Know Your People
Sunday, October 14, 2007
I'm watching a DVD of Broza doing one of his infamous Masada concerts, where he plays all night until the sun rises for a crowd of thousands. There used to be this great blog on Israeli culture called Shaister, but since it's "temporarily unavailable" I'll summarize by stating that Broza on Masada is like a one-man Woodstock without all the mud and chaos. A folk artist on the popularity level of Bob Dylan, David Broza has been writing, composing, and performing since the 70s in Hebrew, English, and Spanish. He's lived in various places around the world (including the U.S.) and, most recently, he toured the bomb shelters of northern Israel during the War with Lebanon in 2006. His music incorporates Israeli, Spanish, and American rock/jazz sounds and is mainly acoustic in nature, carrying with it a very mellow, easy-going vibe, without being as meditative/ethreal as, say, Idan Raichel. The crowd ranges in age from 16 to 45, or thereabouts, and looks to be composed mainly of hippies. From what I've observed, there's a pretty big hippie population in Israel, mainly due to the fact that life is so incredibly hard that most young people seek release in a free love lifestyle (and all the drugs, alcohol, and sex that goes along with it).
Yesterday I made a trip to my favorite Judaica store in the city and was happily surprised to see that the Israeli owner was stateside for a change. She carries a growing selection of Israeli music in her store, and over the course of a few years I've developed a great collection of CDs by many Israeli artists including Shoshana Damari, Boaz Sharibi, Arik Einstein, Ofra Haza, Ruchama Raz, Sarit Hadad,Idan Raichel, and (of course) David Broza, to name a few. (You know, this blog post is going to take me an hour to write because this DVD is so distractingly good.) Each time I go, I pick up a few CDs and we talk Israeli music. Yesterday, the owner's jaw practically dropped to the floor when she looked through my selections. "You like Broza? You like Sarit? I love Sarit! Her music is so happy! Here," she digs through the box, "I'm giving you this CD complimentary-- on me. Is good!" It's as if she can't get over the fact that I'm not just there because I like Israeli jewelry-- it's because I like Israel, I like the culture, I like the sound and the language, and I want to know more. A Jewish woman from the 'burbs was next to me in line, and when I told the owner I listened to Israeli music to familiarize myself with Hebrew, not only did her jaw drop, but the woman next to me was floored. The Israeli owner was charmed, and the Jewish American thought I was nuts.
Before I popped the DVD in the machine, I hopped past one of those 24-hour Christian networks and caught Preacher X telling his listeners that if they "sowed the $1000 seed" HaShem would begin to sew seeds for them in abundance, and they would receive the "Boaz blessing." I don't know what he meant by that, but I do know that Boaz didn't love Ruth because she was rich, he loved her because she cared--about the people and the land of Israel--even if that meant picking scraps and living the life of an outcast. Boaz loved Ruth because she didn't walk away, instead she walked towards-- Ruth made both a spiritual and a literal aliyah. What kind of a testimony of love could we Messianics make if we followed Ruth's example and showed a genuine interest, not just in the fiscal welfare of Israel, but in the lifestyle and the culture of the land? "We don't just want to bless you for tax purposes or heavenly reward," we'd say, "we want to bless you because we care about you, about what you think and what you do, and as your family we're proud of you and all of your amazing accomplishments."
American Jews like to say that without Jewish American money, Israel would never survive; I know for a fact that without Israeli courage and tenacity, Jewry the world over would be up the creek without a paddle. So, the next time you want to send some money Israel's way, don't just draft a check to a charity, seek out alternative ways you can bless Israel while learning about the people of the land at the same time. Seek out places to buy Israeli media; there are tons of places across America that are Israeli owned and operated, and get their stock from the land. FYI: A great artist to seek out is Ahron Razel, a Modern Orthodox musician who sings songs about Israel and HaShem: the lyrics of his album "The Burning Bush" are taken straight from Tanak. And, of course, you can't truly consider yourself an educated Jew until you've listened to the music of Ofra Haza, including her infamous rendition of Carlebach's "Am Yisrael Chai" for the Eurovision song contest.
Labels: Broza, culture, Israel, Jewishness, Messianic Judaism, music, Ofra Haza
posted by Shoshana @ 3:34 PM
