Israel Celebrates

Hizky Shoham is a senior lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Program for Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Israel and a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. A cultural historian of Zionism, he published Carnival in Tel Aviv: Purim and the Celebration of Urban Zionism (Academic Studies Press, 2014).

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction – Israeli Civic Culture as a Jewish CultureCivic Culture Israeli Culture, Jewish Culture(s) The Anthropological History of Israeli Holidays Structure of the Book Chapter One – Jewish Family: PassoverPassover in Jewish Cultures of the Past The Seder in the Yishuv and in Israel The 1960s on: The Rise of the Extended Family“What do I have in common with these people?”Why the Haggadah?The Seder in the Jewish Culture of the DiasporaConclusion: The Jewish Extended Family in Israeli Public CultureChapter Two – Environment: Tu BishvatTu Bishvat in Jewish Cultures of the PastArbor Day and Tu BishvatTrees and Planting in the New Hebrew CultureThe Mandate Era: National Planting Ceremonies Planting Ceremonies in Independent Israel: Ecology and PoliticsTu Bishvat in Israeli Culture: The Environmental-Political TrackTu Bishvat in Israeli Culture: The Environmental-Apolitical TrackTu Bishvat in Adult Culture: Active NostalgiaTu Bishvat in American Jewish CultureTu Bishvat and Arbor Day: Reciprocal RelationsConclusion: Nostalgia as a Cultural ForceChapter Three – Public Space: Yom KippurYom Kippur as an AnomalyHistorical Yom KippurThe Israeli version of Yom Kippur: The Suspension of TransportationThe Suspension of Economic Activity“Online Fasting”: What do People Do?Heshbon Nefesh: Ecology and PoliticsThe Jewishness of Public SpaceConclusion: The Jewish Public SpaceChapter Four – Freedom: Yom Ha’atzma’ut Yom Ha’atzma’ut: The Initial Second Thoughts Spontaneity and Artificiality Doing Something on Yom Ha’atzma’ut Wandering the City Streets From Picnic to Cookout Memorial Day and the Torch-Lighting Ceremony Yom Ha’atzma’ut in the DiasporaIsraeli Arabs and Yom Ha’atzma’ut Conclusion: An Empty Day? Chapter Five – Citizenship: The “Nationalization” of Jewish Culture in IsraelThe Assimilative Power of the Jewish Culture in IsraelThe Nationalizing of the Israeli Jewish CultureNationalizing the Jewish Culture: Its Ramifications for Jewish Identity in IsraelNationalizing the Jewish Culture: Its Ramifications for Arab Identity in IsraelEpilogue: Political Fantasy and Cultural RealityReferences