Questions to those that'd know (Israeli perhaps?)
Hello, just watched the film recently, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was engrossing and light-hearted, yet curiously serious and important. Moving, to say the least, although I can't wholeheartedly support the ending. Not for want of a happy ending (okay, okay, a little bit of that, I have to admit...), but while I understood Ashraf's motives, I still don't think he would have, given his character, characterization, and going to the restaurant to do it. To the last, why risk the chance of hurting Noam? As one review pointed out, I think it was more poetic than justified....
But that's beside the point. What I really wanted to say is that I was especially surprised to see how Westernized Tel Aviv is. I knew it was modern, but I had no idea whatsoever the city was so progressive. Forgive my ignorance, but if you had asked me 2 days ago what I thought it would be like socially in Israel, I would have easily answered "conservative." Maybe even with a "very."
Well, I couldn't be happier to be proved wrong. I share similar views and attitudes with the main characters anyway, but have just more or less learned to live with the conservative environment I live in.
So, my questions, spurred by this Tel Aviv fascination:
Why is it that Tel Aviv is so progressive? I suspect that the rest of Israel is not like this...or am I wrong? Why is the environment so different from somewhere like...say, Haifa, or Jerusalem (I suspect I know the last: religion and traditions there are much too deep-rooted?).
It's just puzzling because Jews (I don't want to make a sweeping statement here, but generally) in North America seem pretty conservative. In my mind, they could only be more conservative, given that they're living in Israel, not having had to make some compromises to assimilate into "inclusive" North American societies.
Just curious! Would love to hear some thoughts from those more knowledgeable, or from those who live there, or have lived there, "there" being Israel and better yet, Tel Aviv.