CyberTorah

There is an increasing divide between Israeli culture and Judaism and American Jewish life. The divide has been exacerbated by our distinct responses to October 7th but it existed well before. I see this in literary portrayals of American and Israeli Jews. In books like Exodus it was always brothers, one in Israel one in the US. Today, it is more often cousins.

In the show Srugim the portrayal of American Jews is as a unique but still foreign people. Some of them speak Hebrew but never well enough to follow all the inside jokes and observations of the Israeli protagonists. Their accents are painful and their Hebrew is slow. So yes, American Jews are something different than other foreign tourists, but they are emphatically not Israeli.

I feel that pushing against this divide, working hard to remain one people, is one of the key challenges of American Judaism today. What we read, listen to, talk about has sharply diverged. We need a conscious effort to engage in Israeli culture to better understand and stay connected with Israel and Israelis.

For example, music and song plays a large role in Israeli society. Unlike many smaller nations whose top 50 hits often include a fair number of foreign songs, all but one of the Israeli top 50 Spotify songs are composed and performed by Israelis in Hebrew. Foreign songs are less popular in Israel than two years ago. Israelis, at least culturally, are turning inwards.

Further, when you look at that top 50 spotify list (the link will only work if you have a Spotify account), the songs are all about either heartbreak and separation or prayers to God. This suggests the mood in Israel is all about loss, separation, and prayer. A year ago the list included songs of strength and even anger. Am Yisrael Chai, the Jewish people live, was a top 50 hit. An angry song called Harbu Darbu was a hit. All that has given way to something quieter, sadder, more prayerful.

In our modern connected world there are so many ways to listen to and watch Israeli culture in a way that was impossible even a decade ago. You can find the lyrics in Hebrew on line and then Gemini or other AI will translate for you. I believe hope arises from building connections. The more we can understand the nuances of Israeli culture and society, the more our voice can be meaningful. Or put another way, I want us as American Jews to be an influential voice in Israeli society. That starts from learning about Israelis broadly.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi David Booth