Modern Living in an Ancient Land: Echoes from the Past

Colonia Aelia Capitolina map, a Roman city built by Caesar Adrea nos in 130 CE on Jerusalem's ruins. A reminder of the ancient in modern Israeli life. (image from WikiPedia (http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/היסטוריה_של_ירושלים)

Modern Israel is a new creation in an ancient land. In Israeli's daily life, there is a mix of the modern and the ancient at the same time. Entering Tel Aviv University's Frankel gate reveals a row of Roman statues lined up as they were guarding a procession of students entering campus. The Eretz Israel Tel Aviv Museum* gardens are dotted with ancient Hebrew and Roman mosaics. Family law is based on Rabbinical legal practices going back 1,000 year with basic values taken from the Torah, Talmud and Mishnah. Israelis regularly quote biblical and Talmudic verses in daily conversation. The speaker's richness in planting a fitting quote shows their religious knowledge and even where they grew up. Jerusalemites and Tel Avivians often compare their biblical and Talmudic knowledge. Jerusalem speakers, living in a more orthodox city use more biblical phrases. Tel Avivians using fewer but with more meaning sometimes. Less you use something, higher it's importance.

Living a modern life in an ancient land brings tensions between the two. On one side Israelis want to live in today's world with all the benefits and pleasures of a modern world. On another, Israelis from the earliest immigrants to today, want to discover and preserve ancient culture, values and practices. The land is filled with archeological digs, stringing a continuous path in time like breadcrumbs in a barren land. Culture and knowledge of ancient writings is continuously studied and interpreted to our modern language. Both orthodox and secular Israelis are proud in their own ways of the ancient heritage preserved here. Orthodox Jews are proud of the cultural and religious heritage. This is one of the unique quality of living in Israel with religious practices kept alive for 2,000 years. Values and practices, started in the time of Moses, still alive today. Secular Israelis proud of the history and culture resurrected through archeology and collection of artifacts from all around the world.

Tourists coming for the first time need to pay attention to where they are and what they see and feel. Tel Aviv, merely a hundred years old, looks modern and untouched by ancient memories. Before and after the Holocaust (1920s to 1960s), a strong ideal of Jews returning to Israel meant leaving the past behind. Many came to Israel turning their back to a thousand years of Jewish culture. This was a time to reinvent the Jews in a new land. In Israel it was different than in America. European Jews also went to America to reinvent themselves, but in the mold of Americans and their culture. European Jews coming do Israel did not have anyone to emulate, so they reinvented a completely new way of life. While a tour of Jerusalem (or Tzfat or the Sea of Galilee) for the most part, mean going back to the time of Jesus and kind David. To remnants of the days Jews worshiped in a Temple like the Greeks and Romans. A time where a prayer to God was not merely symbolic, it was a tactile experience with animal sacrifices and a Cohanim, a priestly tribe. These two traditions, one of keeping ancient memories and one of renewing and reforming to a new one are both here, just pay attention and keep looking for signs. Ancient and modern life is here everywhere!

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* The Eretz Israel Tel Aviv Museum (literally "Land of Israel Tel Aviv Museum") Is a museum in north Tel Aviv. The collections focus on historical and cultural items with less emphasis on artistic one.