The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines culture as “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time” (Merriam-Webster, Culture). There are many aspects to each culture; five important aspects to look at when defining a culture include language, religion, government, tradition, and customs. The first three of these aspects are relatively self-explanatory, but the last two aspects seem somewhat similar at first glance. Throughout this cultural awareness essay we will define the meaning of tradition as to include historical aspects, and customs as being more in present day.
The country of Israel in its short history has had many major conflicts and important cultural issues to manage with. Before discussing the history and culture of Israel, it would first be helpful to understand the geography and terrain of the country. Although Israel is a relatively small country (8,357 square miles), there are four geographic regions: the Mediterranean coastal plain, the hill regions of northern and central Israel, the Great Rift Valley, and the Negev. There are mountains, valleys, coastal areas, lakes, the Jordan River, and much more, which creates a varied landscape with many different microclimates and unique issues created by each type of terrain (Encyclopedia Britannica, “Israel”).
The population of Israel’s overwhelming life in urban centers, less than a tenth of the country’s total population living in rural areas, and over half of the country’s population living in the two coastal metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv-Yafo and Haifa. The country is currently working on trying to decrease overpopulation of these areas by helping develop new towns in the north and south and pushing recent immigrants to move t...
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...n technological and industrial innovation.
Works Cited
“About Israel: History.” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Web. 21 Mar. 2014. http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/History/Pages/default.aspx. “About Israel: State: Facts about Israel: The State.” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Web.
21 Mar. 2014. http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/State/Pages/The%20State.aspx.
“Culture.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture. “Israel.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia
Britannica Inc., 2014. Web.. 21 Mar. 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchceked/topic/296740/Israel.
“Land of Israel.” Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed.
Vol. 10. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 100. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 17. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 165-83. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. .
Situated just north of Lake Kinneret overlooking the Huleh Valley in Israel and the Al Raquad Valley in Syria sits a plateau, which rises to between 700 and 1,400 feet above sea level and is perhaps the most strategic piece of land in the Middle East, depending on one’s perspective. (Jewish Virtual Library, 2001) The antiquities left behind by the Romans, Turks, Greeks, and Mongols, just to name a few of the empires that have conquered this area, date back several centuries. This relatively small area of land, roughly the size of Queens, New York, is approximately 40-45 miles long and 15.5 miles across at its widest point, and controls the Kinneret, Israel’s only lake and foremost water resource. (Bard, 2002) This much-disputed piece of land is called the Golan Heights.
The Middle East has since time immemorial been on the global scope because of its explosive disposition. The Arab Israeli conflict has not been an exception as it has stood out to be one of the major endless conflicts not only in the region but also in the world. Its impact continues to be felt all over the world while a satisfying solution still remains intangible. A lot has also been said and written on the conflict, both factual and fallacious with some allegations being obviously evocative. All these allegations offer an array of disparate views on the conflict. This essay presents an overview of some of the major literature on the controversial conflict by offering precise and clear insights into the cause, nature, evolution and future of the Israel Arab conflict.
Israel was a very hard place to live when it first was established. We often found sickness, which caused many families to start over again. Because of this, there were many authors who expressed their feelings during this time. This can be seen this in the story Dr. Schmidt. In this story, it is clear that there are a lot of old and new Jews, topics relating to Zionism, and a gap between Ashkenazi Jews and Yemenite Jews. These topics have helped readers relate to these stories, and motivate them to live a better life. This is why the state of Israel has been so successful in its short life. The drive to succeed has shaped the State of Israel for the better.
Israel, the place call the holy land, the land, which Jesus walked, however, it is widely acknowledged that tensions between secular and religious sectors constitute a salient feature of Israeli society. If one were to try to summarize the relationship of Israel to Jewish religion, he would say that it is related but not equivalent to certain concepts of Israel. Most people think of the holy land when they hear the names Israel but one must ask the question is Israel truly the holy land. This essay will show the relationship between religion and Israel. Religion in the broadest sense may be defined as man's attitude towards the unseen, and the earliest forms of human thought furnish the clue from which must be traced the development of those great systems of religion that have at different time periods been professed by certain groups of people. The term religion must also include, not only beliefs in unseen spiritual agencies, but also numerous customs, superstitions, and myths which have usually been regarded by the people of the specific society or community. As far as, Jewish religion goes, there are many different opinions about the origin and history of people and the religion.
Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1092-1100. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 May 2014.
Detroit: Gale Books, 2007. 649-687. Gale Virtual Reference Library -. Web. The Web.
Culture by definition is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices, as well as customary beliefs, social forms and material traits that characterize a racial, religious or ...
Since 1967, numerous illegal Israeli settlements have been built on Palestinian land and the occupied territory, “housing more then 400,000 Jewish settlers.” Even since 1967, there has been a lot of divergence, unrest, bereavement, war and obliteration on both sides. There was a war in 1973 and two intifadas Palestinian uprising one that began in 1987 and one that began in 2000 that brings us into the 21st century. There have been many attempts in resolving conflicts however; the conflict is a matter of whether the Palestinians should be permitted to form their own independent country and government in an area that was once theirs yet now occupied and currently the nation of Israel. The Arab- Israeli conflict is historically a fuse that ignites regional battle due to the occupation of Palestine.
Tom Quirk and Gary Scharnhorst. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 380-386. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Niles North High School. 3 Mar. 2008.
Culture is a way of life that allows a diverse group of people to interrelate with one another. It is usually passed down from one generation to the next by communication and imitation. The term itself has a set definition, but it normally relates to the behavior, beliefs, values, and symbols that are accepted by a group of people. Culture can also be used to describe the time period and events in history. In the sense of what was deemed as popular during a specific stage in time and its impact on the culture surrounding it. Micro-historian have been dissecting and interpreting the meaning of popular culture and the courses of action that lead up to the events.
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people…Culture in its broadest sense of cultivated behavior; a totality of a person’s learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning (http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/choudhury/culture.html).
According to Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of “culture” is “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”. On the other hand, accroding to Raymond Williams, it is more complicated. However, ther is something that is certain: Culture is ordinary, which happens to be the title of an article he wrote to define and explain what culture is.
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.