revision as of 18:34, 19 February 2009

State of Israel
Israel
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History
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Economy

The culture of Israel was in development long before the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 and is a combination of secular life and religious heritage. Much of the diversity of Israel's culture seems to come from the diversity of the Jews who make up Israel. Originating from around the world, new immigrants bring individual cultural elements from their countries and contribute to a continuing development of Israeli culture that follows cultural changes throughout the world. The culture is also largely based on the history of the Jewish people which developed in different ways over the hundreds of years of Jewish exodus. The ideology of the Zionist movement beginning in the late nineteenth century is crucial to understanding modern Israeli culture.

History

Zionism

Zionism is an international political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, “the Land of Israel”), and continues primarily as support for the modern state of Israel.[1]

Although Zionism's origins are earlier, the movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century. The movement, which encourages Jewish migration to the Promised Land, was successful in establishing Israel as the world's first and only modern Jewish State in 1948. Described as a "diaspora nationalism,"[2] proponents of Zionism regard it as a national liberation movement whose aim is the self-determination of the Jewish people.[3]

Zionism is based in part upon religious tradition, linking the Jewish people to the Land of Israel where the concept of Jewish nationhood first evolved somewhere between 1200 BCE and the late Second Temple era (i.e. up to 70 CE).[4][5] However, the modern movement was mainly secular, beginning largely as a response to antisemitism by European Jewry across Europe.[6] It constituted a branch of the broader phenomenon of modern nationalism.[7] At first one of several Jewish political movements offering alternative responses to the position of Jews in Europe, Zionism gradually gained more support and, after the Holocaust, became the dominant Jewish political movement.

Prior to establishing the State

Hora Dance
File:Bialik1.jpg
Hayyim Nahman Bialik, The national poet

The development of Israeli culture may be associated with immigration from various countries with different cultural backgrounds. In the first years of Jewish settlement in Palestine, the main influences on the culture were the shtetls (Jewish towns) from which most of the immigrants came. The culture of France and Germany also had an effect on the Israeli culture, becoming more popular after large contributions were made by the Jewish French philanthropist Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.

Russian culture also had an undeniable poetical, musical, and theatrical effect on Israel until the 1950s. Prominent artists included poets such as Rachel Bluwstein, Nathan Alterman, Leah Goldberg, and Alexander Penn; theater people such as Hanna Rovina and Shimon Finkel; and musicians such as Sasha Argov. The Habima Theatre brought its Russian and Yiddish roots when it immigrated to Israel.

1930s and 1940s

In the 1930s and 1940s, a movement took place to develop an "authentic" Israeli culture[1], originating amongst people born in Palestine. This culture was largely influenced by the Arab Palestinian culture, particularly in its folklore and styles of attire, dance, speech, and behavior.[citation needed] An effect more compound was in the music, which was adopting many eastern elements.

A prominent influence in these years was of the British through their Mandate of Palestine. Elements from their culture and ways of life were absorbed by parts of the rich bourgeoisie. Still another important source of inspiration was the German culture, imported by German immigrants; for example, many of the houses in Tel Aviv and the designs of its avenues were inspired by the Bauhaus movement to resemble the main avenues of Berlin.

1950s, 1960s and 1970s

The poetry and the Hebrew literature in the first three decades of the state are considered by many as the most praiseworthy achievements of the Israeli culture. Especially celebrated are works from the 1950s and the 1960s when art in modern Hebrew was created, in contrast to the poetry written previously, like that of Nathan Alterman, Avraham Shlonsky, and Leah Goldberg, or the literary style of one of the greatest Hebrew authors, S. Y. Agnon. The central figures of the modern poetry of the first decades were Yehuda Amichai, Nathan Zach and David Avidan. In the field of literature, most notable were Moshe Shamir and Aharon Megged along with Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, Meir Shalev, and many more.

After the founding of the state in 1948, immigrants rushed to Israel from many different countries, but their influence on the Israeli culture happened only gradually and relatively. In the 1950s, the prominent effects on Israel were the cultures of England, France, and the United States. Since the early 1960s and more prominently in the 1970s, additional dominant effects began to appear. In theater, the Russian dominancy began to weaken gradually and other effects began to permeate such as the European theater of Bertolt Brecht. In music, in spite of the continuance of the French effect they began to weaken. Instead, a wide variety of effects, such as British popular music (and in particular The Beatles), Greek music, and a more updated Russian culture influenced Israeli culture.

The effect of the culture of the immigrants from the Arab states on Israeli culture was considerable, but until the end of the 1970s, it was generally served by means of "middlemen". For example, prominent representatives of the Mizrahi culture on the stages was "HaGashash HaHiver" while the movies which dealt with the world of the Mizrahi Jews ("Bourekas films") were directed and acted almost always by non-Mizrahi Jews, including Ephraim Kishon, Boaz Davidson, and Menahem Golan and Gila Almagor, Yehuda Barkan, Chaim Topol, and Shaike Ophir.

In some cases, like that of Zohar Argov, the creations won recognition in retrospect. In other cases, the late recognition was followed with mockery, as in the movies Ze'ev Revach, which gained Israeli cult status but still are considered poor in the means of content and cinematography. In still other cases, there was no late recognition of their quality, as with the films of George Ovadia (most of which were copied from Iranian, Turkish, and Indian dramas).

1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s

Since the beginning of the mid 1980s, the Israeli cultural arena became more open and varied by far from previous years. In the field of music, particularly popular music, the main influences were from Britain, Europe, and South America; in addition to those, Turkish, Greek, and Arab music gradually became more important; in the field of plastic arts the effect was mainly American; in the field of stage arts there was a wide variety of effects, with special place to the renewed Russian effects, due to a significant immigration from Russia; in the field of literature, creators like Gabriel García Márquez made their presence felt.

Another significant change occurred with the airing of Israeli commercial television channel "Channel 2." This development lead to significant prosperity in both a growing number of high quality dramas and in the creation of the Israeli television. The Israeli television, which was controlled from its start by dramas, comedies, and imported series from England and the United States, developed local television which pushed all the imported series from the prime time of mainstream channels to minor and cable channels.

Modern Israeli culture

Batsheva Dance Company of Tel Aviv, Israel, was co-founded by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild in 1964.

Israeli culture is heterogeneous, dynamic, and difficult to define. Considerable parts of the secular Israeli culture are located in the Tel Aviv area, although many of the official cultural institutions are situated in Jerusalem. Due to a diverse population of immigrants from five continents and more than 100 countries and to significant subcultures like the Palestinians, the Russians, and the Orthodox (every one of which numbers about a million people and exists in independent communities that have their own newspapers and networks in which they distribute their own products of culture), the Israeli culture is exquisite in its richness and variety.

President Shimon Peres discusses whether Israeli culture is in a state of decay.

Currently, the Israeli government offers less financial support to the arts at an amount lower than what is average in most western countries and less than half percent of which arrives from the country's budget. Israel's Philharmonic Orchestra has concerts throughout the country and abroad. The Israeli broadcasting authority orchestra performs concerts throughout the world as well. To the local authorities there are many little orchestras, which their players arrive usually from the former Soviet Union. Israel is world renowned for the greatness of its modern dance, with bands like Batsheva and Batdor.

Theater is also an important facet of the culture of Israel. Founded in 1917, the national theater is the Habima Theatre. Habima Theatre, Cameri Theater, Beit Lessin Theater, Gesher Theater (which performs in Hebrew and in Russian), Haifa Theater and the Beersheba Theater are considered to be the most important in Israel. Their shows cover a variety of classic and modern drama as well as plays of Israeli playwrights.

Colonies of artists are situated in Safed, Jaffa, and Ein Hod but are considered less attractive today. Israeli painters and sculptors sell their works throughout the world. Art museums are in the cities Tel Aviv, Herzlia, Jerusalem, and in many towns and kibbutzim. The Israel Museum of Art in Jerusalem houses the Dead Sea scrolls and a comprehensive collection of Jewish religious art and popular art.

Israelis are avid newspaper readers. The main newspapers are in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and English while smaller newspapers are available in French, Polish, Yiddish, Hungarian, and German. Likewise, local newspapers and culture magazines are available in many towns.

Since the 1980s, a well-developed Alternative Israeli Culture has developed in Israel in the fields of music, dance, comics, poetry, art, and more.

Influences of the melting pot

See also: Yekke, Ars (slang), Mizrahim, Arab citizens of Israel, Negev Bedouins, and Sabra (person)

The first Israeli prime minister, David Ben Gurion, led a trend to blend the many immigrants who arrived at the first years of the state from Europe, North Africa, and Asia into one melting pot that will not differentiate between the older residents of the country and the new immigrants. The original purpose was to unite the immigrants with the veteran Israelis for the creation of a common Israeli culture in order to build a new nation in the new country.

The two central tools that were destined for this effect were the Israel Defense Forces and the education system.

  • Israel Defense Forces - by the means of its transformation to the army of the nation which will constitute a common ground between all civilians of the country wherever they are.
  • The education system - firstly in the method of unitary education, following the cancellation of the method of the currents in education and uniting the education system under the education laws, in order that different student from different sectors would study together at the same schools.

In a gradual process the Israeli society became more pluralistic and the melting pot derided with the years.

Criticism of the melting pot

Some critics of the melting pot consider it to have been a necessity in the first years of the state in order to build a mutual society but now claim that there is no longer a need for it. They instead see a need for Israeli society to enable the people to express the differences and the exclusiveness of every stream and sector.

Others, mainly Mizrahi Jews and Holocaust survivors from Europe, criticized the early melting pot process. According to them, they were forced to give up or conceal their original heritage and culture, which they brought from their homelands, and to adopt a new "Sabra" culture. This has been articulated by the Anglo-Jewish writer Emanuel Litvinoff who lamented the denigration of the Yiddish language and objected to a Zionist 'chauvinism.'

Additional Foreign Influences of Israel

In addition to the influences of the melting pot on Israeli culture, one of the greatest sources of influence on Israeli culture during the second half of the 20th century and the start of the 21st century has been the western culture. Israel is today very Americanized with a strongly adapted western culture.

Cultural influence from the United States has been obvious since the founding of the state. Most Israelis today are proficient in English. A great deal of the entertainment consumed today is in English, Israelis started reading more English on a daily basis after the Internet had become prevalent in most houses, and English language branding is very common.

Poetry and literature

Noted poets

Prose authors

Fine Arts

Israeli art movements

The earliest Israeli art movement was the Bezalel school of the Ottoman and early Mandate period in which artists portrayed both Biblical and Zionist subjects in a style influenced by the European jugendstil (or art nouveau) movement, symbolism, and traditional Persian and Syrian artistry.

Israeli artists

Museums

Main article: List of museums in Israel

More than 200 museums are operating in Israel, the highest number of museums per capita in the world, with millions of visitors annually.[3] Museums in Israel include:

Jerusalem

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Haifa

Other

Music

Main article: Music of Israel

Israeli music is versatile and combines elements of both western and eastern music. It tends to be very eclectic and contains a wide variety of influences from the Diaspora and more modern cultural importation: Hassidic songs, Asian and Arab pop (especially by Yemenite singers), and Israeli hip hop or heavy metal.

Israel is also home to several world-class classical music ensembles such as the Israel Philharmonic and the New Israeli Opera.

Also popular are various forms of electronic music, including trance, hard-trance, and goa-trance. Notable artists from Israel popular in this field are limited but include the psychedelic trance duo Infected Mushroom.

Dance

The Israelis are known for their dancing. The traditional folk dance of Israel is the Hora, originally an Eastern European circle dance. Israeli folk dancing today is choreographed for recreational and performance dance groups.

The Palestinian folk dance is the Dabke, a dance of community, often performed at weddings and other joyous occasions with various versions in different villages and cities.

Modern dance in Israel is a flourishing field, and several Israeli choreographers are considered to be among the most versatile and original international creators working today. Famous Israeli companies include the Batsheva Dance Company and the Bat-Dor Dance Company.

People come from all over Israel and many other nations for the annual dance festival in Karmiel, usually held in July. First held in 1988, the Karmiel Dance Festival is the largest celebration of dance in Israel, featuring three or four days and nights of dancing with 5,000 or more dancers and a quarter of a million spectators in the capital of the Galilee.[4][5] Begun as an Israeli folk dance event, the festivities now include performances, workshops, and open dance sessions for a variety of dance forms and nationalities.[6] Choreographer Yonatan Karmon created the Karmiel Dance Festival to continue the tradition of Gurit Kadman's Dalia Festival of Israeli dance, which ended in the 1960s.[7][8]

Theatre

Theater companies

Playwrights

Film

Main article: Cinema of Israel

Filmmakers

Actors

Main article: List of Israeli actors

Comedy and satire

See also

References

  1. ^ On Israeli culture
  2. ^ My three homelands - Haaretz - Israel News
  3. ^ "Science & Technology". Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles. Retrieved 2007-05-26.
  4. ^ "Galilee - Culture". Galilee Development Authority. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  5. ^ "Karmiel Dance Festival". ACTCOM-Active Communication Ltd. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  6. ^ "Karmiel Dance Festival". Karmiel Dance Festival. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  7. ^ "In Israel, Still Dancing After All These Years". Forward Association, inc. 2004-04-16. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  8. ^ "Gurit Kadman". PhantomRanch.net. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
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