1. Introduction
A. Defining Culture – Human and National
To begin with, the word ‘culture’ requires
definition. This is one of the more elastic terms in the
lexicon, containing several possible meanings. This essay
is based on two definitions that need to be examined simultaneously;
it will draw on the connection between them, and the way
in which they influence each other. The first defines
human culture as the total way of life that people live;
the other defines it in terms of artistic achievements
in a variety of creative fields.
Thus, the culture (in either sense) of a particular national
group clearly reflects the specific way of life or creative
expression that it lives or produces. This is always quite
difficult to characterize since – especially in
the modern world – very few nations have a lifestyle
that totally differs from that of their neighbors. Indeed,
in the modern world of the so-called ‘global village’,
in which Western culture is so all-encompassing, it is
increasingly difficult to speak of distinct national cultures.
With the decline of traditional cultures in many parts
of the world, the distinctions between them have clearly
waned as well. This subject will be discussed later with
regard to developments that have taken place over the
last few generations in the very young culture of Israel.
B. Jewish Culture, Religious…
Firstly, however, there is the question of Jewish secular
culture and its roots. ‘Culture’ is a neutral
term that reflects a group’s way of life and its
creative expressions, regardless of its ideology. If a
group’s way of life is based on a particular religious
ideology, then their culture is likely to be – at
center – a religious one. This was indeed the case
for the Jewish people for thousands of years: their dominant,
unifying ideology was religious. According to this ideology,
the group’s way of life and creative impulses existed
under the umbrella of a belief that this was God’s
world and that God had mandated a particular way of life
for them.
According to official Jewish ideology as it developed
over thousands of years – most especially from the
destruction of the Second Temple with the rise of Rabbinic
ideology as the national belief – all life was to
be lived in terms of religious observance. The legitimacy
of specific modes of behavior was judged according to
its degree of conformity with this ideology. Where certain
aspects of Jewish life and creative output were seen to
conflict with these principles, they were condemned or
considered devoid of value. It is impossible, however,
to generalize, as if the Jews’ way of life in different
times and places was identical: the lives of medieval
Jews in Spain and in the German ‘Ashkenazi’
lands differed in many aspects. Nevertheless, common cultural
presuppositions and ideology united Jews all over the
world.
C. …and Secular
This ideology started to break down among European Jewry
from the time of the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment),
whose roots can be traced to the late 18th century. Gathering
strength during the 19th century, this movement undermined
many of the suppositions on which the Jewish way of life
had formerly been built. From this era onward, the idea
of a legitimate secular culture became increasingly accepted
among certain Jewish sectors.
This is not to suggest that all those Jews who accepted
the validity of secular culture abandoned all of the traditional
Jewish ideas about God and God’s world. However,
many no longer accepted the idea that all aspects of life
must be lived under the total control of Halacha and the
Rabbinic agenda. As the legitimacy of secular expression
became increasingly accepted, the way was paved for new
ideas, ideologies and ways of life that had previously
been shunned.
D. Zionism: a Movement of Secular or Religious Culture?
This secular mode of expression gave birth to Zionism and,
eventually, to the State of Israel itself. Within the
Zionist movement – and within the State that followed
– fierce struggles developed between the proponents
of Rabbinic ideology and those who opposed them. Finally,
it became clear that the proponents of Jewish secular
culture had become dominant. Thus Zionism, the Yishuv
(the pre-State Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael), and
the Jewish State all developed within a fundamentally
secular framework in which religion and religious (Orthodox)
Jews had a place but did not call the tune.
E. Defining Israeli Culture. The Approach Taken in This
Essay
In this way, instead of Israeli (and modern Jewish) culture’s
being another expression of traditional Jewish ideology,
a very different situation developed. Traditional Judaism
has become one – among many – elements that
have shaped the growth of Israeli culture (in both senses)
over the past generations. The significance of this cannot
be overstated. The national culture of Israel (both before
and after the establishment of the State) has been shaped
by many different influences. Some have profoundly affected
the way of life (cultural definition number one) and yet
have had only a limited effect on creative expression
(cultural definition number two).
Most surveys of Israeli culture tend to concentrate on
the second definition, only introducing aspects of the
first definition wherever relevant. They therefore tend
to be reduced to long lists of names of writers, musicians,
films and plays, which are of limited usefulness to people
making their first acquaintance with Israeli culture.
It is hoped that the different approach taken in this
essay will be more useful, in its attempt to examine the
interaction between the two definitions of culture. A
series of forces and phenomena will be examined briefly
that have significantly influenced the Israeli way of
life (definition number one); then ideas and examples
will be offered regarding ways in which these have been
expressed in the creative arts (definition number two).
It is hoped that surveying Israeli culture in this manner
will be both more useful and more challenging than the
standard type of survey.
Such an analysis will be less than comprehensive, however.
By limiting the number of central themes and influences
to thirteen, many more marginal elements will be omitted.
Furthermore, the elements that are surveyed will not be
examined in maximum detail: that would require a book
of several hundred pages. Secondly, there will be no attempt
at an exhaustive survey of cultural expression; rather,
central examples of the main forms and media of cultural
expression will be offered. Not all the relevant aspects
of artistic expression in relation to each of the subjects
chosen will be mentioned; nevertheless, it is hoped that
this general survey will introduce the reader to the range
of forms of cultural expression in Israel. Individual
cultural creators are mentioned as examples of wider phenomena,
rather than sole proponents.
With these caveats in mind, it is time to begin this survey
of the main influences on Israeli culture. They will be
examined in roughly chronological order, according to
the beginning of the main period of their influence on
the Israeli the way of life. However, the expression of
each subject will be brought up-to-date. This will make
for a rather bumpy progression from subject to subject,
but it seems to be the best and least complicated way
of treating the subject.