One aspect I like about Israeli culture is how open and direct people are. I have enjoyed the fact that I can ask anyone and everyone how they voted in the last election and nobody thinks that I’m being nosy or rude, or views what Americans might consider nosy to be caring and interested-perspective matters! I also like how people will give you unsolicited information, like the Orthodox man who, when he overheard Dylan telling me that we were currently standing in a part of Jerusalem that would be part of Palestine after a peace agreement, confidently told us that we were crazy and no such agreement would take place in our lifetimes. It keeps the average day interesting.
I’m also still miffed about the man in the antique shop who shook Travis’ hand but not mine. Sure, I understand that your Rabbi says you can’t shake women’s hands because it will cause the downfall of religious men everywhere and distract you from thinking about God. But, seriously, dude, I’M YOUR EQUAL. If I was Israeli I would have told him exactly what I thought about that. Instead I’m telling the blog because I’m a guest in this country and my American sensibilities tell me that would have been rude.
I think those aspects of Israeli culture have increased our exposure to a multitude of viewpoints. We read a lot about and listed to many lectures on cleavages within Israeli society, but we actually saw most of the different people that we learned about in the classroom. We saw them on the streets doing their shopping, bought juice from them, rode in taxis with them, and learned from all of them. The diversity in this tiny country is fascinating. I think our class simulation on Israeli elections was so interesting and engaging because we have all been eating, sleeping, and breathing Israeli politics for a month. That’s the beauty of a study abroad.
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