Shabbat Shalom!
This week, for my blog, I've been asked to write about some aspect of Israeli culture. Our fabulous teacher, Aaron, has requested that we choose an Israeli song, show, movie, or author for us to write about.
I had a problem with this. While art and literature are clear signs of a thriving culture, when I think of Israeli culture I think of yelling, rudeness, community, falafel, and chutzpa (sort of like courageous stubbornness). I'm sure that I will touch on those aspects of Israeli culture, which I think truly depict Israeli life, in the future. For now, I'm going to explain the history of my favorite song.
This past summer, as many of you know, I partook in a program called Diller. Twenty of my friends from Pittsburgh became close to twenty teens from Israel. We had the opportunity to live with them and experience parts of their daily life. This often included playing music during free time. One of the songs that we sang every single time was "Ahava" (Love) by Daniel Solomon.
It's a song which talks about love coming suddenly and erupting. It has a nice melody and, to me, beautiful lyrics. When I ask Israelis now if they know the song the simply shrug and say yes. However, to my Pittsburgh friends and Israeli friends, that song is just amazing.
When it gets to the second chorus, we would all get really quiet then suddenly burst and shoot our hands out, screaming, "Ahava....PEATOM HI MIT'PARETZET" (love...suddenly, she came).
It was the one thing in the program that completely united us. We would argue on political and religious matters, we might not have liked every person in our cohort, but when we heard the smooth, Israeli melody of Ahava, we threw our arms around each other and truly became one cohort of Americans and Israelis together.
This is why, when I'm asked what my favorite song is, "Ahava" is always my answer.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Shoshana :)
This week, for my blog, I've been asked to write about some aspect of Israeli culture. Our fabulous teacher, Aaron, has requested that we choose an Israeli song, show, movie, or author for us to write about.
I had a problem with this. While art and literature are clear signs of a thriving culture, when I think of Israeli culture I think of yelling, rudeness, community, falafel, and chutzpa (sort of like courageous stubbornness). I'm sure that I will touch on those aspects of Israeli culture, which I think truly depict Israeli life, in the future. For now, I'm going to explain the history of my favorite song.
This past summer, as many of you know, I partook in a program called Diller. Twenty of my friends from Pittsburgh became close to twenty teens from Israel. We had the opportunity to live with them and experience parts of their daily life. This often included playing music during free time. One of the songs that we sang every single time was "Ahava" (Love) by Daniel Solomon.
It's a song which talks about love coming suddenly and erupting. It has a nice melody and, to me, beautiful lyrics. When I ask Israelis now if they know the song the simply shrug and say yes. However, to my Pittsburgh friends and Israeli friends, that song is just amazing.
When it gets to the second chorus, we would all get really quiet then suddenly burst and shoot our hands out, screaming, "Ahava....PEATOM HI MIT'PARETZET" (love...suddenly, she came).
It was the one thing in the program that completely united us. We would argue on political and religious matters, we might not have liked every person in our cohort, but when we heard the smooth, Israeli melody of Ahava, we threw our arms around each other and truly became one cohort of Americans and Israelis together.
This is why, when I'm asked what my favorite song is, "Ahava" is always my answer.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Shoshana :)
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