Dr. Norman Berdichevsky REL 251H H1X Contemporary ‐ Culture, Society, and Politics Wednesday, 4:00 ‐ 6:30 p.m.

Israel is among the countries most reported in world news today, though almost all of that attention is focused on conflict, history, and religion, rather than on everyday life or the many outstanding achievements made by Israel's scientists, scholars, engineers, artists, writers, translators, linguists, musicians, singers, dancers, soldiers, pilots, athletes, and farmers. Israel is one of the world's most diverse and dynamic societies with a population that is almost equally divided between Western and Oriental cultures, and deserves to be better understood than through the five minute television "sound bites" and polemical documentaries. This course provides an introduction to the geography, culture, language, society, institutions, traditions, literature, music, cuisine, and the current social, demographic, political and economic issues "behind the headlines" of contemporary Israel. This course is 'cross‐listed' with our Arts & Sciences Program. This simply means that the course is available to both residential day students, and our part‐time evening degree students in the Holt School.

Dr. Norman Berdichevsky REL 251H H1X Contemporary Israel ‐ Culture, Society, and Politics Wednesday, 4:00 ‐ 6:30 p.m.

Reading List

CONTEMPORARY ISRAEL, SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND POLITICS Dr. Norman Berdichevsky

Highly Recommended Reading Items marked with an asterisk* will be read by individual students and reported on in class. Items marked with an & will be read by all. BOOKS Required reading from: The : Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land (Paperback) by Donna Rosenthal. Paperback: 480 pages Publisher: Free Press (February 1, 2005) Language: English ISBN‐10: 0743270355. (abbreviated DR). This book costs approximately $16

The following book is highly recommended. It costs approximately $22. Most of the text is also available free of charge on the internet…. Contemporary-Cultural- Institute/dp/1584653272 - 221k - Cached - Similar pages

Jews in Israel: contemporary social and cultural patterns - Google Books Result by Uzi Rebhun, Chaim Isaac Waxman - Patterns (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series) (Paperback) by Uzi Rebhun and Chaim Waxman (editors) 416 pages Publisher: Brandeis; 2 edition (November 1, 2003) Language: English ISBN‐10: 1584653272 2004 - Social Science - 504 pages. (abbreviated URCW)

Assigned readings from the required text are marked below with capital DR. Excerpts from the following other works will be recommended reading. Each student will read and report to the class on one of a number of articles marked with an asterisk*.

Week Topic 1 Who are the Jews? Who are the Israelis? How much overlap is there?

Jewish Ethnic Groups – how many? Ashkenazim, Sefardim, Mizrahim, ‐ Confusion & Overlap. Where do they belong – the Italkim? The Bulgarians; Greek Jews‐ Sefardim; Karaim, The Samaritans – unchanged decsendants; the Armenians & Grozinim (Mountain Jews), etc. Israel – the Exiles Ingathered; The Yordim. Their distribution in the World, Israel, the USA

DR: The Ashkenazim pp. 103‐118; The Mizrahim 119‐137. URCW pp. 1‐19 2 Contemporary Israel –The people

*The Nation, Exile and the Diaspora Parallels. “Parallel Zionisms; Chinese, Greek, Armenian and Hungarian Parallels of Nationhood, Diaspora, Genocide, Exile, Partition and Aliya”, Norman Berdichevsky World Affairs, Winter, 2007. Vol. 169. No. 3. pp. 119‐124.

DR: The Ashkenazim pp. 103‐118 3 DR: The Generation Gap. What Happened to the Kibbutz? *URCW pp. 151‐173

Israelis – Fathers & Sons. The Gap Between the generations. Do Israelis live in a Post‐Zionist Israel? Israelis, Founders and Sons ; Amos Elon. *pp.189‐221.

*“After Zionism; Reflections on Israel and the Diaspora” by Hillel Halkin. In Commentary, June, 1997. DR: pp.109‐114 4 The Language Controversy – The Revival of Hebrew. Hebrew or Yiddish; Hebrew or Israeli? Video: The Master Builder (Ben‐Yehuda’s quest to revive Hebrew)

*“Hebrew vs. Yiddish; The Worldwide Rivalry” Midstream. Norman Berdichevsky July‐Aug.2002. pp. 12‐17. reprinted in Best Jewish Writing 2003

Modern Hebrew’s Dilemmas NER September 2006 (Norman Berdichevsky).

*“Who is Afraid of the Hebrew Culture? By Itamar Even‐Zohar. Internet

5‐6 Religion, Israeli identity, the Kulturkampf . DR: The Haredim, pp. 183‐204; The Orthodox, DR pp.205‐230. The Non‐Orthodox. DR pp, 205‐230. URCW pp. 221‐237, 243‐265,

* Israeli Secularism, Israel –Jewish Aspects in Israeli Culture by Dan Urian and Efraim Karsh. Frank Cass Publishers. & Portland, Or. ISBN 0‐ 7146‐4440‐4.

*“Judaism in Israeli Culture” by Eliezer Schweid. pp. 9‐28.

*“Between Shach and Modern ” by Dan Miron, pp.86‐102. 7 Aliya‐Immigration; Demography, Residential Patterns; Sociology: DR: The Mizrahim, pp. 119‐139.

DR: The Russians, pp. 138‐156; URCW pp. 81‐117 DR “Out of Africa, pp. 157‐179. URCW pp 118‐148,

STUDIES OF ISRAELI SOCIETY, vol. 1. Publication Series of the Israel Sociological Society. Transaction, Inc. 1980. *pp. 73‐95 “The Persistence of the Yemeni Quarter in an Israeli Town”. pp. 73‐95.

URCW Jewish ethnicity pp. pp. 47‐80 8‐9 The Odd Man Out? Israeli Arabs

DR: The Muslims, pp. 257‐288; The Bedouin, pp. 289‐302; The Druze, pp. 303‐316; The Christians, pp. 317‐335. URCW: pp. 345‐370. The Cleavage Between Jewish and Arab citizens.

*”Jews and Arabs in the State of Israel: Is There a Basis for a Unified Civic Identity?” by Ilana Kaufman in Israel Affairs. Vol. 9. no. 2. pp.227‐248.

Arab Collaboration with Zionism; The Charge of an Apartheid Society.

* Arab Support for Zionism, 1917‐1948 (NER Feb. 2009)

*The Arab Minority: Carter’s Book; Israel, Apartheid and Arab Grievances (NER March. 2007) *“The Jewish State and its Arabs” by Hillel Halkin, (Commentary, January, 2009) 10 The Economy, Innovation DR: pp. 79‐99, “Swords into Stock Shares”

11 Women in Israel. Women: DR: Dating and Mating pp.25‐48, Marriage and Divorce, pp. 339‐368.

* “Women in the 1999 Elections, Still a Glass Ceiling?” by Yael Yishai in Israel Affairs. Vol. 7. no. 3. 1999. 12 Crime, The Courts and Israel’s Legal System. Achievements in Science, Medicine, Agriculture and Industry.

“Hookers and Hash” DR: pp. 382‐396. 13 Politics; Zionism and Israel ‐ Encyclopedic Dictionary Israeli Political System and Parties –by Ami Isserof. Internet site

DR: selected excerpts on individual political parties; see index

URCW. “Elections and Voting Patterns” by Uzi Rebhun et. al. pp. 174‐194 Elections and Voting Patterns”.

“The Role of Politics in Regional Inequality: The Israeli Case” by Yehuda Gradus in Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Vol. 3, No. 73. 1983. pp. 388‐403.

Video: Knesset Elections 14 The environment and pollution; Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel (Paperback) Alon Tal. Paperback: 564 pages Publisher: University of California Press (August 1, 2002) Language: English. ISBN‐10: 0520234286. selected excerpts;

*“Power, Faith and Fantasy” by Michael B. Oren. Sike, Inc. 2007. ISBN 978‐ 0‐393‐05826‐0. pp. 438‐442. 15 *Contemporary Cultural Creativity. Literature, The Theatre, Film, Art, Music and Dance. Torstrick ***pp. 55‐70, and & pp.151‐173.

Excerpts from the novel “ Trumpet in the Wadi (Hatzotra baWadi) by Sami Michael paperback. July 27, 2007 ( from the original Hebrew) Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 27, 2007) Language: English ISBN‐10: 0743261488. Set in just before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, this spirited, bittersweet novel captures the Arab‐Israeli conflict in microcosm. Selected excerpts.

Students will also find the following extremely useful Culture and Customs of Israel by Rebecca Torstrick. Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 2004. ISBN 0‐313‐32091‐8.

Israel in the World: Changing Lives Through Innovation (Hardcover) by Helen Davis and Douglas Davis Hardcover: 216 pages Publisher: WN (March 28, 2005) Language: English ISBN‐10: 0297844091

Jewish Aspects in Israeli Culture by Dan Urian and Efraim Karsh. Frank Cass Publishers. London & Portland, Or. ISBN 0‐7146‐4440‐4.”

Israelis, Founders and Sons ; Amos Elon. Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Penguin (Non‐ Classics) (May 26, 1983). Language: English.ISBN‐10: 0140169695 ; ISBN‐13: 978‐0140169690. Language: English

The Shaping of Israeli Identity; Myth, Memory and Trauma; edited by Robert Wistrich and David Ohana. Frank Cass & Company. London 1995. ISBN 0 ‐71463‐5. Language: English

Israel in the World; Changing Lives Through Innovation by Helen and Douglas Davis. Weidenfled & Nicholson. . London. 2005. ISBN 0‐ 297 84400 1.

Supplementary Illustrative Material to be used in class along with video material recorded directly from Israeli television….

In Hebrew: Mabat veod Mabat – tazlumei avir meyamei milhemet haolam harishona mul tatzlumim beni zmanneinu. By B.Z. Kedar. Israeli Ministry of Security. 1991. Aerial photographs.

Popular Culture, The Media & Advertising. In Hebrew: “Ayfo Hayeenu umah Aseenu – otzar shnot hahamishim vehashishim” (Where We Were and What We Did in the 1950s and 1960s). Amnon Denkner and David Tratkover Keter Publishing. 1998; collection of cartoons, ads, illustrations, photos from the 1950s and 1960s Israeli press).ISBN 965‐07‐0581‐3. Examples of popular culture in Israel 1948‐1960.

Academic Honor Code

Membership in the student body of Rollins College carries with it an obligation, and requires a commitment, to act with honor in all things. Because academic integrity is fundamental to the pursuit of knowledge and truth and is the heart of the academic life of Rollins College, it is the responsibility of all members of the College community to practice it and to report apparent violations.

The following pledge is a binding commitment by the students of Rollins College:

The development of the virtues of Honor and Integrity are integral to a Rollins College education and to membership in the Rollins College community. Therefore, I, a student of Rollins College, pledge to show my commitment to these virtues by abstaining from any lying, cheating, or plagiarism in my academic endeavors and by behaving responsibly, respectfully and honorably in my social life and in my relationships with others.

This pledge is reinforced every time a student submits work for academic credit as his/her own. Students shall add to all papers, quizzes, tests, lab reports, etc., the following handwritten abbreviated pledge followed by their signature:

“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.”

Material submitted electronically should contain the pledge; submission implies signing the pledge.