“Why,” ask Dan Senor and Saul Singer in their book The Genius of Israel, “are Israelis so damn happy?” Although the book comes during a period of intense sorrow and worry for the citizens of the Jewish state, studies of global happiness have, year after year, ranked it as one of the world’s happiest countries. In his review, Meir Soloveichik looks at their answer:
In contrast to the atomistic sense of identity cultivated in much of the Western world, and the epidemic of loneliness now affecting so much of America, Israel has succeeded in creating a culture in which individuality is celebrated but is always placed within the context of family, community, and country.
How does it do this? The answer begins with family. The authors emphasize the way in which Israeli society cherishes children, a fact reflected in a birthrate far beyond replacement, even among the secular members of Israeli society. This, in turn, [shapes] the culture of the workplace, as employers are incredibly understanding of the parental responsibility of their employees. . . . Within this familial culture, Jews in Israel are constantly reminded that they are part of a people, and a history. In rituals like the Passover seder, where the story of Exodus is annually retold, Judaism has created what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has called “a nation of storytellers.”
Israelis continue to create families; weddings that had been meant to take place in halls and hotels have been moved to homes and even army bases, with at times both bride and groom wearing the IDF green under the wedding canopy. In one notable story, a soldier returned from the front for one evening to wed the love of his life, and his neighbor offered him a large backyard in which to hold the ceremony. As the groom’s mother prepared for the wedding, her hairdresser asserted that he would ensure Ishay Ribo, one of the most famous singers in Israel, would perform. Ribo did indeed come, singing the song of the Passover seder: “In every generation they rise up to destroy us, and God saves us from their hands.”
Read more on Washington Free Beacon: https://freebeacon.com/culture/one-family-one-nation/