Front Page of Yediot Achranot (most widely read daily newspaper in Israel) on Pesach (Passover) Eve: Over 80% of Jewish Israelis Do Not Eat Hametz (leavened dough: bread) On Holiday. Close to 100% of Jewish Israelis participate in a Seder (ritual feast commemorating exodus from Egypt thousands of years ago).
And this in the face of so many other statistics, real and anecdotal, that Israel is losing its Jewish identity, after having absorbed over a million mainly secular Russians (in the 90s), with the "native" Jewish population itself identifying itself overwhelmingly as "secular."
Beyond the statistics, the headlines in the newspaper on Pesach eve were full off holiday puns, only understandable with a relatively deep knowledge of the holiday and what it stands for...not so secular if you ask me.
Tradition is an interesting thing...very difficult to get started (how many new successful religions were created recently) but even more difficult to die out.
Something for start-ups to remember as they challenge the way people do things...tradition has a strong hold on us. For example, newspapers and books, themselves promoters of tradition, have been called many times over relics of history, but many of us still like to read a book, made of real paper. Call me a traditionalist, I am proud to be on. While I also critique many parts of my/our tradition, I also acknowledge the deep positive values in it, and as a political reality, the strong hold tradition has over the people.
OK, back to the holiday, a few days left of eating matzo and contemplating the exodus. May you all be enjoying true liberation as well connection to tradition.
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