Culture in Israel is dynamic. Like in America or in Europe, pop culture, though rooted in history, is ever-changing and evolving. In many countries, culture is influenced by the neighboring countries, global immigration, and military heritage. But in the pressure cooker of contemporary Israel, culture changes more quickly than elsewhere. You can see evidence of this ultra-modernity by the country's almost universal cellphone and internet usage, the high percentage of consumers who make purchases online, and the two-thirds of Israelis who traveled outside the country in 2014. Language here reflects this warp-speed change. Welcome to an exploration of one of the world's oldest yet newest cultures, and certainly one of its most vibrant.

Students and other readers looking to more fully understand and appreciate Israelis of all backgrounds and their ways of life and culture now have a solid source of engaging, balanced, and accurate information. Israel's brief, turbulent history and the Arab-Israeli conflict are always taken into account in the narrative; however, the emphasis here is nonpolitical and encompassing of the heterogenous culture of its citizens, including Jews, Arabs, Druze, and others. The predominant Jewish culture itself is multicultural, with immigrants from all over the world. Israel, a tiny state about the size of New Jersey, weighs on the consciousness of the world more than it might small land mass might seem to merit. Located at the junction of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Israel has been a natural trade and migration route since prehistoric times. The region is also the birthplace of monotheism and an important religious site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide. Culture and Customs of Israel is the first in-depth survey available and comes at a particularly crucial juncture in history, as the balanced perspective adds a needed cultural dimension. Narrative chapters provide a clear overview of the history and religious nexus and discuss the crucial roles of literature and media to the citizens, issues in Israeli art and identity, the diversity in cuisine, a surprisingly traditional view of gender roles, social customs for all ethnicities, and the role of music and dance in nation building. A volume map, photos, chronology, and glossary complement the text.

Israel is a small country located in the Middle East that has a rich and complex history. It was founded in 1948 after the United Nations approved the partition of Palestine, which resulted in the establishment of two states: Israel and Palestine. Israel is a parliamentary democracy and its government is divided into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The country is led by a prime minister who is elected by the Knesset, which is the Israeli parliament. Israel is known for its diverse population, which includes Jews, Arabs, Druze, Christians, and other minorities. Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of Israel, and the country also has a strong cultural scene with a thriving film industry, music scene, and literature. Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel, and it is a holy site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims as it contains important religious sites such as the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Dome of the Rock. Israel also has a strong economy with high-tech industries, tourism, and agriculture being major drivers. However, the country also faces challenges such as ongoing conflicts with Palestinians, regional instability, and social issues related to the diverse population.

Israel Celebrates is about the intersection where Israeli inventiveness and Jewish tradition meet: the holidays. It employs the anthropological history of four Jewish holidays as celebrated in Israel in order to track the naturalization of Jewish rituals, myths, and symbols in Israeli culture throughout “the long twentieth century” of Zionism and on to the present, and to demonstrate how a new strand of Judaism developed in Israel from the grassroots. But could this grassroots Israeli culture develop into a shared symbolic space for both Jews and Arabs? By probing the political implications of the minutiae of life, the book argues that this popular culture might come to define Jewish identity in Israel of the 21st century.

Here, in one compact volume, is an illuminating survey of Jewish folkways on five continents. Filled with fascinating facts and keen insights, The Jewish Cultural Tapestry is a richly woven fabric that vividly captures the diversity of Jewish life. All traditional Jews are bound together by the common thread of the Torah and the Talmud, notes author Steven Lowenstein, but this thread takes on a different coloration in different parts of the world as Jewish tradition and local non-Jewish customs intertwine. Lowenstein describes these widely varying regional Jewish cultures with needlepoint accuracy, highlighting the often surprising similarities between Jewish and non-Jewish local traditions, and revealing why Jewish customs vary as much as they do from region to region. From Europe to India, Israel to America, The Jewish Cultural Tapestry offers an engaging overview of the customs and folkways of a people united by tradition, yet scattered to the far corners of the earth.

While the scholarly study of culture as a politically contested sphere in Palestine/Israel has become an established field over the past two decades, this volume highlights some particular understudied aspects of it: the relations between Arab identity, Mizrahi identity, and Israeli nationalism; the nightclub scene as a field of encounter, appropriation, and exclusion; an analysis of the institutional and political conditions of Palestinian cinema; the implications of the intersectional relationship between gender, ethnicity and national identity in the field of popular culture, and the concrete relations between particular aesthetic forms and symbolic power. The authors come from diverse disciplines, including anthropology, architecture, ethnomusicology, history, sociology, and political science. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

This volume presents a collection of studies by international experts on various aspects of ancient Israel’s society, economy, religion, language, culture, and history, synthesizing archaeological remains and integrating them with discussions of ancient Near Eastern and biblical texts. Driven by theoretically and methodologically informed discussions of the archaeology of the Iron Age Levant, the 47 chapters in The Ancient Israelite World provide foundational, accessible, and detailed studies in their respective topics. The volume considers the history of interpretation of ancient Israel, studies on various aspects of ancient Israel’s society and history, and avenues for present and future approaches to the ancient Israelite world. Accompanied by over 150 maps and figures, it allows the reader to gain an understanding of key issues that archaeologists, historians and biblical scholars have faced and are currently facing as they attempt to better understand ancient Israelite society. The Ancient Israelite World is an essential reference work for students and scholars of ancient Israel and its history, culture, and society, whether they are historians, archaeologists or biblical scholars.

Culture Smart! Israel marks the nation's 70th year of independence in a concise cultural guide that enables readers to get to the heart of this diverse, dynamic and paradoxical country and enable you to make the most of your visit. Independent since 1948, this edition provides important insights into the complexities of Israeli society so that you will know what to expect and how to behave in different circumstances, avoid misunderstandings and form good relations both socially and in business. While Israel is a modern and largely secular country, it is one steeped in biblical history and in which religion still plays an active role in public life. In seventy years it has grown from a sparsely populated strip of land into a vigorous democracy and regional superpower. Often called the Startup Nation, Israel is a world leader in a number of Hi-tech industries. Its democratic institutions, despite a political and social polarization in recent years, are among the most enlightened in the world. This pocket guide will help readers understand the country and its people beyond the headlines, ensuring for greater understanding and a far more valuable travelling experience, whatever the reason for visiting.

The book shows how minority groups recreate their traditions and employ them as a means to preserve ethnic boundaries, to redefine identity, and to move towards mainstream culture. The result is a variation of ritual syncretism, demonstrating the immigrants’ multiple social locations.

Representing a wide array of disciplines: economics, history, literature, political science, anthropology, and sociology, this book offers original examinations of the state of scholarship about Israel, as well as insightful assessments of contemporary Israeli society, politics, economy, and culture. The contributors review and analyze more than sixty recent publications, half of them in Hebrew or Arabic, showcasing important literature not readily accessible to European and North American readers. Continuing the tradition established by the preceding volumes, Review Essays in Israel Studies offers a rich and varied treatment of new scholarship and enhances our understanding of Israel studies today.