Friday, November 7, 2025

Can I do TIDE in Israel?

Sort of, not really. You are thinking a Jewish state will allow me to put my Judaism into full practice in the full dimension of life. Problem is Israel is more a military base than a real country. If it were an independent country it wouldn't have needed 300 billion USD from the Americans to survive.

The military is mostly what the country is about, that and being anti-religious or superficially religious. There's little derech eretz in terms of good manners. People are far from being German in the good sense of the term, meaning self-disciplined, orderly, and polite. I dealt with a German on the phone the other day, I couldn't get over how organized and polite this man was. It was so refreshing. And he was personable too. It was really something. Israelis are not like that, not usually.

They have their good points, but derech eretz is not one of them. It's Israel. And you might like it there. But it's not a great place for TIDE. There's are obstacles to everything. They are so overboard on their requirements for certifications, degrees. It's obnoxious, not practical. There are few libraries, very little culture. Any classical music is supplied by Russian immigrants. It's a difficult place, not an orderly, reasonable place. The economy is lame. Mostly it's about the military. Nearly every time you hear of a big business deal in Israel it's selling of weapons systems or spy software. Most other industries are not robust. The best place for TIDE is the American Midwest, Switzerland, and England, due to the Germanic influence. Also the Breuer's community in NY since they follow German Jewish custom and the atmosphere still enjoys the influence of Rav Hirsch and Rav Breuer.

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