Birthright

We began class on the first day by watching a video from Birthright promoting the trip. We recognized Birthright was trying to show the aspects of Israel that would appeal to college aged students, the tourist aspects, the fun in going out with friends, the new friendships made. At that time, before we explored the different aspects of Jewish Identity, I would venture to guess most of the class associated Israel with being Jewish.

A very different answer would come now with that question of "does Israel= Jewish?" According to Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, it seems that these trips to Israel would try and associate the two together. I find her eight themes of the Israel Experience interesting, as I conducted ethnographic research last semester of how a trip to Israel through Birthright or studying abroad affects one's Jewishness. I conducted four interviews, two students went on Birthright, while the other two spent a year studying abroad at Hebrew University after their Birthright trip. I can see similarities in my research and the eight themes Kirshenblatt-Gimblett presents. All of my informants mentioned something on the lines of the Right of passage, where they felt a personal transformation in their experience. Additioanlly, I recognize they during Birthright they had the Israel and Tourist experience, while the two who studied abroad felt the Realities. More specifically, i beleive that those who studied abroad saw it as a form of aliyah.

Jewish Films and Festivals

Yesterday in class, we watched two Jewish Films, "The Unchosen Ones" and "The Tribe". Both were done in very different ways and both entertaining. While "The Unchosen Ones" depicted the various stereotypes of people in or visiting Israel, and had a comedic undertone. The second film was more about Jewish history and the current state of Jews and Jewish culture in America. What i found most interesting about "The Tribe" is that at almost no point were there any live actors or actual people on film. About 90% of the film entails a narrator talking while images, computer generated graphics, animations, and clips from other films are on screen. At the very end, we finally see people on screen, in the format of the Brady Bunch and one person in each of 9 squares on the screen. Each person is Jewish and standing in front of a white background wearing only black. I believe the overall film's objective is to portray the Jewish identity as many different things. Also, while it discusses the diaspora and assimilation of Jews in America, it seems as if the creators want to viewer(if Jewish) to not forget their heritage and continue on as a proud Jew. At one point, the films talks about all the different types of Jews one can be associated as, whether it be Orthodox, Conservative, Modern Orthodox, Ultra Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform, Cultural Jew, Atheist Jew, Culinary Jew, etc... Again, I interpret this to mean that there is no particular type of "right" way to be Jewish, but we must continue our ways to keep our people(The Jews) going.

On a different note, when I googled Jewish Film festivals, an assortment of festivals came up from many, many cities across the country. As Jews, we don't really reflect on our identity or heritage on a daily, or weekly basis. These films we watched in class are the types of films at these festivals, and I believe the festivals are so popular because it makes us reflect on our Judaism and Jewish identity.

Jewish Theatre

Today, I visited a website "All About Jewish Theatre". As I usually do with a website of any group, organization, or business I am unfamiliar with, I first looked under the "About Us" tab to get a flavor of this organization. it seems their overall goal is to provide a commonplace for discovery and communication about Jewish culture in terms of the stage. While the site doesn't explicitly say, I infer that they do not affiliate with any particular sect of Judaism, and therefore am not surprised they have no classification for who their material is intended for(including non-jews). When browsing the general content of the site, needless to say, I was impressed with the depth of the content concerning plays, musicals and shows revolving around Judasim. More specifically, under the recourses tab, they have a library of all types of cultural productions for all things Jewish.

While browsing the Play and Film sections, I decided to search for anything Purim, and found a lot less than I had expected based on the topic. Much of Jewish history is taught orally, and the traditional way to tell the story of Purim is through a play. When thinking further on this, I came to realize that many productions of this story are on a small scale, whether it be at local Synagogues or JCCs(Jewish Community Centers).

I began to think about what we were discussing in class how there is a comical aspect portraying Jew's influence in Hollywood and Broadway, and realized there are many productions that have one awards and accolades with Judaism involved. In particular, I was looking at the lists of films, and noticed "Brighton Beach Memoirs" by Neil Simon. In this instance, it is a show about a Polish Jew teenager living in Brooklyn and his coming-of-age tale.

Sephardic Jewish Music

This weekend, I attended a conference on Sephardic Jewish Music for class.

I attended a concert performed by Divahn. I had no prior knowledge so I had little expectations for what I was going to hear, and did not expect to enjoy it. The group is very talented instrumentally and vocally. While I could not recognize most of the music, besides a song about Yigdal and Havdallah, it sounded so familiar and comfortable to me for some reason. When trying to understand why, I came to the realization of how important music, melody and dance is to Judaism. Thinking back on my childhood, at synagogue, all prayers had a melody. At all holiday celebrations, there was singing traditional songs. In Hebrew school, songs were a popular way to teach young children many Jewish traditions.

In reading Richard Kostelanetz's piece "Sephardic and Me" I understand his point how Sephardic American Jews and different from Ashkenazi American Jews. While any Jewish community I have been apart of, I have rarely come across Sephardim(I will note unless it is stated, one can't entirely tell unless told). While I understand his perceptiveness, I can't comprehend why there is such a divide. As Kostelanetz explains there is quite a difference in cultural aspects such as pieces of Art, but for some reason I get the impression he sees a divide in these communities beyond the culture.