Jewish Folk Dance As A Means Of Creating A New Israeli...

Jewish national identity was colonized when Jewish people were forced out of ancient Israel and dispersed to various different nations. Anti-Semitism was one of the principle means for this colonization because it made it dangerous for Jewish people to express their own national identity in the European nations they dispersed to. As a result, certain traditions, like Jewish folk dance, which were not codified, were lost. Jewish folk dance also disappeared because folk traditions are strongly connected to the land in which they originated and the majority of Jews left Israel. Furthermore, because of the third commandant of the Torah, Jews were not allowed to depict images of their dance. Consequently, their traditional dance was lost forever. However, when the Jews returned to Israel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they found it important to recreate traditions like folk dance to reassert their fractured nationhood after so many years of diaspora. Thus, Israeli folk dance was a means of creating a new Israeli culture. Israeli folk dance was created by using elements from other dance cultures with themes and music of modern Israel. In this paper, I will argue that while anti-Semitism resulted in the colonization of Jewish national identity, women re-created Israeli folk dance as a means to establish a new Jewish identity, as well as an identity for themselves. By focusing on Romania and Yemen, we will identify the vestiges of colonialism in Israeli folk dance, andShow MoreRelatedA Critical Review of â€Å"the Ambiguities of Football, Politics, Culture, and Social Transformation in Latin America† by Tamir Bar-on.14147 Words   |  57 PagesA Critical Review of â€Å"The Ambiguities of Football, Politics, Culture, and Social Transformation in Latin America† by Tamir Bar-On. Introduction: In Latin America, soccer is not a game; it is a way of life. It is mixed in with politics and nationalism. It defines social classes. How politically influential is soccer in Latin America? It is used by â€Å"various Latin American socio-economic elites in order to retard the acceleration of working class and popular discontent† (Bar-On 1997:1.8). Is itRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesFine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Allida M. Black, ed., Modern American Queer History Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: