Culture of Israel
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 very much based on the history of the Jewish people which developed in different ways over the hundreds of years in which the Jews were in exodus. The ideology of the Zionist movement beginning in the late nineteenth century is certainly crucial to understanding modern Israeli culture.
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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 its origins are earlier, the movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century. The movement seeks to encourage Jewish migration to the Promised Land and was eventually successful in establishing Israel in 1948, as the world's first and only modern Jewish State. Described as a "diaspora nationalism,"[2] its proponents regard it as a national liberation movement whose aim is the self-determination of the Jewish people.[3]
While 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] the modern movement was mainly secular, beginning largely as a response by European Jewry to antisemitism 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
The development of Israeli culture may be associated with immigration from various countries with different cultural backgrounds. In the first years of Zionist colonization of Palestine, the main influences on the culture in the settlements were from the shtetls (Jewish towns) from which most of the immigrants came. The culture of France and Germany also had an impact, becoming more popular after large contributions were made by the Jewish French philanthropist Baron Edmond James de Rothschild.
Russian culture had an undeniable poetical, musical and theatrical effect 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 start to develop an "authentic" Israeli culture[1], originating amongst people born in Palestine. This culture was largely influenced by the Arab Palestinian culture, in particular the folklore and the styles of attire, dance, speech and behavior. An effect more compound was in the music, which was adopting a lot of eastern elements.
A prominent influence in those 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. 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, in particular 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 to 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 the literature the people that mostly stood out were Moshe Shamir and Aharon Megged and following them are Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, Meir Shalev and many more.
After the founding of the state in 1948 many 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 consented in particular from the culture of England, France and United States. Since the start of the 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, in particular of the European theater of Bertolt Brecht. In music, in spite of the continuance of the French effect they began to weaken. Instead of it came a much more wide variety of effects, such as British music (and in particular The Beatles) and Greek music and the continuation of the influence of more updated Russian culture.
The effect of 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 almost always by non-Mizrahi Jews (Ephraim Kishon, Boaz Davidson and Menahem Golan) and the actors in those films playing the Mizrahi Jews weren't Mizrahi Jews either (Gila Almagor, Yehuda Barkan, Chaim Topol and Shaike Ophir).
In part of the cases, like in the one of Zohar Argov, the creations won recognition in retrospect. In other cases the late recognition was followed with mockery, like in the example of the movies Ze'ev Revach, which gained Israeli cult status but still are considered poor in the means of content and cinematography. And other cases, for example the films of George Ovadia (most of them were copied from Iranian, Turkish and Indian dramas) there was no late recognition in their quality.
1980s, 1990s and early 2000s
Since the beginning of the mid 1980s, the Israeli cultural arena became much more open and varied by far from previous years. In the field of music, and in particular the popular music, the main influences were from Britain, Europe and South America and in addition to those, gradually, Turkish, Greek and Arab music started to become 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.
A big additional change occurred with the airing of Israeli commercial television channel "Channel 2". This development lead to the very significant prosperity, in the growing number of high quality dramas and in the creation of the Israeli television. The Israeli television, which was controlled from its start mainly by dramas, comedies and imported series from England and especially from the United States, developed in several years local television which pushed all the imported series from the prime time of the big popular channels to the minor channels and cable channels.
Modern Israeli culture
Israeli culture is heterogeneous, dynamic, and very hard to define. Considerable parts of the secular cultural creations is situated in the Tel Aviv area, although many of the official cultural institutions are situated in Jerusalem. But without a doubt, most of the Israeli culture occurs in these areas, with emphasis on Tel Aviv. Due to population composed from immigrants of five continents and more than 100 different countries, and due to significant subcultures like the Palestinians, the Russians and the Orthodox, that every one of them encounters about a million people and holds independent communities, including their own newspapers and networks in which they distribute their own products of culture, the Israeli culture is exquisite in its richness and wide variety.
Nowadays the Israeli government supports the arts less and less. The amount of financial support is lower than what is average in most western countries and less than half percent arrives from the country's budget. Israel's Philharmonic Orchestra have concerts throughout the country and occasionally plays abroad too. 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 known world wide in the greatness of its modern dance, with bands like Batsheva and Batdor which perform around the world.
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. The repertoire of their shows cover a variety of appearance of classic and modern drama, and likewise from plays of Israeli playwrights. The national theater is the Habima Theatre, which was founded in 1917.
Colonies of artists are situated in Safed, Jaffa and in Ein Hod, but are considered less attractive nowadays. Israeli painters and sculptures sell their works throughout the world. In the cities Tel Aviv, Herzlia and Jerusalem there are art museums, and in many towns and kibbutzim there are smaller museums. The Israel Museum of art in Jerusalem consists of 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. There are smaller newspapers in French, Polish, Yiddish, Russian, Hungarian and German. Likewise there are many local newspapers in many towns and culture magazines.
Since the 1980s a well developed Alternative Israeli Culture has developed in Israel, in the fields of music, dance, comics, poetry, art etc.
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 whom arrived at the first years of the state, from Europe, North Africa, Asia into one melting pot, that will not differentiate between the older residents of the country to the new immigrants. The original purpose was to unite the immigrants with the veteran Israelis to the creation of a unitary Israeli culture, in order to build 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
There are some who see the melting pot as having been a necessity in the first years of the state in order to build a mutual society. Now, they claim that there is no more need for this and there is a need for Israeli society to enable the people to express the differences and the exclusiveness of every stream and sector.
Others, mainly amongst Mizrahi Jews and amongst parts of the holocaust survivors from Europe, criticized severely 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.
Additional Foreign Influences of Israel
In addition to the influences of the melting pot on Israeli culture all through the years, one of the greatest sources on influence on Israeli culture during the second half of the 20th century and the start of the 21st century is 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
- Hayyim Nahman Bialik
- Emile Habibi
- Nathan Alterman
- Uri Zvi Greenberg
- Shaul Tchernichovsky
- Avraham Shlonsky
- Lea Goldberg
- Avraham Stern
- Yehuda Amichai
- Nathan Zach
- David Avidan
- Yona Wallach
- Rachel (poet)
- Dahlia Ravikovitch
- Aharon Shabtai
- Tawfiq Ziad
- Mahmoud Darwish
- Ibn Gabirol
- Avot Yeshurun
- Zelda
- Abba Kovner
- Dan Pagis
- Admiel Kosman
- Agi Mishol
Prose authors
- Shmuel Yosef Agnon (winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1966)
- Aharon Appelfeld
- David Grossman
- Ram Oren
- Amos Oz
- Meir Shalev
- Moshe Shamir
- A. B. Yehoshua
- Dan Tsalka
- Etgar Keret
- Emil Habibi
- Anton Shammas
- Haim Be'er
- Orly Castel-Bloom
- Ephraim Kishon
- Yaakov Shabtai
- Lizzie Doron[2]
Fine Arts
Israeli art movements
The earliest Israeli art movement was the Bezalel school of the Ottoman and early Mandate period, in artists portrayed both Biblical and Zionist subjects in a style influenced by the European jugendstil ( or art nouveau) movement, by symbolism, and by traditional Persian and Syrian artistry.
Israeli artists
- Mordecai Ardon
- Harry Baron (sculptor)
- Yosl Bergner
- Nahum Gutman
- Dani Karavan
- Menashe Kadishman
- Moshe Kupferman
- Raffi Lavie
- E.M. Lilien
- Zule Moskowitz
- Jacob Pichhadze
- Ze'ev Raban
- David Reeb
- Reuven Rubin
- Boris Schatz
- David Schluss
- Ahuva Sherman
- Jacob Steinhardt
- Yehezkel Striechman
- Hermann Struck
- Ziona Tagger
- Anna Ticho
- Yigal Tumarkin
- Marek Yanai
- Yossef Zaritsky
Museums
More than 200 museums are operating in Israel with millions of visitors annually. Israel therefore has the highest number of museums per capita in the world.[3] Museums in Israel include:
Jerusalem
- Israel Museum
- Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem
- Ticho House
- L.A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art
- Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem
- Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial
- Bible Lands Museum
Tel Aviv
- Tel Aviv Museum of Art
- Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv
- Beit Hatefutsot, The Diaspora Museum
- Tel Aviv Contemporary Art Museum
- Nahum Gutman Museum
Haifa
- Haifa Museum
- Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
- National Maritime Museum
- Hecht museum
- National Museum of Science
- Haifa Railway Museum
Other
- Herzliyya Museum
- Israeli Air Force Museum, Hatzerim
- Ein Harod Museum
- Holon Museum
- Petah Tikva Museum of Art
- Janco Dada Museum, Ein Hod
- Beersheva Museum of Art
- Armor Corps Museum, Latrun
Music
Israeli music is very 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, the New Israeli Opera, and others.
Also popular are forms of electronic music, including but not limited to trance, hard-trance and goa-trance. Notable artists from Israel popular in this field are limited, but a famous example is 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 as well as performance dance groups.
The Palestinian population's 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 such as Ohad Naharin 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 scheduled 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
- Habima National Theater, Tel Aviv
- Cameri Theater, Tel Aviv
- Beit Lessin, Tel Aviv
- Gesher Theater, Jaffa, Tel Aviv
- Khan Theater, Jerusalem
- Haifa Theater
- Beer Sheba Theater
Playwrights
- Hanoch Levin Queen of the Bathtub , Hefetz
- Nissim Aloni
- Anton Shammas
- Sabri Jiryis
- Yehoshua Sobol
- Hillel Mittelpunkt - Guide For A Visitor To Warsaw
- Edna Mazia - Herodes
- Avraham Shlonsky Utz Li Gutz Li
- Anat Gov
- Dan Almagor
Film
Filmmakers
- Boaz Davidson - Eskimo Limon
- Assi Dayan - Givat Halfon Eina Ona (Halfon Hill does not respond), The life according to Agfa, A Whale in Sharton beach
- Uri Zohar - Lul, Metzitzim (Peeping Toms), Hor Ba-Levana (A hole in the moon)
Actors
- Chaim Topol - Tevye, Fiddler on the Roof.
- Moshe Ivgi
- Yael Abecassis - Kadosh, Alila.
- Gila Almagor
- Ze'ev Revach Charlie Ve'hetzi, Hagiga B'Snuker
- Yehuda Barkan
- Shuli Rand
Comedy and satire
- Hagashash Hachiver
- Ephraim Kishon
- Ephraim Sidon
- Orna Banai
- Eli Yatzpan
- Tuvya Tzafir
- Tal Friedman
- Shaike Ophir
- Zippi Shavit
- Hanna Laslo
See also
- List of Israeli musical artists
- Music of Israel
- List of Hebrew language poets
- List of Hebrew language authors
- List of Israeli actors
- List of Hebrew language playwrights
- Science and technology in Israel
- Religion in Israel
- Jewish ethnic divisions
External links
References
- ↑ On Israeli culture
- ↑ My three homelands - Haaretz - Israel News
- ↑ "Science & Technology". Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
- ↑ "Galilee - Culture". Galilee Development Authority. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ↑ "Karmiel Dance Festival". ACTCOM-Active Communication Ltd.. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ↑ "Karmiel Dance Festival". Karmiel Dance Festival. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ↑ "In Israel, Still Dancing After All These Years". Forward Association, inc. (2004-04-16). Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
- ↑ "Gurit Kadman". PhantomRanch.net. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
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