The booklet explained the Golan s role as Israel s water source, mapped out the two dozen local synagogues from the talmudic period, listed nearly 20 archaeological sites, some dating from as far back as 4,000 B.C.E. and showed how Prime Minister Ehud Barak got a higher vote percentage from Golan voters than from Israelis at large despite Barak s openness to returning the Golan. These sites combined the key elements shaping the non-Orthodox Israeli s identity a love for the beauty of the land, a feel for the sacrifices made to build the country, and an appreciation for the deep religious and national roots. The wedding like so much else in Israeli society highlights how misleading it is to call nonreligious Israelis secular. As the rift between religious and secular has grown, non-Orthodox Israelis themselves have ignored just how Jewish, just how religious, they are on the streets and at home. The rhythms of their lives, the vocabulary of their land, the soul of their country remain intensely Jewish.
Israeli history is Jewish history.
And Jewish rituals are often Israeli rituals. Given that they all speak Hebrew fluently and that few work on the Sabbath or the major Jewish festivals many Americans Jews would probably deem them religious, even fanatic. Even more important, Israelis occupy Jewish space and keep Jewish time. In the Diaspora, Jewish space is mostly confined to the synagogue and perhaps, for some, the home. In North America, Jewish time is time set apart, apportioned out to some specific Jewish ritual.