Israel for Dummies

The Basics of Israel's Culture

      I've been in Israel for a few days now, and let me tell you it is amazing! The sites! The sounds! The people! It's all incredibly beautiful! But let me give you the down-low on Israeli culture: A lot of it has been influenced by the same culture that is in the Old Testament from the Bible.

     For example, Israel's national language is Hebrew, a language that was regularly used in the Old Testament in areas such as Jerusalem, which is now Israel's capital. 

     But that's pretty broad, so let me give you another example: like in Biblical times, the currency of Israel is the Shekel.

     The food and cooking in Israel is also based on the content in the "Torah," which is composed of the first few books of the Old Testament, that the Jewish religion's beliefs are mainly based on. From the Torah, they came up with 'Kosher' (meaning acceptable foods) and "Non-Kosher" (not acceptable food). Some examples of these restrictions include certain animals not being eaten at all, as well as their produce, dairy can't be eaten with meat, and certain parts of animals can't be eaten. They have Kosher and Non-Kosher Markets in Israel, which I thought was pretty awesome.

     Anyways, that's it for today! I hope you've learned a little more about Israel and its rich culture!

An example of Holy Text in Hebrew