We have a wonderful country
Op-ed: Israel has warmth, intimacy, an enchanted language. Our home may need some repairing, but it's ours
This greeting has a special meaning in an era in which one must almost apologize for being a proud "Zionist" and for having a wonderful country.
I am a pronounced secular, an offspring of Berl Katznelson's family from my paternal side and the daughter of a woman who was an illegal immigrate during the British Mandate period, and I love Israel with all my heart. It appears that I am not alone.
Although an up-to-date index of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked Israel in particularly low places in housing, the labor market and education, the country ranks high the happiness index. How is that possible?
The following story will perhaps make it clear: Yesterday evening, the cashier at the local supermarket apologized for having to answer an important phone call during work because of her birthday. The customers burst into a "Happy Birthday" song in her honor. I thought to myself that this "intimacy," which is sometimes irritating, is also the Israeli belonging's charm. It might be the secret to the happiness of the citizens who answered the questionnaire.
I am in love with the warmth emitted by the human landscape here. Sometimes it's too tacky and smells of lack of privacy and discreetness, or in a nutshell: Israeli chutzpah.
I deeply love our language. Enchanted sounds derived from our Jewish holy and literary sources, which resemble no other language in the world. Have you ever thought about the magnificent Zionism of the Hebrew writers in the early 20th century like Brenner, Baron, Shofman, Bialik? They chose in Russia to create a new language, although it is not their mother tongue and they have no clear readership.
Sometimes when I walk the pavements I think we really are the People of the Book. In the global village, foreign languages are still being spoken. And even if Berlin has changed completely to become the capital of intellect and tolerance, the language spoken there is still the one used to oil the wheels of hatred against us not so long ago.
Work on the atmosphere first
I love this nation which in times of disaster or war becomes a global country. People accommodate in their home missile refugees who were matched through captions on television. Show me one other country in the world where people welcome strangers into their home not as part of a sofa exchange of interests.
At times of peace we can take pride in our fine fashion which does not fall short in quality from European capitals and is also sold for saner prices. Israeli movies have also turned long ago from "burekas films" into gourmet meals. It's a shame that some of the filmmaking forces are still taking it upon themselves to emphasize the shortcomings instead of getting carried away with the achievements.
I like meeting soldiers, especially those in combat service. I am against the occupation but I am very grateful to them for choosing to dedicate their best years to defending us. I really regret the fact that the salt of the earth have been turned into heartless troops in some people's eyes and I feel a special need to thank them very much.
In my Tel Aviv home I have set up a weekend guestroom for combat soldiers so that they get a taste of the pleasures of the city and ignore the defamation. As far as I am concerned, if all the "bleeding hearts" in the secular sector would join the army, burden would be eases substantially and we would be spared the phenomenon of brutalization at the roadblocks.
The whiners complain that we don't act like the gentiles in apple-pie order, "by the book," that we improvise, do a sloppy job, manipulate and cause a lot of damage out of negligence. Out of that same poor tendency, we can take pride in the fact that despite the difficulties in education and higher education – we are among the leaders in the field of startups.
Not just relative to the population, but in an absolute manner. We can take pride in the fact that as a surviving people, we are very creative in our solutions.
Above all, we have a home of our own and we must take care of it. Like every other house it requires a lot of renovation, but it's ours. As a psychologist, I suggest that we work on the atmosphere first. Even today we can declare for certain, "We have a wonderful country."
Dr. Dafna Katzenelson Bank, a senior clinical psychologist, teaches at the Ono Academic College, Haifa University and Cathedra Amamit Rehovot
