Independence Day in an Israeli Way: Israeli Melting Pot

I stumbled upon songs of this young artist, Idan Rachel, in a very unexpected way and fell in love with his music. And then I spent a few hours the other day to research about his music and his philosophy behind the music he creates. He claims to be a proud Israeli and brings musical inspiration from his neighbours and friends in streets of Tel Aviv - Ethiopians, Sudanese, Yemenites, Lebanese and many more. Check him out! You won't regret. You can google him, youtube him or iTune him. Just to make your work easer: The Idan Raichel Project is the full title.

Singing the songs of streets of Israel, the Israeli melting pot.
That's what he's after. He's not a political activist or social justice worker, but a beautiful musician who pays attention to his surroundings with his deep sense of musical harmony and beauty. He does not hide his political convictions (when it is necessary), but that is not what he is after when he produces these beautiful songs with his friends. "They are our neighbours, before they are our enemies," says in his interview with Riz Khan in Al Jazeera a few years ago (watch the interview clips here).

Today was Israel's Independence Day and there was an article by him in Haaretz. It is very informative in understanding what significance the Independence Day brings to today's modern Israel, to many young educated people like him.

Idan Raichel (Source: Haaretz) 

 Inspired by his article and music, I went out to the famous Hecht Park by the Mediterranean Sea, about 20 minutes driving distance from my place. First thing I noticed was the flag - Israeli flag everywhere.

People may associate Israeli flag with Zionism, the Jewish nationalism, and Jewish identity. However, what I discovered today is a sense of pride and belonging in a different way. What is being celebrated today is the Independence of the modern Israel, a liberal democratic state, a young nation of people with many differences. It started with a day to mourn and commemorate for the dead yesterday (Remembrance Day is the day before Independence Day) and a day to celebrate the freedom and independence today.

The fact is that every Jew in this land is a hyphenated-Jew. They are all from somewhere else, to say the truth, as the singer, Raichel points out. Perhaps Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, was the language that was born out of the 20th century's modern political mind, as the modern state of Israel was understood and misunderstood about their racial, socio-religous and cultural unity of being Jew, and the Jewish nation.

Raichel has beautifully articulated the Israeli melting pot through his music and perhaps the reason I think he won in the (political) game in this 21st century's multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Israel is that he peacefully brought out the biggest common ground of Israel: Diversity and it is about being Israeli "here and now" in the land of their own. 

I'll just quote him here:

I (Raichel) tried to explain how our great joy, a joy that doesn’t know left or right, rich or poor, native-born citizens or new immigrants, is about one thing − celebrating the fact that we are here. .... We have sacred and secular here: We have old and new, Hebrew and Arabic, Russian and Amharic, Moroccan and Yemenite and more. In this country we live and celebrate independence, and democracy. (click here to read the full article in Haaretz)

In the 21st century's post-modern global political environment, politicians and political scientists have much work to do in defining what a nation is constituted of when the currency is diversity, not unity.