The culture of Israel is truly fascinating and famous for its diversity. Indeed, a huge number of different peoples live in the country. But despite this, Israeli culture is based on national unity. It perfectly combines a great many traditions and cultural gifts of many generations of different nations.
And despite the fact that the culture of Israel, briefly described in the article, compromises accepts the traditions of different societies, the basis of the country's culture is the heritage of the Jewish people. Finding a second such country like this on the map will be difficult, only Israel has not only a rich and specific culture, but also influential Jewish power.
Country features
Where else will you find a state that has its own calendar, followed only by Israel. This calendar is not like any other of the currently known. In addition, Jews are proud of their holidays, many ancient books and their Hebrew language, which was restored only in the 20th century! Is this not surprising?
The calendar
For many people, the fact that a week in Israel begins with Sunday, and not with Monday, as we are all used to, will be strange. These traditions are reverence for the ancient culture of Israel. The day off for the Jews is Saturday, and this is the holy day of Shabbat, on which all of Israel ceases to work. On Shabbat, all shops, banks, pharmacies, hospitals and so on are closed. Therefore, Jews prefer to solve all matters before Friday afternoon and spend Saturday with family and loved ones.
The basis of Israeli culture
The most important components of Jewish culture are the Arab culture of the inhabitants of Palestine, the culture of the Russian people and other CIS countries, which was brought to Israel by repatriates who annually return to their historic homeland in large quantities. The Russian center of science and culture in Israel is actively growing and developing.
In addition to two important components, Armenian, Georgian, French and other cultures give a special charm to the culture of the country. A mixture of the traditions of these peoples makes Israel such an unusual and colorful country.
State languages
Israel has two state languages - Hebrew and Arabic. Public transport stop signs, signboards and street names are broadcast in both languages. The peculiarity of the culture of Israel - proverbs in Hebrew, who know everything from small to great.
Cultural heritage
In addition to the colorful culture, Israel also boasts a great historical heritage, monuments and museums. On its territory there are seven objects that are included in the UNESCO list and are the heritage of not only the country, but also the entire world community.
The cultural and historical heritage of Israel includes:
- The old city of the capital of Israel - Jerusalem. Entered the UNESCO list in 1981.
- The ancient fortress of Massada. Entered the UNESCO list in 2001.
- The old part of the city and the ancient port of Acre. Entered the UNESCO list in 2001.
- White city in Tel Aviv, decorated in the style of the Bauhaus. Entered the UNESCO list in 2003.
- The mounds of Beersheba, Hazora, Meggido, which are located on the site of the biblical cities. Entered the UNESCO list in 2005.
- The road of spices along the Ladannaya Way is the ruins of desert cities in the Negev. Entered the UNESCO list in 2005.
- The famous Bahai Gardens located in Haifa and Acre. Entered the list in 2008.
Despite the fact that these cultural monuments came under the protection of UNESCO relatively recently, but nevertheless they are of significant importance in world culture.
Briefly about the culture of the country
Of course, the ancient heritage of Israel is of great importance in world history and culture. However, modern achievements deserve attention. Despite the fact that the actual capital of the country is Jerusalem, Tel Aviv is unambiguously recognized as the cultural capital.
Tel Aviv is a modern and young city located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Especially popular not only in Israel, but throughout the world are musicians who perform classical and jazz music, as well as avant-garde artists, sculptors and writers. Israel is one of the most read countries and ranks first in terms of circulation and sales of various books. Competitions of theater and music of an international level are often held in the country; international book fairs are especially popular.
The engine of development of modern Israeli culture is its diversity, heterogeneity and dynamics. In short, the culture of ancient Israel is based on the traditions of representatives of 100 countries. The three main lines of culture - Palestinian, Russian, and Orthodox Jews - have their own newspapers and cultural assets. Already from this it follows that Israeli culture is considered very specific. Newspapers and news are published in dozens of languages and exist in every city. In such a small country, immigrants from 5 continents managed to get along.
Tel Aviv is the secular capital of Israel, and most of the largest cultural institutions are located in Jerusalem.
Movie
Despite the fact that Israel produces approximately 25 feature films a year, which is very small on a global scale and quite a lot for such a small state, interest in Israeli cinema is growing, especially recently. The most popular cinema genre produced by the Israelis is pluralistic realism, or, more simply, cinema about everything that is happening around us at the moment. Israel has its cinema awards:
- The Ophir Prize was established in 1990 and is named after the famous actor Shaike Ophir.
- Volzhin Prize (Hajjaj) - an award that has been presented since 1989 at the annual Jerusalem International Film Festival, named after businessman Jack Volzhin. Since 2010, has received a new name "Hajj Award" in honor of the American producer.
The most popular film of recent years is Waltz with Bashir, which has won many international awards. And Lebanon, the film that won the Golden Lion Prize. The culture and traditions of Israel deserve respect.
Literature
A special contribution to the cultural heritage of Israel was made by authors who created their works in Hebrew. Israeli literature is represented by poetry and prose in Hebrew, and only a small percentage of books are translated into other languages. Most often it is Arabic, English and Russian. Israeli law regulates the issue of publishing and, without fail, two copies of absolutely all published books should be sent to the Jewish National and University Library of IEU - University of Jerusalem. Since 2004, audio and video recordings have been attached to books.
All the prominent writers of Israel in 85% of cases publish their works only in Hebrew. An invaluable contribution to the popular literature of Israel was made by Haim Nahman Bialik, a great Jewish poet and prose writer, he played an important role in the development of literary Hebrew. Shmuel Yosef Agnon is a Nobel laureate. It is also worth noting such writers as Moshe Shamir, Hankhokh Bartov.
In Israel, a week of Hebrew books is also held annually, and consists of book fairs, public readings, speeches by writers, and the presentation of the Israeli literary award - the Sapira Prize.
Theater
The theater of Israel is distinguished by its specificity and originality, because in the theater culture not only world theater and the customs of different peoples of the world are skillfully combined, but also unexpected experiments and subtle Israeli flavor.
Israel has six drama theaters that operate on a professional basis. Amateur there are even more. The most popular theater, which has the status of a national one, is Gabima, which was founded back in Moscow in 1917. In Israel, he began his work in 1931 in Tel Aviv.
The modern Israeli life is shown by the Chamber Theater, which is very popular among Israelis.
Among modern theaters, the most popular are Khan, Gesher, and the Haifa Municipal Theater. Theatrical life of Israel plays an important role in the formation and development of Israeli culture.
Israeli theaters are touring around the world, their goal is to talk about the culture of the country, which the directors and actors do very well.
Folk dances
An important role in the cultural life of Israel is played by folk dances, this type of art is especially appreciated in this country, and considerable attention is always paid to its development. It is traditions that have their strength today. The country is famous for a huge number of dance groups that occupy prizes around the world. Such groups include the ballet troupes Bat Sheva and Bat Dor, Kol Dmama, which means “Sound and Silence”. The originality of this dance group lies in the fact that it consists of deaf artists. The existence of this dance group gives an opportunity for inaudible artists to feel the music and move in the dance.
The riches of Israeli culture are museums, monuments, parks, theaters, cities and so on. To know this country from and to impossible, every day gives something new and incredible. Israel’s museums alone are visited by about ten million tourists annually from around the world.