• Home
• Archives
• About
• Links
• Contact

Foto Friday – Yuval Nadel

The world of haredi observant Jews is one that most secular Israelis never get a chance to see – and if they do, they find it alien, even threatening. Photographer Yuval Nadel, an Israeli-born Jew with a secular up-bringing, became familiar with and learned to appreciate and respect the people who lead a religious lifestyle.

In a collection of photographs called “Custom, Prayer and Ceremony – The Jews of the Land of Israel”, he documents that meeting between secular and religious without trying to explain the lifestyle or Jewish customs. “As a photographer, it was important for me to show the religious experiences of Israeli Jews from my personal point of view,” he says.

The photographs presented in Nadel’s book were taken over four cycles of holidays and intermittent days between 2004 and 2008. Nadel writes that his journey began at the annual festive Lag B’Omer commemoration at Mount Meron. “I was captivated. Over the next four years, I traveled around the country to the various outposts and locations where Jews perform their mitzvot (commandments), ceremonies and prayers… I arrived to these places as a photographer, as a bystander observer and yet as someone participating in the experience. It was so, because that’s how I was received…”

While most such books “fall prey to the sin of anthropology… based, at worst, on patronizing voyeurism and at best, on intellectual curiosity,” writes Israeli journalist Kobi Arieli, an observant Jew, “Yuval Nadel’s approach arises out of a positive attitude that is nurtured and grows with each image… This book is a story about love and light, which is why it is both good and enjoyable.”

For his part, Nadel says, “If these photographs can contribute even slightly to help unite Jews through exposing a beautiful side of the world of observant Jews in Israel, I will have reaped my reward.”

A Man We Could Use Now

If Elvis had lived, he could have been president – after all, if it was good enough for Ronald Reagan, imagine how the voters would have gone for Elvis Presley! But I have a better idea; He was such a unifying force and a symbol of coexistence, Elvis would have been the perfect candidate for Prime Minister of Israel! And he could have qualified for the job, too – after all, Elvis was (sort of) Jewish!

On the occasion of what would have been his 74th birthday on January 8, it’s worth remembering Elvis and his impact on bringing people together. While casual music listeners tend to put down Elvis’ relatively unsophisticated music, all his biographers attribute his early use of rhythm and blues (which some accused him of “stealing from blacks”) as opening the door for the Motown sound, and later on the rise of Michael Jackson and other modern African-American superstars. So right there, Elvis was a unifying force, right on his home turf.

But less known is his charitable work for Jewish organizations in his hometown of Memphis, and his attitude to racism – and to Arabs and Jews. There are millions of Elvis fans out there, which means there are thousands of stories floating around about him, most of which can’t be corroborated. But the overwhelming consensus of the man is that he was someone who was charitable – both financially and personally – and identified with minorities, including Jews and Arabs.

During his latter years, for example, Elvis would take to wearing a big “Chai” – and when he was asked why by his friend guitarist Charlie Hodge, he supposedly answered that he didn’t want to “miss out on going’ to heaven on a technicality!” In fact, quoting from the book “Elvis and Gladys”, this site makes a case for Elvis’ Jewish ancestry (his maternal grandmother), which explained to some extent his affinity for Jews. According to the book:

One day the Memphis Jewish Welfare sent a delegation to Graceland to see him and ask if he could contribute. At Christmas every year he would donate $1,000 to a number of Memphis charities and one of them was the Memphis Hebrew Academy, and so they thought maybe they could get something. They explained what they do, taking care of poor Jews and orphans. Elvis excused himself for a minute. When he came back, he handed the leader of the delegation a check. They didn’t know what to expect. They thought $1,000 would be nice. When they looked at the check, it was for $150,000. The equivalent of more than a million dollars today. The man said, ‘Elvis, you must have made a mistake.’ Elvis said, ‘I didn’t make a mistake, I know what I’m doing.’

And Elvis had a soft spot for Arabs as well. Michael Saba, former executive director of the National Association of Arab Americans, tells a tale of a childhood friend of his in Memphis:

Farid told me that one day at his high school, some of the school bullies started teasing him, calling him names like “you dirty Arab” and threatened to hit him. He said Elvis came along and said, “Hey, you leave him alone. I know him and his family and they are very nice people. Those ‘Arabs’ treat me well and you better treat him well also.” The bullies moved off and Elvis told Farid that if anybody ever tried that again, he should let Elvis know.

So besides a talent for music, Elvis had a talent for peacemaking! Of course, Elvis isn’t around for us to give him a try at leadership (or is he?) but we do have the Elvis Inn, “famous for bringing Arabs and Jews together,” especially on Elvis Impersonator Nights! And as one of the impersonators told reporters, “If Elvis Presley was alive, he could help the crisis of the Arab and the Jew. I think he’d make a song of it, of the whole situation, and perform in a lot of Arab countries and of course in Israel. He’d try to make peace between the Israelis and the Arabs once and for all. I think he would have done it if he was alive today.”

A ‘tail’ of two cities

Ma’aleh Adumim borders the Arab community of Azariya. There’s not much contact between the two peoples, and in fact, since 2002 Israelis from Ma’aleh Adumim are prevented by the army from entering the village for their own safety.

There are many residents of Azariya however, like laborers, construction workers, remodeling experts, who work in Ma’aleh Adumim with the proper Israeli identity card – either a work permit or a Jerusalem residency card.

However, it’s not too difficult to cross the road and climb the hill separating the two communities. And that’s what one 13-year-old Azariya youth did a couple weeks ago. My eight-year-old son’s friend Ephraim was out walking his dog near his home, when the teen grabbed his leash and ran off with the mutt.

Ephraim ran home to tell his father, who called the police. They arrived pretty quickly, heard the story, and said they would look around for the pooch. Ephraim, of course, had no idea that the thief was from Azariya, but the police warned his dad that there wasn’t much they could do if he was not from Ma’aleh Adumim.

The family put up signs and scoured the neighborhood over the next few days, to no avail. Then by chance, when Ephraim was walking home from school, he spotted the 13-year-old crook. He ran home again, his mother called the police and they picked up the youth for questioning. Aside from discovering he was indeed from Azariya, they weren’t able to get any useful information from him about the dog, and they released him.

Ephraim’s father had a lead though. The next day, he went to a construction site and asked around if any of the workers were from Azariya, and a couple of them said yes. He explained the situation to them, and they said they would try to find the kid and his family and help locate the dog.

That night, Ephraim’s dad got a call from one of the builders who told them, “We found the family and the kid, but there’s no dog here. They said he ran away.”

But, they added, don’t despair, we’re going to search around and look for the dog. Ephraim’s dad got another call a while later from the builder turned detective saying, “We found someone who said they saw the dog, so we’re getting a search party together in that area.”

The next morning, the builder called Ephraim’s dad and said, “We found him, and we’re sending him back in a taxi – he should be there in a half hour.”

Sure enough, Ephraim’s dog showed up chauffered at his home and eight days after he was abducted, had a joyful reunion with his family. Later that morning, Ephraim’s dad went to the construction site and gave the worker a cash reward for taking matters into his own hands, and helping to forge a ‘good neighbor’ policy between Ma’aleh Adumim and Azariya. It should be a lesson for all of us.

Ward Off Evil Eyes With Handmade Israeli Jewelry and Jewish Gifts From Israel

‘Tis the season to be jolly, if you are a Christian. But a number of holidays for people of all faiths intersect around this time. It’s more noticeable if you live in the Middle East. Over here in Jaffa a couple of weeks ago, Muslims everywhere were celebrating Eid al-Adha; and Jewish people start lighting candles and gorging on jelly-filled doughnuts for Hanukah starting next week.

But whatever the season, or holiday, unique gift-giving is always something on our minds. When it comes to choosing gifts that are “green” the options are limited even more. One nice way to “say I love you” to someone in a way that is soft on the environment, is to give something handmade. Trendy, with no official religious affiliation is the good old hamsa, one of our faves, which means “five” in Arabic.

According to Wikipedia, an alternative Islamic name for this charm is the Hand of Fatima or Eye of Fatima, in reference to Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Muhammad. An alternative Jewish name is the Hand of Miriam, in reference to Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. It is a kind of “protecting hand” or “hand of God.”

Some associate the significance of the five fingers to the five books of the Torah for Jews, the Five Pillars of Islam for Sunnis, or the five People of the Cloak for Shi’ites.

In recent years some activists for Middle East peace have chosen to wear the hamsa as a symbol of the similarities of origins and tradition between the Islamic and Jewish faiths. The fingers can point up or down.

Among Jews in Israel, it’s considered a Jewish gift, but one appropriate for Muslims, Christians, pagans and the unaffiliated. When I went to see my Catholic cousins in Scotland last year, it was hamsas for everyone.

While the gifts might not be certified green, there are some wonderful gift items in stock on MostOriginal.com, an online jewelry and gifts store that sells handmade artwork by Israeli artists.

Selling Israeli jewelry and Jewish gifts, their hamsas (like Laly Cohen’s Hamsa Hands pictured above), or Kabbalah bracelets, would satisfy even the choosiest friend.

Read more

GA Wrap-Up: Day 1

As written about here, the GA’s in town and so are thousands of Jewish leaders from the US, Israel, and around the world.  So what goes on at this mega-conference anyway?

Here’s one wrap-up:

Edgar Bronfman tells us that at age 36, David Ben-Gurion was the head of the Labor Party. Herzl was 36 when he came to Palestine. Anybody else feel like an underachiever? Suddenly, winning at Sudoku doesn’t feel quite as important anymore. I officially have two years to do something. He says let’s not talk about intermarriage as an enemy but as a reality. He continues, saying that the biggest threats to the Jewish community are ignorance and apathy, “I don’t know and I don’t care.” I have one thing to say to that. WHATEVER.

For a full wrap-up, check out more at What War Zone???

 

• Subscribe

  Subscribe to Israelity via email:

• Social Media

• Categories

  • A New Reality
  • Art
  • Blogging
  • Business
  • coexistence
  • Crime
  • design
  • education
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Food
  • Foto Friday
  • General
  • health
  • History and Culture
  • Holidays
  • Immigrant Moments
  • Israeliness
  • Life
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Movies
  • Music
  • News
  • Nostalgia Sunday
  • Picture of the Week
  • Politics
  • Pop Culture
  • Profiles
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Social Justice
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • tv
  • War

• The Face of Israel Today

• 

• About Israelity

  Israel is often seen as a place of conflict and strife. In reality there is much more: there's business and research; art and culture; community and family. At ISRAELITY, Israelis blog their daily thoughts, experiences and insights. It's the real Israel, not the media's Israel. It's people living ordinary lives in an extraordinary place.

• Free newsletter

  Sign up for ISRAEL21c's free weekly newsletter Email:

• Stories from ISRAEL21c.org

  • Bar Refaeli voted Maxim’s ‘Hottest Woman in the World’
  • World’s top economists talk free market in Jerusalem
  • Walk this way if you need gait analysis
  • Israeli abandons Everest peak to save Turkish climber

• Popular Posts

  • Foto Friday – Flowers of Jerusalem
  • Anti-Israelity in New York
  • Nostalgia Sunday – ViewMaster Israel
  • Cell phone at the supermarket? You can save big
  • Reconciliation through music challenged

• Recently Written

  • Are you an Adviser or a Chooser?
  • Glorious Israeli spring
  • Ambivalent on Jerusalem Day
  • Nostalgia Sunday – Jerusalem 1967
  • Foto Friday – Flowers of Jerusalem
  • Celebrities r us in Israel
  • International Writer’s Festival a hit in Jerusalem
  • Adi Barkan’s BMI battle
  • Cell phone at the supermarket? You can save big
  • Israel’s shake, rattle and roll
  
  

• OUR COMMUNITY

• Recent Comments

  • Scott Sobel on Ambivalent on Jerusalem Day
  • Desperate on For Mother in Israel, it begins
  • thejerusalemcenter on Nostalgia Sunday – Jerusalem 1967
  • Nostalgia Sunday – Jerusalem 1967 | ISRAELITY on Nostalgia Sunday – 1967
  • Bhalchandra on Foto Friday – Flowers of Jerusalem