Judith

    Have you read Midnight’s Children? Do you remember the main character, Saleem, and how he was born at the exact stroke of India’s independence? His life was inevitably thereafter intertwined with that of India. This weekend my class had the pleasure of meeting Israel’s equivalent, and 85-year-old woman named Judith. She was born in Tel Aviv about twenty years before Israel’s declared sovereignty, but her birth in 1926 occurred at the time when the idea of Israel was just taking hold. In the early 1900s immigrants from Eastern Europe poured into Palestine to enact their idea of the ‘New Jew.’ She explained to us the feeling behind the movement, and told some stories.

    The “New Jew” was born out of the pogroms of Russia, where he hid, suffered, and waited, harassed by the government. The Jews who left had an idea to form a new culture- where they would learn to fight back, build the land, be the change they wanted to see. Young young people – aged 15-22, came to Palestine filled with this notion. They decided to speak only Hebrew (not a spoken language known to them), said only positive words, accepted suffering and didn’t cry. Judith said she was in the generation that didn’t know how to cry.

    Politeness, additionally, was discarded. To be polite was thought of as hypocritical. Judith points out that the distant product of this culture is still witnessed by all travelers entering Israel; all visitors are greeted at the gate by scowling Israeli soldiers toting large black guns. She remembers visiting the United States for the first time where everyone smiles and thinking that Americans must be the nicest people in the whole world.

For the ‘New Jew’ physical labor was held in the highest regard. Judith’s father had been a paver, and took great pride in his profession. Every night he came home and propped his 5-kilo mallet next to the front door so that any visitor would immediately know his occupation. Judith showed us her hands and said how for everyone in her generation, hands are of utmost importance. What one’s hands can build for the country is the greatest good a person can do.

    Kibbutzim started during this period as well- unable to be hired in competition with stronger and more experienced Arabs, Jews had to form their own farms. As part of the society they were forming, and in opposition to the inequity experienced in Europe, they embraced socialism. All things were shared- food, work, belongings. Life on the kibbutz was difficult, but empowered by the common sense of cause. Men and women worked equally, and trained equally with weapons.

    Judith commented with pride on the trees and buildings around us and throughout the country, representative of her and her generation’s success. When they came the land was barren, a result of over-grazing of Bedouin herds. Now the area around the Galilee is fertile and green, as she sees it a testament to the success of Israel.

    However touching and interesting her perspective, the reaction from our class was still cautious, aware of the price of this Jewish vision paid by the Holy Land’s previous occupants. She touched on this concern, saying that now because of technology there is room for everyone. Nonetheless she remained firm in the necessity of the formation of the Jewish state – pushed away by everyone else, they needed a place to make their own. Jews weren’t wanted in Europe so they came to Israel, where similarly Arabs from every side tried to ‘push them into the sea.’ For this reason the wars that followed (which ultimately wiped out hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns) were right and necessary.

    At the end of her talk she told us her theory of historical cycles: that events always follow the same pattern. Israel came about in reaction to the evils that were going on in Europe. The pain of intolerance built up until a group formed to make a change. Likewise, any time a society is in a bad situation it will necessarily revolt. Judith connected this to the current Israeli government, which she called bad and immoral. Her firm belief that people will get fed up and change it gives her optimism.

    Although I might not agree with her proposed system of progress, it was refreshing to hear her tie her history to reality. I think a problem faced a lot in this country is prevalence of views based on history or reality, but rarely both. Judith did so, scoring points by us for Israel (a rare achievement for our group) and surpassing our expectation to humor her based on her age.