For a good 10 years or more I've been talking about doing this and now I have.
Things that just don't function properly in this country and should with a little help (or sometimes a big push).
This is both for me to vent and to get people thinking, please feel free to join me and to comment.
Let's start with something relatively small.
The way we define and treat each other in this country.
I have long held that all these 'titles' we use are not necessary.
Religious, Secular, Ultra-Orhtodox, Traditional, Israeli, MOT etc...
Let's make it simple, Jews and Gentiles.
As I see it, there are Jews who chose to be strict with their religious observance and those that are less strict.
There are Gentiles of various shapes and sizes, from different religious and ethnic backgrounds.
When we came back to Israel after Shlihut, 11 years ago, it was suggested that we live in Jerusalem for a few years so that we could 'figure out' who we were. We were told that abroad, Jews fall into maybe 5 or 6 defined categories according to the community they belong to. Not so here, there are 150 or so categories and we needed to see where we fit in. This may have been true, however, in order for us to find a community which we liked, but these titles serve a purpose of fragmenting us as a people and we need to unify, so really they are counterproductive.
For the next week, try seeing everyone as a family member. Some are brothers and sisters and some are distant cousins and some are the eccentric relatives that we need to make sure are behaving themselves.
Things that just don't function properly in this country and should with a little help (or sometimes a big push).
This is both for me to vent and to get people thinking, please feel free to join me and to comment.
Let's start with something relatively small.
The way we define and treat each other in this country.
I have long held that all these 'titles' we use are not necessary.
Religious, Secular, Ultra-Orhtodox, Traditional, Israeli, MOT etc...
Let's make it simple, Jews and Gentiles.
As I see it, there are Jews who chose to be strict with their religious observance and those that are less strict.
There are Gentiles of various shapes and sizes, from different religious and ethnic backgrounds.
When we came back to Israel after Shlihut, 11 years ago, it was suggested that we live in Jerusalem for a few years so that we could 'figure out' who we were. We were told that abroad, Jews fall into maybe 5 or 6 defined categories according to the community they belong to. Not so here, there are 150 or so categories and we needed to see where we fit in. This may have been true, however, in order for us to find a community which we liked, but these titles serve a purpose of fragmenting us as a people and we need to unify, so really they are counterproductive.
For the next week, try seeing everyone as a family member. Some are brothers and sisters and some are distant cousins and some are the eccentric relatives that we need to make sure are behaving themselves.
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