On <em>Hasamba 3G</em>: Newer Kinds of Jews

Abstract

On Hasamba 3G: Newer Kinds of JewsHasamba 3G. 201 0, 201 3. Created by Dror Nobelman and Ruti Zaid. Directed by Dani Sirkin. Produced by Eylon Ratzkovsky. Israel: HOT Channel 3.Hasamba 3G is a cable television series that ran for two seasons in Israel (HOT 3, 2010, 2013). The show is a televised sequel to an original children's book series also titled Hasamba (The Absolutely Absolute Secret Bunch) in Hebrew. The book series, written by former Palmach member Yigal Mossinson, ran from 1949 until author's death in 1994. The books tracked adventures of a group of Israeli teenagers-members of first generation-who fought hostile Palestinians and British Mandate forces in formative years of Yishuv and shortly after independence. The adventures of original group's children were recounted in a sequel book series about second generation of Hasamba. The televised sequel, Hasamba 3G, written by Dror Nobelman and Ruti Zaid, recounts adventures of grandchildren of members of original group, are still around to help newest recruits save nation.Hasamba 3G rewrites Zionist history and represents a new stage in nationalism. Zionism on show is seen not solely as a national movement influenced by core values of Enlightenment but as one that seeks to redefine Judaism itself. The relationship among nation, state, and religion presented on show reflects profound changes in Israeli society and a new vision for its future.Attitudes toward religion in most of Hasamba books and episodes of television series fluctuate. In book series, 1G young fighters were intended to represent best of and split from galuf-that is, Diaspora and its institutionalized and folk religion. The New Jews-secular, manly, and autochthonous-did not want anything to do with shtetl. Although most of so-called New Jews had received a traditional education and grown up in Orthodox families, they preferred to relate to Judaism as a culture and to Israel as a nation; they turned their backs on practices and religiosity. Thus Hasamba 1G, in accordance with this generation's doctrine, never cared much about religion.The second generation of Israelis grew up in an educational system that already did not teach Jewish bookcase, apart from Bible, which was presented as a quasi-mythical history book. Typically this generation knew little about Judaism. They were born secular Israelis; they grew up that way and took pride in this heritage. But from 1990s on, a subterranean stream of Hebrew writings began to reveal what Ruth Kartun-Blum called the burden of secularity1 and a secret yearning for numinous. This development, however, was not reflected in Hasamba 2G, which, after all, was written by first-generation Mossinson.The third generation oflsraelis, influenced by New Age and minority politics, became more open to religious precepts that only lurked in subconscious of their parents and grandparents. The show plays with five key concepts relating to and Israeli identity today: who is a Jew?; the land of our fathers; the chosen people; the holy man; and Judeo-Christianity. All five trace changes in Israeli culture with regard to religion and state.Who Is a Jew?When this question arose in early 1950s in Knesset (the Israeli parliament), it was widely debated, for it would determine could automatically become a citizen of newly established State of Israel. According to Israeli law of return, one is regarded a Jew if he/she was born to a mother or father, had a grandmother or grandfather, or had converted to Judaism.2 The Knesset was trying to interpret religious law in context of a secular polity. What it came up with was a half-breed law that mixed religion and nationalism; it acknowledges as Jews people who, according to law (Halakha), are not Jewish, because they were not born to a mother. …