While Israel is predominately Jewish (and for good reason!), I would contend that one of its most undervalued aspects almost unknown in the world community would be its variation of ideology and culture. From its conception in Herzl’s Der Judenstatt, the way in which Israel’s predecessors though the state should be established differed incredibly. Each leader’s goal was different; for example, while A.D. Gordon looked to work the land and partake in physical labor to “re-root” the Jewish people physically and spiritually, Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s militant-oriented goals helped lead to the establishment of the Israeli army. While we did perform a Zionist Seminar in class, wherein 5 groups researched and summarized in a theatrical and artistic manner 5 of the main Zionist leaders prior to the establishment of the Jewish state, what truly exemplified the sheer culture shock were the interviews we were assigned in Tel Aviv.

Here’s the scenario: After being split up into groups of seven,  we were given approximately 3 hours to interview people under five categories: the secular Israeli, the elderly citizen, the new immigrant, the orthodox jew, and the Israeli soldier. Each person was to be asked a series of questions regarding his or her Jewish identity, as well as questions pertaining to the specific person. For example, If we were interviewing the soldier, we would ask them basic questions about their weekly rituals, opinions on the unity of the Jewish people, etc. But because they were a member of the T’zahal (Israeli army), we asked them about their rank, opinions on the army, and the Jewish accommodations within the army. This activity, in my humble opinion, truly capitalizes on the diversity of the State of Israel as we only interview 5 of the hundreds, if not thousands, of types of people.

Although I didn’t realize it until the end of the activity, the interviews took on a deeper meaning of us, the interviewees. Because we were exposed to a variety of opinion and lifestyle, we ourselves were given insight into our own Jewish identities (a 4 page paper was promptly assigned on our own identities following the interviews, go figure). While I had contemplated it before, it was never put into writing, and doing so helped me significantly in finding out who I really am as a Jew.