Hakhel, the festival of Jewish learning and Israeli culture, took place for the second year in a row at Sapir Academic College outside Sderot. The campus lends itself to the interactions among young and old, religious and secular that are so characteristic of this annual event of pluralistic Jewish-Israeli culture. This year the addition of special activities for children, from toddlers to teenagers, and the presence of youngsters from NOAM, the Masorti (Conservative) youth movement made the atmosphere even more multi-generational and lively. Conspicuous in their logo T-shirts as well were the students from the pre-army preparatory courses, about 700 of them, who mingled with one another trading impressions of the various sessions, and talking about their programs.

For the third year running, a special program was created for Russian speakers and over 300 came from all over the country to attend workshops, lectures, performances, and for the first time, workshops in a bet midrash format. All in all about 4,000 people attended this year, many of them from the south. Over 1,000 participants paid full price for tickets, while an estimated 300 people were evidently gate-crashers.

This year, for the first time, the festival organized a special program for children and teenagers, Hakhel Tzair, which included activities for families with young children and sessions geared for various age groups. The programming included sukkah decorating for all ages and story telling for young children as well as teenagers. A midrash-movie session dealt with the film Ushpizin, which centers around the holiday of Sukkot. There was an activity on Ethiopian music and dance led by a group from the Sderot community center. Another highlight was the session for bar mitzvah aged boys and girls run by Amichai Lau Lavie, the founder of “Storahtelling,” which combines drama and creative midrash around Torah stories. For older teenagers there was a workshop that included activities and a debate about the possibilities of building a traditional pluralistic community.

The enthusiasm of the young people who participated in Hakhel Tzair means that it will probably become a new festival tradition. As usual, participants had to choose among a wide variety of sessions, 115 in all, including workshops, lectures, and panel discussions, musical and theater performances, and film screenings. The festival, which ran from 11:00 AM to midnight, culminated in a performance by HaGroovatron, an eight-member band dedicated to rejuvenating classic Israeli songs, rearranging them in a variety of styles, from rock and roll to reggae, Country and Western and jazz.

The festival was blessed with the creative energies of 235 performers, lecturers, group leaders, and organization representatives, some of them teenagers from youth movements. Lively interchange also took place around the 45 booths stocked with books and brochures about various activities and study programs run throughout the year by participating organizations.

One session summarized the trend of Jewish renaissance in Israel, of which Hakhel itself is an outstanding example. Yair Sheleg led a symposium that dealt with his recently published book, The Jewish Renaissance in Israeli S ociety , published by the Israel Democracy Institute . Haim Beer, Na’ama Azulai, and Meir Buzaglo were charged with discussing Jewish renaissance, where from and where to?

Azulai, whose doctorate focuses on this issue, cited many reasons for its development, and pointed out that the movement is expanding, networking among young people, olim, and traditional populations. She also noted that Israeli philanthropy is getting involved and that Jewish renaissance is not just the purview of the secular and not just about studying Jewish texts. More and more batei tefilah (praying communities) are being formed and people are less frightened of the experiential aspects of Judaism. Azulai concluded with the idea that political intervention and leadership are required as the movement gains more influence.

Dr. Buzaglo reiterated that this trend of refocusing on Jewish values offers an opportunity to solve two problems about which there is broad consensus: education and social gaps. It is time to redefine Zionism, he declared and Jewish renaissance can be the guide. Haim Beer praised Yair Sheleg’s book for organizing the picture of Jewish renaissance along two axes: the spiritual and the cultural. Beer believes that we need to take responsibility for Jewish continuity and declared that we need a new halakhah that meets the needs of the 21^st century. Halakha cannot be legislated he said, pointing out that most Jews in Israel circumcise their male children, though there is no law which forces them to do so.    

Many speakers at Hakhel echoed these and related themes: Courage is needed to face the issues. We need to organize politically, not necessarily in a political party, to create the change that seems to be the message of Jewish renaissance, of which Hakhel is one important expression. Society is ready to solve issues of Jewish character of the state without further legislation. Creative solutions to social issues can be rooted in Jewish heritage without threatening the secular population. Theocracy is what we have, Jewish values and heritage as a guiding force is what is lacking.

These themes were repeated in many session, along with the idea that the secular-religious divide seems to be becoming more and more blurred, something which was clearly on display at Hakhel, where new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Orthodox, and secular mixed in equal numbers.

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