Tobol, an editor and social activist, describes Israel as a "start-up nation engaged in relentless root work" Omar Adam is a "symbol of a generation"
"Everyone knows the heroes of the first and second Ashkenazi aliyah, but who knows the chain of aliyahs from the East?"
Ophir Tobol
Photo:
Oren Ben Hakon
Passover and the Feast of Democracy were celebrated this year in symbolic proximity.
It seems that more Israelis have complained about going to the polls than about preparing for Seder, and that the status of the millennial tradition has won the feast of democracy, which has been eroded by circumstances.
Random coincidence, but when you hear Ofir Tobol, who leads the new Golden Age movement and embraces a new book that awakens the discourse on the subject, you are inspired by a Jewish and democratic debate with an oriental touch: "The key to the situation is unity, and the key to unity is tradition."
It did not work in the previous government.
"I look at the big picture. The willingness to unite came from the traditional place, because in Eastern tradition - unity is a value. The traditionalists know that if there is no unity in the people of Israel, we will not exist. To illustrate, when Gantz and Lapid split, the people who went with Gantz were a gem. Hili Trooper and Michael Bitton, people connected to Judaism. With Lapid there were secular Tel Avivians. This is not a coincidence. The Israeli story is intended to connect 50% who define themselves as traditional, and to this are naturally connected Haredim, Sephardim. To a limited audience. "
At the beginning of his new book, "The Voice of the Turn: Traditional-Spanish Zionism" (Yedioth Books), Tobol places the singer Omar Adam as a symbol of the new Israeli tradition.
"At a time when he broke all the records of popularity of an Israeli singer," he explains, "Adam refused to perform at the Festigal on Saturday, and shortly afterwards it was announced that he refused a similar offer from the Eurovision show. In the Panai Plus Independence Day project, when celebrities chose Beasley or "In Bamba, hummus and sticks as a symbol of Israeliness, Omar Adam chose tefillin. He is a symbol of a generation, the transitions he makes between worlds - which were recently perceived as opposites - are the soundtrack of the new Israel."
Omar Adam is perhaps an example of Oriental tradition, but also of ostentatious hedonism, not sure I would have placed it in the shop window.
"I wrote the introduction to the book and at the same time I saw his conduct in Dubai, and I said: 'He ruined me a bit.' I was expecting more. On the other hand, there is something in this Mapainic puritanism, according to which Shalom Hanoch takes the stage with a faded shirt and Shlomo Artzi with the towel - But the ticket for the show costs NIS 350 - while maintaining the pose of the sandals.
There is something liberal without looking at Omar Adam with a narrow eye.
The man is rich, let him enjoy.
He is not a public figure.
We are no longer in the pioneer generation.
You can also see in him the figure of the reasonable singer.
It's not my job to judge. "
Research and subscription to Andalusian The
parents of Ofir Tobol, 36, thought he should" study a profession ", so his brothers are accountants today. He graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in law, although he wanted to study sociology. , That what happened to him will not happen to us.
The message below the surface was 'Do not be a forklift like me.' "Today he presents a treatise called" Gibraltar Cafe "in" Here Culture ", which deals every Thursday with local-oriental cultural creation, as well as social activities. It is possible that if he had gone to study science The spirit, contrary to the parents' guidance, he says, would settle in the academy and not work on publishing the new book, a collection he crowned with the message: "Traditional Spanish Zionism here and now."
Mass funding was raised within two weeks 90,000 shekels, when the target was only 50,000 640 people, including MKs and public figures from across the political spectrum such as Emily Moati, Aliza Lavie, Avi Gabay and also three former education ministers (Naftali Bennett, Shai Firon and Rafi Peretz), donated their own money to participate in the publication of 25 accessible chapters focusing on characters Central to the thinking and history of traditional nationalism over the past two hundred years. "Everyone knows the heroes of the first and second Ashkenazi aliyahs, but who knows the chain of aliyahs from the East?
Before the first ascent, for example, was the ascent of the Maghreb.
Tens of thousands of Jews who made their way to Israel, but did not think for a moment to define themselves first, because they knew that they too were not the first.
When you are in the consciousness of tradition, you never call yourself a first aliyah. "
Is traditional history Torah?"
"Yes. Traditional Zionism does not want to be formulated. But the scarcity and ignorance led me to publish this book, which fills a gap in the Zionist bookshelf."
Tobol describes Israeliness as "an innovative start-up nation engaged in non-stop 'roots work'," but explored its own roots at a relatively late age.
"I was 20 and a bit old, I went in the direction of convergence, like my brothers and like many others, convergence in extremes. My father grew up in Musrara, my mother in housing. I was a child in a family where parents work hard not to survive but to turn us from a low class to a class. Intermediate".
And you did not appreciate it?
"When you grow up in a traditional family and are exposed to external voices, aware of the standards of Israeli culture, you somewhere begin to despise your parents, who maintain an oriental mentality and are engaged in hard work."
Your heart in Tel Aviv and your body at the end of Ashdod?
"Getting to Tel Aviv was a dream for me. At that early stage I understood where the power and influence in Israeli society is, and I realized that we are far from it. I am Moroccan, and the image I had in my head of Morocco is tombs of the righteous, caves and escapes. I mean, I knew degrading stereotypes. I was 24 years old. When I first asked my grandmother: What's your story? "
What did Grandma answer?
"She asked why it interests me. Do you understand? I finally ask her where she came from and what her life story is, and she does not understand why anyone would be interested in her life story. It was a slap in the face for me, so I decided it interested me, and I asked and asked, and she told And told. "
I am Ashkenazi, and I knew from a young age exactly what each of my grandparents went through when and where.
Who's to blame for you not?
"The Israeli ethos made Grandma, in an unconscious sense, think that coming to the Land of Israel nullifies the past, and the past is irrelevant. It is an ethos that says that the State of Israel erases the exile."
The conversation with his grandmother began a new chapter in Tobol's life: "I went on an independent research trip. I subscribed to 'Andalusian' with my parents, I only started listening to oriental music. A year after the conversation with my grandmother, I started exploring the heritage of Eastern Jewry. Today. I set up a small blog, formed a group of writers around me and started a small renaissance, for example in the form of 'Revivo's project' and an incubator of entrepreneurs in the field of culture. "
Is there discrimination against Mizrahis today?
"Look at the 8200, for example, look at the voting data. The Mizrahi-Ashkenazi story is still relevant, it's everywhere. Look at what happened in the election: the vote is tribal, first of all geographically. In my neighborhood in north Tel Aviv, the default was to vote for Bnei Gantz and Yair Lapid. And if you go back one election, Gantz won 33 seats, without opening his mouth, without the Israeli voter knowing what his positions are, only on the basis of being a white chief of staff, and because he who misses the 'good old Land' of Israel saw in him an address, in his exterior "The
base that split
you talk a lot about Ashdod, but lives and raises your daughters in the Hadar Yosef neighborhood in Tel Aviv.
" I have a scratch that I think if I am not in Tel Aviv, then I will not have a job and no one will apply to me.
My personal geographical axis is Jerusalem-Ashdod-Tel Aviv, and everywhere I feel at home but also a stranger.
I go to the synagogue in Hadar Yosef every Friday, and it's fun, but also not always the most pleasant, you want to be one of the guys. "
You chose to put your daughters in a secular education, which you complain about.
" I educate them that you do not have to be like everyone else In everything.
I teach them the Torah portion of the week, and my daughter already knows how to whistle the songs of the Passover Haggadah, even before the teacher tells them the story in kindergarten.
In addition, I make sure they do not eat a dairy dessert after a meat meal, even if they go to a friend's birthday party. "
You speak in praise of the traditional, but speak out against the religious Zionist sector.
" I studied in a high school yeshiva, and left with anti-religion.
Religious Zionism, as written in the book in the chapter 'Judaism as a Family', perceived the Return of Zion as a revolution strong enough to undermine all the elements that were in exile.
You see it in the yeshiva world too, they forced everyone to come in white shirts even though we were used to colored shirts, they changed the wording of the prayer for us, they wanted us to teach the parents how to behave.
For example, I remember one Saturday night when my mom said to me, 'Ophir, go clean the living room quickly, make a sponge.
Why did I send you to a yeshiva if you do not honor parents? '
And I remember an aspiration I learned, honoring parents is not considered the most important thing.
For the traditional public, honoring parents is the most important thing in the Torah.
But a religious man will come and say, 'There is a Dauriyta mitzvah and there are here and there.' "From
a conversation with him, it is clear that the state-religious education system in which he studied is fundamentally different from the prevailing style of state-religion in the last 20 years. Tobol is aware of this second and seeks to focus on historical-political context .
"For example, how can it be that a traditional public in its view, which could have been the basis of religious Zionism, as it once was, during the period of the NRP and TMA from the 1950s to the 1980s or so - split. Shas preferred an alliance with Lithuanians Across religious Zionism.
The Zionist-religious majority thought that the Spaniards were not religious enough and that the rabbis were not serious enough.
"Eastern DNA is evolution, and national-religious is revolution."
Traditionality is perceived as something comfortable.
No Strings Attached.
"Tradition is the natural state. At one of the conferences we held with the traditional network, MK Moshe Arbel of Shas defined himself as a 'traditional ultra-Orthodox.' He said it's not just how careful you are - tradition is a worldview. According to this view, the other is not examined. According to some commandments he keeps. Arbel is a rabbi. Among his people is a traditional public that comes to classes or prayers, and he knows that after that they go to sea, but he has a strategy of the sages of Spain, who always saw the Jews as part of society. "Of Europe, that if you have committed some offenses - you will leave the community. Man is a dynamic creature, today I did more, tomorrow I will do less, that is not the main distinction of man."
You choose which commandments to keep, it has a modern-conservative definition.
No.
A Conservative will issue a ruling on the synagogue, and a traditionalist will simply park a street next door and walk a bit, he will choose his place. "
The problem with traditionality is that the boundaries are not clear, it is difficult to explain what is yes and what is not.
"
Look at the sketches in 'Great Country', the traditional is not something to be proud of, make fun of the traditional.
And yet they exist more and more. "
Since you mentioned, what do you think of the sketch in question, in which perhaps some to civil war?
" This sketch is the answer of graduates of the secular education system, who do not know the richness of the Jewish heritage and have not experienced traditional education.
And what happens when peace breaks out?
There is nothing in common?
To me, traditionalism is a deposit that the Mizrahis kept, but it belongs to Klal Yisrael, it is the Jewish standard.
The insane rift that happened in Europe led to these splits of Orthodox, Conservative, Reform.
Spanish Jewry has retained the characteristic that everyone learns from their parents and not just from the yeshivot.
Today in the State of Israel, the Mizrahi public has reached a certain status that is finally non-survivable, and can say: Take it, be respectful.
We saved for you. "