Israeli Independence Day
There is nothing like feeling a sense of belonging - to a family, a group of friends or a culture. The Israeli Independence Day celebration at Government Center downtown was a combination of all of the above.
We started with a rally in Copley Plaza and marched to Government Center - Ayelet, my younger sister-in-law, headed the march with the Israeli Scouts holding a flag that flew in the 6-Day-War of 1967. On the way I met a good friend and we marched together. I stopped periodically to take pictures. Having Ayelet at the front of the parade holding such a meaningful flag gave me the chance to act like a proud parent and take a dozen pictures of her.
At Government Center we heard the Israeli rock band Machina, who played a combination of Rock and Ska, two genres I loved in high school and still love now - it has a satisfyingly crunchy edge that makes me feel like dancing. Everywhere I looked I saw people I knew - colleagues, various members of the Jewish and Israeli community, friends, family.
I arrived this morning on my own, but I managed to find different groups of people every hour to hang out with and talk to -and I spent a good 6 hours there today! Where else could you do something similar?
In college, when I was enthralled with Greek culture, this was the kind of welcoming I wanted into the Greek community. It was obviously difficult due to the fact that A) I'm not Greek and B) Not all communities are as welcoming as mine is, although I guess when you're a member of the tribe (MOT) things are different - same as the Greek or any other community.
In short, it feels wonderful to belong, to be part of something that is larger than yourself and from which you can draw energy. That is what I felt today with the Israeli community in particular and the Jewish community in general. It comes from a shared history, present and future. It's a sense of "we've been through a lot of shit together over the past 2000 years, but we're still here and going strong. Hot Damn."
I don't think it's impossible to recreate this situation with other cultures, for instance if I spent a significant amount of time learning Greek and then actually living in Greece, I'm sure I could get the same type of response - it's just a question of effort and dedication. Likewise with the Italian or any other culture - it's just a question of effort. It helps when you "look the part" - looking Mediterranean rather than Asian, for example in this case.
Let's wait and see what community welcomes me home next.
We started with a rally in Copley Plaza and marched to Government Center - Ayelet, my younger sister-in-law, headed the march with the Israeli Scouts holding a flag that flew in the 6-Day-War of 1967. On the way I met a good friend and we marched together. I stopped periodically to take pictures. Having Ayelet at the front of the parade holding such a meaningful flag gave me the chance to act like a proud parent and take a dozen pictures of her.
At Government Center we heard the Israeli rock band Machina, who played a combination of Rock and Ska, two genres I loved in high school and still love now - it has a satisfyingly crunchy edge that makes me feel like dancing. Everywhere I looked I saw people I knew - colleagues, various members of the Jewish and Israeli community, friends, family.
I arrived this morning on my own, but I managed to find different groups of people every hour to hang out with and talk to -and I spent a good 6 hours there today! Where else could you do something similar?
In college, when I was enthralled with Greek culture, this was the kind of welcoming I wanted into the Greek community. It was obviously difficult due to the fact that A) I'm not Greek and B) Not all communities are as welcoming as mine is, although I guess when you're a member of the tribe (MOT) things are different - same as the Greek or any other community.
In short, it feels wonderful to belong, to be part of something that is larger than yourself and from which you can draw energy. That is what I felt today with the Israeli community in particular and the Jewish community in general. It comes from a shared history, present and future. It's a sense of "we've been through a lot of shit together over the past 2000 years, but we're still here and going strong. Hot Damn."
I don't think it's impossible to recreate this situation with other cultures, for instance if I spent a significant amount of time learning Greek and then actually living in Greece, I'm sure I could get the same type of response - it's just a question of effort and dedication. Likewise with the Italian or any other culture - it's just a question of effort. It helps when you "look the part" - looking Mediterranean rather than Asian, for example in this case.
Let's wait and see what community welcomes me home next.
posted by Allison at 5:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home