Israel Perspectives: Feeling 'Right' at Home: Sex in the <em>Holy</em> City

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Sex in the Holy City - Part 2

Israel is recognized the world over for her many contributions towards the betterment of nearly every aspect of life (technology, medicine, agriculture, security...). It seems however, that the Government of Israel is not content to rest on its laurels, and is determined for Israel to become associated throughout the world with...

SEX! (For part 1 of "Sex in the Holy City", click here).

Can sex sell Israel?

"We felt there was a need to change the way people think about Israel beyond the traditional, cultural and religious experience it has to offer," said Uzi Gafni, director of the Israeli government's tourism office in the UK and Ireland, which is sponsored the campaign, which features scantily clad women.

To view the new, provocative advertisement, click here.

The campaign focuses on the appeals of sunbathing in Eilat, relaxing at the Dead Sea and partying in Tel Aviv, as the way to "Think Israel," ignoring the more typical imagery of Jerusalem, Masada or Tiberias.

Here are two other questionable ads from a totally unrelated campaign, also meant to promote Israel: AD #1, AD #2.

The production of these provocative pro-Israel ads, along with others like them, force us to ask ourselves a number of difficult questions:

* What messages & ideas do we want people (both Jews & non-Jews) to associate Israel with?

* Do the ends justify the means when promoting Israel? Is everything and anything OK so long as it increases tourism to Israel, or raises pro-Israel sentiment?

* How does Israel's identity as the Jewish State fit in with all of this? Are these messages serving to bring shame and dishonor on Judaism, the Jewish People and the Jewish State?

And, if so, does anyone care, and what can we be doing about it? What are alternative messages that we can be using that would be attractive but not offensive or shameful toward Judaism, the Jewish People and Jewish State?

* Lastly, is it any wonder that high school students in Israel feel at liberty to produce an adult film for a school project (or that their parents and teachers encouraged them), when the Government of the State of Israel (the Jewish State?) uses sex to sell Israel to the world at large?!?

Hat-Tip: Jameel of The Muqata & Joe Settler

Israel
Zionism
Judaism

15 Comments:

The question is, does it bother secular Israelies as it does Religious ones? Or do they view it as religious coercion to limit what they may view as "freedom of speech/advertising."

By Jameel @ The Muqata, at Tue Jan 03, 04:06:00 PM GMT+2

So, Jameel,

As a secular Israeli - the tourism industry is very important to me - given that most of my tax is going to support your occupation of innocent palestinians and the Hareidi leadership's promotion of voluntary unemployment and refusal to serve the Jewish people, I feel we need as much money as possible flowing into the country.

On the other hand - I can accept that it would be an infringement on your lifestyle if people were to come to where you live seeking sex, because of these ads. So let us see what was mentioned? Eilat - huge religious community there, Dead sea - once again, frummerville central and Tel Aviv - virtually a part of Golus as far as the religious are concerned - so tell me, how is this advert, aired in the UK going to affect you and your life?

Will people look at it and say - those Jews all they care about is sex? Well in that case it would be part of the Hasbara war, because at the moment most people in Britain see Israel as a murderous hater of arabs and Muslims. Frankly I would prefer to be seen as a nympho than a murderer.

AS for your pointing out the posters to do with Israel's tolerance and acceptance of homosexuals - I am not sure how this is connected - neither of those posters was lewd in any way. Neither was objectifying women or trivialising sexual relations. In fact both were praising Israel for being a welcoming place to all.

I guess this goes back to the same old chestnut which comes up numerous times on this blog - what is Jewishness. For you Ze'ev it is a conservative reactionary religious ideology conceived by the Rabbis who were attempting to save Judaism after having allowed the state to be crushed by the Romans in order to destroy their Jewish rivals. According to me - Jewishness is a revolutionary culture born of a desire for liberty from tyranny and a respect for humanity a la Moses' rejection of Egyptian slavery and Avraham's choice of life in the Akedah.

This is not a Jewish question this is a quesiton of neo-con reactionary intolerance (as proven by your objection to the pro-Israel Gay posters) vs liberal, progressive, radical revolutionary openness - both of which represent authentic Jewish thought at different times in our long history. While my jewishness is based on an earlier paradigm (biblical as opposed to Rabbinic), I would not claim yours is less authentic.

H

By Anonymous, at Tue Jan 03, 04:40:00 PM GMT+2

Hi H -

Well, lets first see what common denominators we have. I also want to see more money flowing into the country. The question is -- do the ends justify the means?

I object to your ludicrous statement that given that "most of my tax is going to support your occupation of innocent palestinians and the Hareidi leadership's promotion of voluntary unemployment and refusal to serve the Jewish people"

First of all - I also pay taxes, and a hell of a lot it for that matter. My wife as well.

Secondly. MOST of your taxes don't have anything to do with "occupation".

Thirdly. The IDF doesn't want the Chareidim. Period. Its all a sham. Granted, its a poor public relations point for the Chareidim, but the IDF doesn't want them. The IDF has a hard enough time with the Nachal HaChareidi as is.

I want Israel to be more Jewish. How do you see Israel being more Jewish from your viewpoint? Do you see any common ground between my view of a more Jewish state, and yours?

Lastly: I suggest you read this. It was written by a secular Israeli. Not wishing to have sex screaming at you from every direction doesn't
make you a prude.

By Jameel @ The Muqata, at Tue Jan 03, 05:21:00 PM GMT+2

The question to me is what will help Israel in the long run.

By Jack Steiner, at Tue Jan 03, 06:36:00 PM GMT+2

This may help Israel be seen as a normal country in the eyes of the world but is the cost to the religion too great just to win some good PR?

Many Jews round the world would automatically holiday in Israel, maybe sex sells to those that are choosing between Eilat or Malaga for a week away in the sun.

By ifyouwillit..., at Tue Jan 03, 06:54:00 PM GMT+2

Haim, agreed that there might not be a large religious community in Eilat whose sensibilities might be offended - however, I dont know if thatst he criteria that should be used in judging this issue.

If an ad like this causes people to view Israel as a place for epople who want ot have a "good time" that serves as a desecration of G-d's name, of Judaism, of the Jewish people and the Jewish State - so, even if its promoting Eilat, I have a problem with that.

Also, at what point did traditional Judaism view honosexuality in a positive light?

Jack's Shack - I don't think it does.

If you will it - the question is, are we striving to be viewed as a "normal" country, or a Jewish State?

By Ze'ev, at Tue Jan 03, 08:23:00 PM GMT+2

Ze'ev,

"If an ad like this causes people to view Israel as a place for epople who want ot have a "good time" that serves as a desecration of G-d's name"

Having a good time is a hillul hashem? Are we not commanded to be joyous? You would prefer people to be miserable?

AS for homophobia - The issue is not whether traditional Judaism has viewes homosexuality in a positive or negative light? That is an unanswerable question. What we know is that at the time of the writing of the Torah, the writer of the Torah did not want "Man to lie with another man as he lies with a woman" which was later understood as penetrative sex - presumably as part of a wider range of fertility legislation aimed at maximising the fertility and fruition of the jewish people. This emphasis on fertility was common in the ancient world where extinction of a people was common due to extremely high infant mortality and the vagueries of poverty and war. Times have changed, as has our understanding of morality, and today, the injunction to "rodeph Shalom" would be considered in conflict with an approach that discriminates against someone on the grounds of their sexual orientation. SO what shall we do? Modern, sensible, rational Jewish thought would recognise that the true Jewish value is Justice, rather than misplaced homophobia. Therefore the authentic Jewish response of today would be to allow Jews to serve in the army.

Even if one were to follow the halachic approach, can you show me any source that might possibly suggest that homosexuals not be allowed to fight in the army? So why would you consider a poster advertising the fact that Israel does not discriminate against homosexuals in this regard a bad thing? Is it because of Judaism? No - Judaism says nothing about Gays in the army, as far as your halachic approach is concerned. Or is it because of neo-conservative bigotry?

By Anonymous, at Wed Jan 04, 12:15:00 AM GMT+2

Jameel,

I just saw that the post I wrote in response to yours must never have made it to the boards.

I read the article - i don't think we are in Cuba!

1) I never suggested you didn't pay taxes.

2) What is the largest expenditure of the government? Defense. What is the largest unnecessary expenditure of the Defence administration? The Shtachim. I would say that plenty of my taxes are flowing the security of Kiryat Arba, Alon moreh, Psagot, etc when they should be flowing to the feeding of poor people in Yeruham, Jerusalem, Bnei Barak.

3)As for Hareidim - I spoke only of the leadership and talked about how they promote voluntary unemployment - which you didn't bother denying, because as someone who works, I assume you also abhore the concept of encouraging young people never to do an honest day's work. And I said that hareidim do not serve the jewish people - this is true. Even if they do not join Tzahal, why could Hareidi men not do sherut leumi, like Dati Leumi girls? And actually Tzahal does want hareidim - just not on the terms that the hareidi leadership demands - no contact with women, shortened service, etc. You assume that when I call for Hareidi gius, I am trying to hide from your accusation that we only want them to enlist because we know that it will expose them to secularism. No - I am proud of it. Tzahal is the jewish people's melting pot - if it can help bring the walls of the ghetto crashing down, I am all for it.

How do I see Israel being more Jewish.

We will follow the example of Abraham and choose life over death.

We will follow the example of Itzhak and make peace with Ishmael.

We will follow the example of Moses and demand liberty and freedom for the oppressed.

We will heed the words of the Torah demanding us to treat the stranger in our midst with respect.

We will listen to the central pasuk of the entire torah - Lo tikom v'lo tatur et b'nei amecha V'ahavta l're'echa comach.

We will remember that our national narrative, the Torah, is contextualised as part of a universal narrative.

We will remember that all humans are created B'tselem Elokim.

We will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation - striving for the utmost values which have always guided us - peace, justice, truth, law, mercy - names and characteristics of G-d, but also much more than that.

I do not see the halacha as the foundational structure of Jewish existence, you do. That does not mean that my Jewishness is less authentic than yours.

By Anonymous, at Wed Jan 04, 12:30:00 AM GMT+2

H: Like ot or not, unilaterally leaving the entire West Bank will not seriously dent Israels defense expenditure. The IAF is probably much higher up on the scale of things, and they cost a bloody fortune (and don't have that much to do with the West Bank). Then again...they are still used to target terrorists in Gaza...and we LEFT there!

Concerning Chareidim: If mainline chareidim don't want to melt in the IDF and retain their identity, then thats mighty radical of you to force your viewpoints of secular coercison on them. Granted, its their leadership that the problem, but there's no reason in the world to coerce the Nachal Chareidi into situations they find halachically prohibited. With this in mind, the IDF does not want, nor could it handle an influx of an annual additonal 30,000 Charedim.

Did I ever write that your Jewish existance is less authentic than mine? That's rather presumptuous of you...

What I am trying to find is what common denominators exist if we are to continue building this country together.

By Jameel @ The Muqata, at Wed Jan 04, 10:37:00 AM GMT+2

Jameel,

We NEED an airforce, we NEED an army. There is no NEED for any country in the world to defend citizens who leave the boundaries of the state to go and settle in hostile territory. If you want to live surrounded by Arabs instead of inside the state - feel free, but I don't want to pay for it.

Of course huge scale disengagement from the West Bank would lower the defence budget in the short, medium and long term.

Let's not forget, that if Hareidim were forced to do real army time, then we would also not be spending such a fortune, paying for miluim which costs a fortune, as we would have more sadir soldiers.

Mighty radical to force my viewpoints of secular co-ercion on the Hareidim - my sides are splitting!!!!! Which country do you live in? Well actually you do not live inside Israel - but here there is a monopoly on religious institutions by the orthodox if you hadn't noticed - and I was forced to humililiate myself by having to search out a ketuba from 1856 because your rabbi says my rabbi isn't a real rabbi. Who is doing the coercion?

I don't want to coerce the Hareidim to abandon Hareidut - I want them to live by the same rules as I do. Why should my children die to save them. Just answer that one simple question - why should my kids go and do 3 years in the army and theirs do none?

Nahal Hareidi by the way is a joke - when I did my joke Shlav bet service, the Nahal Hareidi guys who were with us on shivta said that they had been in for 6 months (of the entire 9 months they were doing) and had done nothing whatsoever. They thought our training looked hard (and this was shlav bet we are talking about). Plus only two of them were genuinely hareidi - most of them were frum Kippa Sruga wearers who were scared of the army, or did not want to spend a whole 2 years away from the yeshiva in hesder, or they were just people going for an easy ride. So when you hear that 5% of Hareidim have been enlisted thanks to Nahal Hareidi - that is a distortion, it is probably more like 0.5%.

I did not presume, but as you chose to write that you pay taxes, I thought that I might as well put in some random facts.

My name before making aliyah was James Taylor - yes like the singer.

What common ground do we have? We are both Israeli citizens and self-defining members of the Jewish People. We share a language, a history and a sacred text, which forms the basis of our culture. We both want what is best for Israel - though we define that in opposite terms. I hope we are both agreed that, though we disagree, the way to settle the disagreement is through dialogue, the body politic and democratic means - not through violence. OUr common ground is the sacred text - the words of Torah, which you see as Divinely written and which I see as Jewishly written.

Of course we believe in opposite ideologies and both hope for our own side to conquer the other, as it were - I am sure you would prefer me to be religious, and I of course would prefer you not to be. I hope that you, your family and your children will return to live inside the Green line, and no doubt you would like me to understand the importance of living in Yehuda and Shomron and move there myself.

The origin of the differences between us is that you believe there is a G-d who tells us what to do and his conduit is the halacha. I don't. Unless I change my mind on that, I see no reason why I should start supporting settlements. when Ze'ev (or you) try and tell me that the settlements are good for Israelis living within the green line, that they offer defence or protection or anything other than trouble, he (and you) is being disingenuous. Is your belief in the settlements based on any form of security concern or is based on what you believe G-d wants of you?

By Anonymous, at Wed Jan 04, 12:41:00 PM GMT+2

H: I find it fascinating that you keep coming back to the settlements as the root of all evil that plagues our society. Why do I live in the settlements? Its the righting a historical wrong against us -- the birthplace of Judasim (and a heck of alot closer to your "Biblical Judasim" than Gush Dan).

I don't want to impose on you to live here, but saying that Jews can live anywhere on the planet, but the Birthplace of Judaism is rather offensive to me.

Nachal HaCharedi has changed alot over the past few years, and is no longer the joke it used to be.

The problem we have is you wrote We share a language, a history and a sacred text, which forms the basis of our culture and we are self-defining members of the Jewish People. Judaism is a religion, not a culture. When the Karaim modified Judiasm it was no longer Judaism...same for the Shomronim...same for Christianity.

Secularism is not a religion or even a culture, but a LACK of cultural connection a religion.

Judasim is what defines us as Jews, and if we water it down, ignore, pretend we aren't part of it, then eventually, we won't be part of the same religion.

How do you see the Torah as a scared text, if disconnected from G-d? What makes it sacred? When the Charediim go crazy over the digging up of graves to pave a highway, they are doing it because to them, the graves are sacred...and the secular laugh at them.

Lets go 100 years in the future - and we need a road that goes straight over Har Herzel in Jerusalem? Is that OK? Today its sacred...and in 100 years, its OK to bulldoze Rabin's grave? There is a fundamental misunderstanding that whats sacred to the Chareidim is not some stupid idea.

Lastly, (for now), I'm no big fan of the rabbanut. When I got married, I commented that after going through the process of getting married via the rabbanut, I would probably be anti-religious had I been secular.

By Jameel @ The Muqata, at Wed Jan 04, 01:34:00 PM GMT+2

Jameel,

I was trying to build a basis for dialogue, but I feel like you have ripped it down a little, by telling me that unless I accept that Judaism is a religion and that there is no Jewish culture without it, then we have nothing in common.

You claim that the Shomronim, Sadukim, Karaim all changed Judaism, but that the rabbis preserved the original real authentic Judaism. Am I right?

I willing to accept that that is one interpretation of history. But can you prove it? Or does it rely on faith? Because if it relies on faith, then you are actually telling me, that unless faith grabs me captive, then I actually can't do anything to build a dialogue with you because there can be no dialogue unless i accept that Judaism is a religion and its authentic form is rabbinic orthodoxy, but that the only way of proving this is if you happen to have faith.

What am I supposed to do, my brother?

By Anonymous, at Wed Jan 04, 08:13:00 PM GMT+2

H -

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you; I've been a bit swamped.

First, I'm happy to hear that you ARE interested in building a basis for dialog...that wasn't clear to me, though I thought I was trying pretty hard.

I'll have to do some research on this, but I've read in many places that secular Judaism is not a culture. This isn't my (or even a religious) poit of view; rather a view shared by many. It may be difficult to hear, but do yuo know of any examples of "cultural" Judaism surviving anywhere over the past 2000 years?

If anything, it was Jewish identity...and some sort of commitment to rabbinic/halachik Judaism that kept us together as a people.

The problem is, when secular Judasim disconnects itself from rabbinic Judaism, then we are headed for a split.

Its irrelavent who is right and wrong since the split and division of our nation will occur if secular Judaism disengages from religious Judaism.

IMHO, in order not to infringe on your lifestyle, but with the concern for keeping our nation as whole as possible, we need to find the lowest common demoninators. OK, you hate religious control over marriage...and I hate it that my tax money to the State of Israel goes to highschools which encourage senior projects....of homemade pron films.

So can we find the common ground? I certainly hope so. Just as a thought: in my yishuv, we have a mix of religious and secular Israelies. Its isn't easy, but we make all sorts of decisions to live in some semblance of harmony. Take the municipal pool for example; its open on shabbat, but you need to buy a pool pass on erev shabbat. And the miznon is closed on Shabbat as well. Perfect? No...but we get bu with a lot of good will and a common denominator of continuing to live as a nation, together.

Shabbat Shalom - we'll continue this next week.

By Jameel @ The Muqata, at Fri Jan 06, 01:15:00 AM GMT+2

Jameel,

Let's agree on one thing - seemingly we are both interested in dialogue and finding a way for us to live together. I am saddened that this dialogue will be defined as trying to find "the lowest common denominator".

I find however some of your statements hugely problematic (and offensive):

"The problem is, when secular Judasim disconnects itself from rabbinic Judaism, then we are headed for a split."

"the split and division of our nation will occur if secular Judaism disengages from religious Judaism."

Both these statements are designed to push the blame for any conflict onto those who turn away from the correct way and start something different, which in your eyes, is the Zionists (Secular).

Jameel - the whole concept of building a dialogue with someone, when you accept that the aim is not to agree, but to find ways to live together without impinging on their freedoms, is to accept that their beliefs and narrative are theirs and by them they choose to live their life without trying to deny their validity within the shared arena, or within the dialogue, while holding the right to deny their validity in private.

For example. Their is no proof or evidence that Torah Sh'b'al peh was given on Sinai with Torah Sh'bichtav (or for that matter that Torah Sh'bichtav was given on Har Sinai). Does this mean that I, as someone who academically studies history and as part of the Secular Jewish majority, have the right to tell you that Torah Sh'b'al peh is a crock (and not just to tell you, but to stop you being able to practice Torah Sh'b'al peh)? You say that Secular Jewishness is not a culture. what does that even mean? Culture is the material expression of a tradition. Culture is everything we do as Jews - Religion is a subset of Culture. Every group has a culture.

Jewish Culture existed long before Pharasaic/Rabbinic Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism and the halakhah (and Judaism as a religion) was invented to help us get through exile. We needed a set of rules which would stop us assimilating, hence we adapted our cultic practices of the temple and our national rituals to an exilic existence - hence Kashrut changed from being about purity to being about staying away from goyim so that we would not assimilate. Take for example the very explicit explanation of why we should not drink stam yeinam.

My point is this.

For you the exile is still going strong, until the coming of Meshiah and the institution of the third temple and a Torah State.

For me, the exile is over and the Jewish people have returned to their land and founded the third commonwealth.

How do we reconcile these two worldviews - how can we live together, without one's view harming the other's life and the way they want to live it.

At the moment, I don't believe that anything I do harms your existence. Even the porn film in the school (which i am in no way in favour of) is not in any way going to affect your kids who I assume go to a Dati-mamlachti school.

On the other hand, your decision to live outside the recognised borders of the state put my life at risk. The settlers' campaign against the security barrier is a selfish drive to stop them being cut off from the rest of Israel, which endangers my security. The refusal of the Hareidim to serve in the army means that I will be doing miluim for an extra five years. Your claim (and the Ministry for Religous affairs') that only orthodoxy is valid humiliated me and made me feel like a stranger in my own land. And as always, I will return to the most hard and fast fact - the occupation is destroying the economy. Your protection is what makes my salary come down on the light side each month.

So here is my issue - I want us to be able to live together in peace, but I am not willing for me to forego my rights for that to be the case. The religious in Israel have been protected because of a sentimental sympathy which is undeserved. The rest of the country look at the religious and wrongly think that we need you to keep the traditions going, because otherwise we would cease to be Jewish. This is of course rubbish. It is exactly because we have allowed the Religious to monopolise Jewishness that the secular majority are becoming more and more distant from their heritage. And even worse, the disgust which many secular Jews have for the revolting acts (such as Baruch Goldstein, Eden Natan-Zada, Yigal Amir, self-immolation, the beating of Palestinians and the cutting down of their olive trees, the denial of human rights to women, etc) make them believe that the Jewish heritage, which they identify with the religious is disgusting.

I recently had a conversation with a non-Jew (not in Israel) who told me that Judaism was homophobic. I said, what possibly makes you think that? She said she heard an Orthodox rabbi show disapproval for legal recognition of same-sex union (despite the fact that their is no halachic basis for this disapproval). I said to her - but Orthodoxy is a minority opinion within Jews - In North America, the majority are Reform, Conservative or non-affiliated - all these streams accept same-sex union. While in Israel the majority are secular, and homosexuals enjoy greater freedom in some areas than they do in America (freedom to enter the army, for example). So what makes Judaism homophobic. Her reply - well authentic Judaism is homophobic, then.

My point is this. When we come to dialogue, you insist that I am deviating from your path which is correct - the right way (Orthodox). This isn't true. My understanding of Jewish thought is just as authentic as yours. It may not be the same as my grandfather's but then my grandfather's wasn't the same as his. All traditions evolve and change. What is inauthentic is the desire to stop change and resist it. That is not the example set by Yohanan Ben Zakai, who abandoned Jerusalem to save Judaism, nor Yehuda HaNasi who wrote down the Oral Tradition, nor RaMBaM who made Jewish thought intelligible to a foreign philosophic culture, thus allowing us to communicate in shared terms.

Until you recognise that your claim upon Jewish tradition is no more valid than mine, the dialogue will always be about how not to infringe upon each other's rights. Only when you recognise that my Jewishness is as valid as yours can we talk about how together our visions of Jewishness can live side by side.

By Anonymous, at Sun Jan 08, 10:06:00 AM GMT+2

http://bagbagbag.21classes.com/
http://bagbagbag.blog.com/
http://www.blogsinn.com/?w=bagbagbag
http://bagbagbag.blogge.no/
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/bagbagbag
http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/bagbagbag/622608
http://www.edisonnation.com/users/bagbagbag/
http://freeblognetwork.com/bagbagbag/
http://glowindia.com/bagbagbag
http://halqa.com/bagbagbag/

By Unknown, at Thu Oct 28, 11:50:00 AM GMT+2