[MUSIC] Welcome back. In our first class, we learned about the ideas that has given birth to the state of Israel, and some of the processes that have translated this idea into actual political institutions that have constituted Israel's state in society as we know it today. Today's class takes us a step further asking how a modern nation is built. As we already know Zionism has brought together Jews from different countries in Europe and around the Middle-East. Jews who lived in this territory for generations and Arab inhabitants of the land. Each of these groups had a different history, a different national narrative, a different vision for the future of this country. They spoke different languages and told their children different stories about the things that tied them to the land. The founding fathers and mothers of Zionism, those who envisioned the future Israel is taking society as a modern and homogenous society. How to come with a plan that would bring these different groups together. A ditto by reviving an ancient language, Hebrew, and by attempting to reconstruct a cohesive collective memory and national identity. Professor Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi is from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology here at the Hebrew University. Her major academic interest evolved around issues of collective memory and commemoration, and specifically the ways in which society cope with their difficult pasts and shameful histories. Her most recent book is Yitzhak Rabin's Assassination, and the dilemma of commemoration. She has just completed four years term at the dean of the Social Sciences. She's also a faculty fellow of the Center of Cultural Studies at Hebrew University. >> Hello, my name is Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi and I'm a Sociologist. This class takes place on Mount Scopus, where the Hebrew University is. We will return to it later on as this mountain is part of what I will be teaching about today. The class is about some of the constitutive moments of nation building and about the official sacred time and space of Zionism. One has to start from the mainstream, from the official hegemonic voice if one wishes to understand the structure and content of social protest and struggles here in Israel. If one wishes to understand which structure in social challenges and the counterculture. If one wishes to inquire about inequality and recognition, humiliating moments, and simply upsetting sins. We have to understand something about a society's official story if we wish to understand those who insist on spitting on its memorial during its sacred moments of silence. Take a moment to think about your own societies. What are your national moments. Who protects against them and in what way? Do you feel angry or insulted when you watch such acts on television or on social media? When I speak about these state sacred collective time and space, I'm not talking about private commemorations. I'm talking about state rituals and ceremonies and about the construction of the national's officially collective memory. Pay also attention to the roles that Jewish religion and tradition plays in those state ceremonies. Many of the battles over symbolism in Israel involve the men for special days in the official national calendar. Many of the struggles, special recognition involves request for monument on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, despite the fact that placing a monument at the center of Tel Aviv might be more convenient. Why do the bereaved families of terrorist attack victims insist on having memorials placed on Mount Herzl which we will visit later on. Why do they insist on having the loved ones and fallen soldiers share the same memorial day. They do so because they understand something about the official heart of this nation and they want to be part of it. We will start indoors with a short introduction and a discussion of sacred time. Then we will stroll to see the pantheon is Zionism as Don Haldeman calls it. We will return to class to conclude with a discussion of whether Israel has a shared holiday an Israeli holןday. If it does what is it? If it is not what does that mean? How do you know that you are a member of a nation? How do you know that for example French, Moroccan or Russian? Do you wake in the morning and feel American? Do you go to sleep and feel Argentinian? Well, you may not think much about these issues on a daily basis. Most of you, probably all of you are well aware of your citizenship and of your national belonging. In which moments do you feel your nation? Think about it. Is it when you pay your taxes? When you go to vote on election day or when you wish to visit other places and need to carry a special document, we call it a passport? When you sing your national anthem or participate in a state ceremony? You're also being reminded that you are a member of a unit that is larger than yourself or other groups you belong to such as your family, or your football team. Here in Israel, on memorial days whether for the holocaust or for the fallen soldiers, we hear a siren and we're all expected to respect it and to stand still in the public space. I always ask my Israeli students during my classes how many of them stand still when they hear the siren while they are alone at home, really alone. Not accompanied by children or friends and not on the street where one has to show some respect to social norms. How many of them would stand still while alone at home? How many of you would do that? Would you like to guess my student response? They all look at me with some amazement and say that they stand still when they are alone at home. In fact they were pretty surprised that I even dared to ask them such a provocative question. What am I trying to say? I'm trying to show you the power of state rituals that are inscribing our bodies and souls from a very young age. Most Israelis stand at least twice a year before graduating high school. This is very powerful, this is how we discipline body and soul and this is part of the way in which Israelis feel part of the nation And it all start with the work done by the state, the mandatory ceremonies and rituals, textbook, the media and much more. If you think that ceremonies and rituals are of interest only to elitist communities, then you're wrong. Rituals and holidays are the keystones of every society. American sociologist, Robert Bellah aptly coined the phrase, civil religion to describe this phenomena. We need to enunciate very clearly that no modern nation came into being without an active civil religion. Without a kind of elitist loyalty to unify the population, even when that society is fundamentally non religious. Why should the modern state need civil religion? After all, the modern state came into being when the dimension of religion had begun to shrink. The answer is that the modern state cannot survive without the civil religion because the concept of the state is abstract and people needs something probable. Civil religion provides this moreover, nationality as Benedict Anderson remind us is neither something that we were born with nor the product of a social contract or common economy. Nationality is indeed a community but it is not direct and tangible community that one is born into such as a family that shares a household. The state is an imagined community imagined, not because it is virtual, which is not in the slightest but because most members of the national entity don't know or even know anything about one another. This is true even in the tiniest of nations. Take Israel as an example as it's small enough about the size of a small town in China, maybe even smaller. Nevertheless every member of this nation is conscious of belonging to the same community. That's something that needs to be worked on. For the past 200 years ever since the concept of nation emerged this camaraderieship has made it possible for millions of people to be not only willing to kill for that entity but also to die for it. That's quite something. Civil religion is whom we mentioned before reminded us is the set of beliefs, practices and symbol that the nation perceives and maintains as sacred. This includes a series of rites and ceremonies Such as standing silently when the national anthem is played. Watching national events on television and cheering your country's mediocre single in a European song contest. It also includes respecting the flag which is perceived the sacred and onto whoever fails to respect it, for he or she shall be publicly punished. These ceremonies are performed and held dear by societies who perceive themselves as quite modern, advanced, high tech and certainly not religious. Obviously those who want to harm the nation may try to step on the flag, particularly on Independence Day, or jog when the siren goes off on Memorial Day, particularly in front of television cameras. After all what point is there in doing something harmful if it's not in the right time, in the right place, and in front of television cameras. The Israeli nation like any other nation needed its civil religion. What will Israel do to create it? We will start by discussing the construction of sacred time and then we will discuss sacred place. In the period before the state was formed, and it was formed in 1948, the Zionist leadership of the Jewish community in what was then Palestine, and first the Turks, and then from 1917 under the British mandate, understood the effort that needed to be invested in creating nationality and community. Thus the new Jewish immigrants to this area climbed Masada. You may wish to read Nahman Ben Yehuda’s book and Yael Zrobavel’s books on that. And then they turn the anniversary of the death of Yosef Trumpeldur and the other defenders of the Jewish settlement Tel Hai into a national memorial day. As early as 1903, the Jewish community is pretty small here. The Jewish Teachers association converted the minor festival of Tu BiShvat into a key holiday around which grade school children could rally, plant trees and so on. Still, a well organized yishuv, pre-state community as impressive as it might be and it was pretty impressive. Can't compare with the strength of a sovereign state, which can enact clause send official minister directives to school and decide on official days of rest. So when the state of Israel was established as James Yang explains admitted the new calendar. A new time map that would emphasize its Jewishness, help build a nation, construct its memory, and act as a common denominator for Jews who immigrated here from 24 different nations. This was not an easy task, thus the Jewish religious calendar which include many holidays that you may be familiar with such as Passover, Chanukah and Rosh HaShanah was appropriated and nationalized becoming the state of Israel's official calendar. Almost every holiday on the Jewish calendar is a statutory holiday, a bank day, with its own special events, food, television programs and holiday newspaper supplements, which are printed in blue and white, the colors of the Israel's flag. Perhaps transportation ceases on these days and throughout the public space, you can see signs indicating the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Of course, this isn't really enough to build a new society. And thus, in the course of its 68 eight years of its existence, the Jewish state has added six new special days to its calendar. As soon as the war of independence came to an end in 1949 and national independence day was declared immediately afterwards. Efforts were instituted to establish memorial day to honor the fallen soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces and the ensuing process culminated in the unique Israeli model which was fixed in 1951 of linking the new memorial day with independence day and forever after in meshing mourning and celebration. Memorial Day always preceded Independence Day, sacrifice comes before glory and joy. Some of the bereaved families were not filled about this order of things. Who can attend the memorial ceremony for one sun in the morning and celebrate in the evening. However, David Ben Gurion the founding father of the state and a very dominant Prime Minister wanted this combination and probably believed In both its educational power and its message more generally. That solution has been with us ever since. Bereaved parents are not the only ones who can not celebrate, however, as Ben Amos and Beit El points out in their research. Due to these unique combination, the day before Independence Day is coupled with memorial ceremonies in most Jewish schools. So those schools do not have any time to celebrate the independence of their nation. As the Israeli state deeply believes In its responsibility to shape its future citizens, the student's lack of ability to celebrate, testifies to a deep undercut in the creating of the nation. Often prefer the public commemoration of death over the public celebration of life. Also in 1951, Yom HaShoah memorial day for the Holocaust was established to commemorate the 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. Rather than select a date when a death camp was liberated or when a racist law was imposed, Israel opted to specifically commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising because that event exhibited what Israel perceived as the time to be a noble form of reason. An uprising in the midst of horrible times. Memorial Day was established in Israel in the 1950s just a few short years after the Holocaust and the formation of the state. At that time, the society was looking for a heroism and not just any kind of heroism but the type that becomes, but the type that comes from fighting the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which took place from April 19 to May 16, 1943. And this uprising constituted the right sort of event, and it was the most significant Jewish uprising. Only later on, following the 1961 Eichmann time, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War did Israel start to look for different kinds of heroism, understanding that just surviving Nazi Germany and the war constituted a form of heroism. And the terror is more generally has new answers. As we can see major events had to take place in Israel before the nation change its perception towards the Holocaust and its survivors. Has an interesting book on this topic as do Meyers, Sandberg and Nigel. Very briefly, in the 50s, even in the 60s, I can still remember those who were only Holocaust survivors and who could not narrate the parties and story were better off keeping publicly silent. Seven days divide Memorial Day for the Holocaust and Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers and Independence Day. The number seven carries deep symbolism in Judaism. The seventh day is the Sabbath. The biblical menorah has seven lamps. And of course, the Jewish mourning period, the Shiva is composed of seven days. Thus Jewish Israelis are supposed to experience a symbolic Shiva from the valley of death to redemption. From the two memorial days, this is the sacred narrative of Zionism in its temporal depiction. We will shortly see its topographical depiction. There is another layer here, however. The public feels Zionism, despite its ideology and myth, is far from being secular. After 1967 Six-Day War, Jerusalem Day was added. In 1997, two years after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Orthodox Jew, another day was established, an official memorial day for Rabin, and this is the fifth new day on the calendar. In 2005, four years after minister of tourism Rehavam Ze'evi was murdered by a Palestinian, another official day was established. Another official memorial day was established. This is the sixth new day on the calendar. Let me get back to the official ceremony of the Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers, because it sets a standard here. It start at 8 PM on the eve of the day, starting a holy day on its eve is a Jewish tradition. At the Wailing Wall in the Old city of Jerusalem. A one minute siren is heard all over the country and a candle lit at the Wailing Wall. The national flag is placed in half-mast position and all the state officials are present. On the following day, most state schools conduct a ceremony which starts at 11 AM with yet another siren. This one marking the beginning of state ceremonies that take place in military cemeteries all over the country. A short note about memorial sirens in Israel is in order. Each siren begins a minute of silence when every Israeli is supposed to unify heart the routine and discipline their bodies. The idea of having a siren was imported from the British, and it is not perceived as being a Jewish tradition. And in fact it serves as the basis for the refusal of ultra-Orthodox Jews here which comprise 8-10% of the population not to respect the holiday, the ritual. We can talk, of course, about a specific groups choice to disrespect other groups sacred moments. But for the moment, suffice to say that most ultra-Orthodox Jews would not publicly disrespect a siren. They may try similar to Israeli Arabs. They may try to avoid the public sphere when the siren is heard. A few of course, would use this sacred moment for Zionism to protest in an attempt to make sure that their protest is aired on television. The issue of the siren also reveals yet another take on Israeli society, the hierarchy of death. At the top, one can find military death. Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers has two sirens. One at the beginning and one at the following day, to mark the beginning of the ceremonies at the cemeteries, as I mentioned before. Then comes the memorial day for the Holocaust with one siren. Which is held at 10 AM, enabling schools to have a unified frame for their ceremonies. Indeed, most start their public ceremonies at that time. In the past when memorial day for the fallen soldiers had three sirens, memorial day for the Holocaust had two. Other memorial days have no sirens. Finally, I wish to make a general note about the Israeli national calendar. What does it say about Israeli society if four or perhaps even five out of the six new days are official memorial days. Is that the case in your country? We can learn a lot about the society by looking at its national kind there. We can learn about the groups that are included and those that are excluded, or neglected, or who feel that they are excluded or neglected. No less important, we can look at the role that memory plays in the nation public sphere. Now that we know something about the sacred Zionist time, what can we learn about the sacred Zionist space? I'm not sure that the Zionist movement in it's first stages, had Jerusalem as its fantasy. It thought instead of Tel Aviv altneuland. The old cemetery of Tel Aviv which was open in 1902, following an epidemic, housed the intellectual elite of the Zionist movement. Including the first Hebrew authors and poets, Zionist leaders, heads of the Haganah, the biggest labor party underground operating here in the pre-state years. The second prime minister, Moshe Sharett, and many others. David Ben-Gurion declared the founding of state in Tel Aviv, but he had to, as Jerusalem was under siege at the time during the 1948 war. Despite the wishes of the Zionist movement to create something fresh and new, Tel Aviv, if you wish, the capital of the state became Jerusalem. And the sacred space of Zionism was placed on Mount Herzl. We will get there shortly. Before we get to Mount Herzl and the topographical narrative it holds, I would like to talk about two other mountains here in Jerusalem that competed for the heart of the nation. Each failed for different reasons. The first is Mount Scopus. Well, in 1925 the Hebrew University was established. Not long after that, a botanical garden was planned right here. At the center of which was the cave of Nicanor found in 1903. Nicanor is believed to have built the doors to the second temple. In 1934 the remains of Leon Pinsker, a Zionist activist, were brought from Odessa, where he had passed away and buried in the cave of Nicanor. The idea of burying Pinsker right here on mount Scopus was that of Menachem Ussishkin, who was also a Zionist leader. Ussishkin had a vision that was larger than that. He wanted a Zionist Pantheon here on Mount Scopus. This could well connect with the all Jewish cemetery located on Mount Olive over looking the old city of Jerusalem. However, the only persons who are buried here on Mount Scopus are Pinsker and Ussishkin himself, who died in 1941. Seven years before the state was born. Since 1948 Mount Scopus was no longer been an option. While the mountain itself was at the hands of Israel after the war, it was an enclave in a territory ruled by Jordan. Thus in 1949 the state of Israel decided to place its national heart on the west side of the city on Mount Hertzl. If you ask yourself what happened to the Hebrew University, the answer is that it also moved to the western part of the city. Following the 1967 Six Day War, it returned to Mount Scopus, but the Pantheon of Zionism stayed in the west of the city. The second mountain is Mount Zion. On this site, according to the Jewish tradition, King David was buried. Mount Zion, by the way, is also very important to Christianity. But this is beyond he scope of this lecture. The importance of Mount Zion lies in the fact that it was the only site that was part of the traditional topography of Jewish sacredness. And was left in the hands of Israel after the 1948 war. During the first years of the state, there was an attempt to make Mount Zion the ritual center of Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers. At the time, this day did not yet have its sacred space. However, these attempts failed fairly quickly, as the suggested ceremony was not conceived as being statused enough. It was infused with nationalistic religious ideology, and thus, did not appeal to many at that time. In fact, until 1969, the opening state ceremony for the fallen soldiers had no sacred space. In 1969, following the 1967 Six Day War, the ceremony settled at the location right in front of the Western Wall, the Wailing Wall in the old city of Jerusalem. Here again, we can see the entanglement of state and religion. Cautiously, I would say that if supporters of Mount Zion would try today to provide the kind of direction they offered in the 1950's, it would be accepted. Take a look at the works of Yagil Levy on the operatization of the Israeli Army. Welcome to Mount Herzl. Mount Herzl was named after the state visionary, Theodore Herzl, about whom you heard in the previous class from Professor Avineri. His grave site is not far from here. The remains of Herzl were brought to Israel and to the mountain in 1949. It goes without saying that the individual grave site is sacred. But, the symbolic power is generated from the whole ensemble of graves, rituals, ceremonies. Including the central stage, the eternal flame, the ceremony that is held on all major television channels. The unique and beautiful garden here, the sacred Zionist space. The symbolic topography of the Israeli State is placed here on Mount Herzl, and stretches from Yad Vashem, Israel official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, to the plot in which the greatst of the nation are buried, which is right here. Including the central military cemetery and the monument. From the lower point of the Jewish people, the Shoah, the value of death to redemption, the establishment of the state involved a heavy price, the falling soldiers. And you can see the grave site later. On the connecting path between Yad Vashem and Mount Hertzl we can find the ultimate monument, which is dedicated to the last of kin, the ultimate sacrifice. Holocaust survivors who died in the 1948 War and were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. Take a look at Ulman's creation, the shattered and reversed home. At the plot of the greats of the nation, where we are here, you can see the graves of presidents, prime ministers, chairs of the Parliament, and Zionist leaders. Let's take a look at the site. All of the grave sites are identical, except the one that is behind me for Rabin. Who was killed by a right-wing Jewish orthodox assassin in 1995. Some of the dignitaries who could have been buried here, requested otherwise. For example, the first president Professor Haim Weitsman, is buried in the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, where he lived. Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister, is buried in Kibbutz Sde Boker, facing the desert transferring a message. Prime Minister Menachem Begin asked to be buried on Mount Olive in the east part of Jerusalem, where the old Jewish cemetery is. To symbolize the connection between all the new eras of the Jewish existence in the area. When we continue our stroll, and I highly recommend reading more about this issue in ezriahu’s book on state cults we encounter the central military cemetery and some of its major monuments. It feels that if you are not here, you are not part of the center of this nation. Some would say that you are nonexistent. Let's take a look at some of the monument and pay attention to the effect that Jewish tradition has here on the mountain in terms of the design of the monuments. They are all abstract, in accordance with the biblical command, thy shall not make for yourself an idol nor any image of anything, Lo taasa lech kol pesel vetmuna. The first monuments that were erected on the mountain were the ones commemorating Jewish soldiers who fought in the British Army during World War II and for the soldiers missing in action during the 1948 war. Many other monuments were added later. For example, for the former Soviet Union veterans from World War II and for the victims of terrorist attacks. The lack of which was a result of a struggle as the family members of these victims also wanted to be included in the memorial day for the following soldiers, and succeeded but with a twist. Here, you can see one of the latest monuments, the one that commemorates the Ethiopian Jews who died on the way to Israel, on the way to Jerusalem. This monument is also a result of a bitter struggle led by the Ethiopian community, which rejected the monument that the state erected in 1989 in Kibbutz Ramat Rachel. Ramat Rachel is not far from Jerusalem, but it is not Jerusalem, and it is certainly not Mount Herzl. The new monument ended up being erected in 2007. The struggle of the Ethiopian community and its success stands for many things including the perceived symbolic power of the mountain. It is interesting to note that the opening ceremony on the eve of memorial day for the fallen soldiers take place and the Wailing Wall. Near where Jews believed the temple used to stand. But the end of the day is marked On Mount Herzl, near the tomb of Hertzl, the one who envisioned the state. Again, the dialogue between religion and state is played out in the mountain in here Jerusalem. These are the sacred time and spaces of Zionist Israel when groups wish to join the mainstream so their deeds and sacrifices will be publicly recognized. More often than not, they want both a place here on Mount Herzl in an officially mnemonic time. Thus, it is no wonder that there have been so many struggles around inclusion and exclusion, around memory and forgetfulness here in terms of sacred times and sacred spaces. Let me end our class with an intriguing question, which you may have an answer for by now. Does Israel have a holiday that includes all of its citizen? If Israel does not have such a holiday, how can we explain that? Can you think of a holiday in your country that includes all citizens? You're probably familiar with the period leading up to a big holiday. During which, only one question is asked. Where will you be spending the holiday? That question incorporates the issue of place. Where will you be spending the holiday? As well as the issue of the collective. Where will you be spending the holiday? Who is that you, and what collective is being discussed? And who are you celebrating this holiday with? The traditional several ceremony on the Eve of Passover is an excellent example, as are Christmas Eve and Ramadan. Since most of you are still young, you may be busy with planning your travel arrangements for the holiday. But some of you are parents who will be busy counting the guests that you expect to show up. Some of you will be planning your escape trying to go as far as possible away from where you are, because you don't like the holiday. Some of you may attend an alternative feast, but you'll be careful to do this at precisely the same time as the real event, like that alternative torch lighting ceremony on the eve of Independence Day here in Jerusalem. So what is in a holiday, and why is it even important? And is there an Israeli holiday? Holidays, and those ceremonies and symbols, come first of all from the religious world. There is no religion, as Emile Durkheim would remind us, without some expenses or event that brings together all the senses. And holidays are important markers on the religious calendar, because they constitute moments of emotional preparation and elation. There is no holiday without a ceremony in which body and soul converge, a ceremony that strengthen the faithful, the community, and its practices. Never mind the identity of that community, or the faith, or practice. What is very important is that everyone takes part, preferably at the same time. And whether we fast or feast, whether we dress in white or in black, it is crucial that we think and act the same as those who are like us and very differently from those who are not. So we have Passover as opposed to Easter, and in this way, we create and strengthen the collective, maintaining the distinction and the boundary between us and them, as states. So how can we know who we are as individual and as a collective if we are not placed in opposition to the other. The other side of this code is obviously the demolition of walls between groups and the creation of something shared, which I will return to a bit later. A holiday is a very important thing, and its absence impairs cohesion, including the prospect of creating community and the likelihood of creating something shared. Is there a holiday for everyone in the Israeli space? We have elaborated on the Israeli calendar. Does any part of this belong to all of us? Well, that's the thing. There's nothing. The Jewish religious calendar that is the basis of the Israeli calendar works only for Jews and not for the 20% of Israeli citizens who are Arabs. Let's look at the new days as well. Independence Day isn't particularly celebrated or even recognized in some sectors in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community, which before, we mentioned, defend that they comprised of 8-10% of the population, not a small group. The Messiah hasn't arrived, so it is complicated, because we're still waiting for him. Even more complicated is the fact that for the 20% of the population, this day of festivity is also a day of tragedy, of catastrophe. On this day, they remembered the 1948 Nakba When they lost the war, land, homes, and so much else with countless number of refugees. This is not quite the recipe for a shared holiday. Jerusalem Day, which marks for the Jews the unification of the two sides of Jerusalem, suffers from the same problem. Memorial Day, for the fallen soldiers which is sacred to Zionism, can link religious Zionist and secular Zionist, but that's where it ends. Again, the ultra-Orthodox and Palestinians are out. Memorial day for the Holocaust, well, that's another complicated one. The ultra-Orthodox cannot stand the siren, because it's a non-Jewish practice, not to mention the fact that the date chosen is problematic for them. Maybe we could take Holocaust day and move it in the direction of commemorating all human rights violations. And the meaning of racism without in any way omitting the Jewish angle. However, I'm not at all sure that Israeli Jews have reached a point where such universal discourse could take place. Nor am I certain that a collective should be built on such foundations of death, destruction, and race laws. Maybe we can find some common content, some common understanding, but it is not a holiday and it certainly isn't a celebration. Equally complex is the day commemorating the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. A not inconsiderable segment of the Jewish population would rather not be reminded of the event. And this group is doing its best to have the day removed from the educational curriculum altogether. I'm talking about some sectors within religious Zionism, some of ultra-Orthodox Jews, and for other reasons, some of the Arab population, as well. Beyond that, using the memory of an assassination is not how you build a collective. Perhaps in another 50 or 60 years, when the generation that experienced the murder is gone, another image of Rabin can emerge as a kind of father of the nation. Then all of Israeli society will proceed what American society is now in relation to Abraham Lincoln. The day honoring the assassinated minister of tourism Rehavam Ze'evi is even worse. Ze'evi was known for his extremely right wing views, including his idea about transferring of Arab citizens. Moreover recently on a television news magazine, there were allegations that Ze'evi killed unarmed prisoners of war and raped female soldiers who were under his command. At the moment, there are calls to cut the funding for his commemoration altogether. It is not clear what the fate of his memorial day will be, what is clear is that it cannot and should not serve as a holiday for all. Sociologists, and I'm a sociologist, don't believe in coincidence. If there is no shared holiday, someone doesn't want there to be a shared holiday. Where there is so much emphasis on holidays and symbols, the question must be asked. Why is there is no holiday shared by the entire population? The fact that there is no holiday that encompasses all of us living in Israel, is a stark statement about divisions between groups. About the lack of sociopolitical impetus to find a connection, and about the fear that perhaps all groups here will find a common language after all, yes. All the tribes that share this space called the Israeli state, and about which you will be learning in this course. The early leaders of the fledgling state of Israel were worried that the thousands of Jewish immigrants who were arriving would not be able to perceive themselves as a single unit, but that concern is long behind us. We can afford to broaden and open the internal border a bit, as a way to break down the walls. We won't be alone on the map of nations that have made sure to establish a holiday for everyone in the country. You are more than welcome to look this up for your home country. The presence or absence of a shared platform is a telling comment about any society that we wish to understand. I hope that our journey into the symbolic processes of nation building in Israel. A journey that took you through the sacred time and sacred space of Zionist Israel, will enable you to better understand the conventions of this society, its mainstream, its boundaries, and its sensitive cause. And no less important, the nature of its struggles, its identity politics, inequalities, culture, collective identity, and recognition. Moreover, you may wish to pay attention to the role both religion and memory play in the public sphere. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the course. >> Thank you, Vered. In her lecture, Professor Vintsky Serrousi has pointed out the attempt made by the Zionist institutions before statehood and by the Israeli state thereafter. To construct a coherent Israeli identity and a shared collective memory as part of the process of state building. At the same time, she emphasized that this attempt has been only partially successful. Several groups like the ultra-Orthodox Jews and the Palestinian citizens of Israel were left out of the national narrative. And some groups only partially identify with this national narrative. In our next class, we will learn more about the different groups that constitute Israeli society. Their demographic characteristics and the transformation of Israel demography more generally.
