It had been seven years since I was last in Israel. So, when the opportunity presented itself for a short visit this month, I hopped a plane. My inner Zionist was rekindled in so many vital ways. I want to share that passion with you, dear reader, to hopefully inspire you to go to make your own pilgrimage to Israel if you’ve never been, or to go back if you haven’t visited in some time.
“Every kind of Jew”
As I walked through Tel Aviv University, I saw two Black women walking towards me. They were dressed as if they could have been plucked right off the streets of L.A., but as they passed me, I heard their perfectly-accented Hebrew. These were fellow Jews, likely descendants of the Ethiopians brought to Israel via Operation Moses. Now matriculating students at TAU, they were clearly a part of the Jewish fabric of the land. I silently rebuked myself for expecting otherwise.
In Tel Aviv, there are tattooed Jewish hipsters, often showing more skin than bathing suit on the beaches. Many are so adamantly secular in their “Israeliness” that they even disdain calling themselves Jewish because they reject the imposed coercion of Israel’s empowered Orthodox. In this modern city, Reform Judaism is also quite strong. When one attends a b’nai mitzvah service at the Reform synagogue, Beit Daniel, were it not for the b’nai mitzvah delivering their speech in Hebrew, it would be difficult to distinguish between that experience and its counterpart at Wise.
Given the importance of the kippah (yarmulke) to Jewish culture, it should be no surprise that headgear is a distinguishing characteristic of Israeli Jewry. I saw everything from the varieties of the black fedoras worn by the Hassidic and Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) communities, to the colorfully-knitted kippot of the religious Zionists, from the black fabric kippot of the non-Haredi modern Orthodox, to the tasseled white beanies of the Breslovers dancing to newly-syncopated fundamentalist melodies about the messiah (yes, that’s a thing in Israel!).
The women counterparts of these communities also have their unique hair and headdresses. Some Orthodox women wear wigs over shaved heads, others wear scarves of many colors, some wear French-style beanies, and in a twist truly unique to Israel, many Orthodox Zionist women have taken to elaborately wrapping scarves atop their hair in ways that resemble the headdresses of African women. It is quite a sight!
In Israel, you can truly tell a Jew by their colors, and there were too many to count.
A last word
Over these last days, I’ve attempted to share a glimpse into the wonderfully complex, sometimes maddening, and often exhilarating texture that is the modern nation of Israel. It is an experience that truly must be witnessed firsthand, and given the rapidly-changing nature of the people and the infrastructure, merely one visit is not adequate. If your last trip was 20 years ago, then it’s time to return! If you’ve never been to Israel, then get on a plane … tomorrow if you can! A visit to Israel is an exploration into one’s Jewish identity and the expression of the identities of others. One cannot love Israel from a distance, or as an abstract concept. One truly must place one’s feet on the sacred soil to fully appreciate the vibrancy of our Jewish homeland. It is at once magical and maddening, and ultimately to exist within those two opposing realms is to fully embrace what it means to be a Jew today.
—Rabbi Ron Stern