Aish HaTorah
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I just noticed this sub-forum.  I absolutely love learning about all aspects of different cultures.  I know that Mormons have a special connection to the world, given your propensity to share your beliefs with those around the world, and I bet you have some amazing stories from lands both far from me (Iceland) as well as close (Mesquite).  :D

I have spent a great amount of time in Israel as well as several other countries with a strong presence of Jews from our diaspora.  If you have any questions (serious or trivial), please ask!  I have a lot of great recipes and stories.

If you have any experiences with Israeli culture, I would love to hear about them as well.  Toda Raba!

 

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4 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

What strikes you as being a noticeable difference between Isreali and American culture?

What a great question, and not easily answered.

On a deeper level, I would say that an Israeli views the modern world through an ancient lens.  Americans, in many regards, view the world through a modern lens, but have a deep and abiding love for things ancient.  They desperately want to know about their heritage, their ancestors, in order to gain a sense of their identity.  We wish to create our own narrative according to our own experience, but we wish to add the seasoning of our past to bring color to that narrative.  Also, Americans so often seem to feel the need to hurry through life.  It is as if we are trying to make up for the fact that we are, for all intents and purposes, relative youth among cultures around us.  The rest of the world, Israel notwithstanding, take more time to enjoy the journey.  There isn't such a feeling of immediacy.

On a more profane level, we have much in common.  People often make the mistake of thinking that Israel is all about religion.  And war.  And religion.  And contention.  And...did I mention?...religion.  This is far from the truth.  Do not mistake my meaning.  Israelis, for the large part, GREATLY define their lives through religious practice, but it is not all there is to them.  They love to relax and laugh.  Sit on the beach and splash in the water (Israel has amazing beaches!!).  They like to poke fun of one another.  They enjoy time with family and going to movies.  It is not as dangerous as the media in the West would have us believe.  Quite frankly, I would feel safer walking the streets of Haifa at two in the morning than the streets of Detroit.

Israel is a beautiful, diverse place, just as is America.

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1 hour ago, Aish HaTorah said:

I would say that an Israeli views the modern world through an ancient lens.

In some respects, we Saints have the same perspective. Our history as a people isn't nearly as long as yours, at least if the measurement starts in 1830. But we also see ourselves as heirs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so Genesis and Exodus are our history as well.

We see the Americas as a promised land, along side of Israel — that is, both lands of promise figure prominently in ancient history and future history, too. We see the Tribe of Judah and the Tribes of Israel as cousins, brothers in the ancient covenant between God and Abraham and his children, on Moriah and at the foot of Sinai.

We don't typically speak Hebrew (although many of us would like to, if it just weren't so "foreign"), we don't speak Greek (somewhat more friendly to our ears and eyes), but we study the scriptures, both ancient and modern, with two goals: to apply them to our modern lives, and to see how the original target audiences saw them.

Our lenses are ancient, but our prisms are thoroughly contemporary.

Lehi

Edited by LeSellers
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27 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

We don't typically speak Hebrew (although many of us would like to, if it just weren't so "foreign"),

My former coworker tried to tech me a bit...I'm sure the Russian accent didn't help, but I don't think I make enough phlegm in a day to speak it for five minutes straight.

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14 minutes ago, NightSG said:

My former coworker tried to tech me a bit...I'm sure the Russian accent didn't help, but I don't think I make enough phlegm in a day to speak it for five minutes straight.

I know what you mean. When I hear Bibbi speaking at the UN or in the Knesset, I feel like ducking. Imagine trying to whisper sweet nothings to your wife in Hebrew (or Arabic).

Lehi

Edited by LeSellers
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10 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

I know what you mean. When I hear Bibbi speaking at the UN or in the Knesset, I feel like ducking. Imagine trying to whisper sweet nothings to your wife in Hebrew (or Arabic).

Lehi

Aramaic is ever so slightly easier on the ears (and the tongue).  When we say Kaddish (The Mourner's Prayer), it is in Aramaic.

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2 hours ago, LeSellers said:

Imagine trying to whisper sweet nothings to your wife in Hebrew (or Arabic).

2 hours ago, Aish HaTorah said:

It's better than Yiddish!

Agh! What's the birth rate in Israel? :cool:

Lehi

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1 hour ago, Aish HaTorah said:

[The birth rate in Israel is] Just enough.  Can't overwhelm all the world at once.  ;)

Trigger warning, may affect sensitive liberals.

You all had better get reproducing. The Muslims are.

Come to think of it, we, here in USmerica, had best do the same, and for the same reason.*
* Says the father of seven, and the grandfather of 33: do as I do, and just as I say.

Lehi

Edited by LeSellers
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16 hours ago, LeSellers said:

Trigger warning, may affect sensitive liberals.

You all had better get reproducing. The Muslims are.

Come to think of it, we, here in USmerica, had best do the same, and for the same reason.*
* Says the father of seven, and the grandfather of 33: do as I do, and just as I say.

Lehi

Well-said, I agree.  I must not be a "sensitive liberal."  Israel is tough and will do whatever is necessary to protect its interests.  I shudder to think of the motivation Muslims have for reproducing.  G-d willing, they will not drive their children to violent ends.

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16 hours ago, tesuji said:

For the record, I think Hebrew sounds cool. And even better when spoken by an attractive woman :D

Also, I'm thinking maybe the main problem with Bibbi might not be the Hebrew...

So you HAVE seen Israeli girls.  With guns.  I, for one, am definitely on team IDF.  ;)

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4 minutes ago, Aish HaTorah said:

Well-said, I agree.  I must not be a "sensitive liberal."  Israel is tough and will do whatever is necessary to protect its interests.  I shudder to think of the motivation Muslims have for reproducing.  G-d willing, they will not drive their children to violent ends.

Golda Meier said, "We can forgive you (the Muslims) for killing us. We can forgive you for killing our children. But we cannot forgive you for making us kill your children."

Lehi

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Just now, Aish HaTorah said:

So you HAVE seen Israeli girls.  With guns.  I, for one, am definitely on team IDF.  ;)

Being married, I've tried not to look too much. But I did hear a woman on a learning Hebrew 101 tape who sounded very nice :) 

My main point was that maybe speeches by grizzled old war vets may not be entirely representative of Hebrew

I enjoyed the scenes in Woody Allen's movie Crimes and Misdemeanors where a rabbi(?) is give a prayer (or something, I don't know). If you happen to know that movie. 

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13 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

Golda Meier said, "We can forgive you (the Muslims) for killing us. We can forgive you for killing our children. But we cannot forgive you for making us kill your children."

Lehi

I personally think she was a great Prime Minister.  She had a wit about her and her tongue, when necessary, could be sharp as a knife.  Not to mention, she looked eerily like my bubby.

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15 minutes ago, tesuji said:

Being married, I've tried not to look too much. But I did hear a woman on a learning Hebrew 101 tape who sounded very nice :)

My main point was that maybe speeches by grizzled old war vets may not be entirely representative of Hebrew

I enjoyed the scenes in Woody Allen's movie Crimes and Misdemeanors where a rabbi(?) is give a prayer (or something, I don't know). If you happen to know that movie.

I am afraid I am not familiar with that movie.  Sounds interesting.

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17 minutes ago, tesuji said:

Being married, I've tried not to look too much. But I did hear a woman on a learning Hebrew 101 tape who sounded very nice :)

My main point was that maybe speeches by grizzled old war vets may not be entirely representative of Hebrew

I enjoyed the scenes in Woody Allen's movie Crimes and Misdemeanors where a rabbi(?) is give a prayer (or something, I don't know). If you happen to know that movie.

Have you ever seen The Devil's Arithmetic? 

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1 minute ago, Aish HaTorah said:

I personally think she was a great Prime Minister.

She was before my adult years, and I didn't know much about her, at least not enough to respect her as she probably deserves.

My loss, I'm afraid.

Lehi

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1 minute ago, LeSellers said:

She was before my adult years, and I didn't know much about her, at least not enough to respect her as she probably deserves.

My loss, I'm afraid.

Lehi

She was a bit before my time as well.  I was only two years of age when she passed.  I have studied a lot about her, and I find her ideas and words to be fascinating.

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12 minutes ago, Aish HaTorah said:

Have you ever seen The Devil's Arithmetic? 

That movie The Devil's Arithmetic looks good. Does it have scenes of awful things happening, though? I have seen too many awful things already in movies about Nazis and Jews. I think The Pianist was the movie where I decided I'd seen too much and didn't want to watch any more of those movies. I've still never seen Schindler's List for this reason.

To be clear, I think everyone should absolutely know what happened, including seeing some of the great movies on the subject. I've just learned too much and don't want to see any more.

Crimes and Misdemeanors is one of my favorite movies

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On the subject of the Holocaust, an interesting to note for this forum that Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has an affinity for the Jews.

Quote

Orrin Hatch: It's typical of Mormon people to love all people, but especially Jewish people. I wear a mezuzah just to remind me, just to make sure that there is never another holocaust anywhere. You see, the Mormon church is the only church in the history of this country that had an extermination order out against it, by Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri. We went through untold persecutions. 

http://www.lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml

 

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