New age in Israel comes of age

BARRY DAVIS ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE

Not so long ago, Israeli new age-oriented gatherings were, by and large, viewed as "alternative" or "quaint." However, since the debut Shantipi get-together was held in an avocado grove near Pardes Hanna in northern Israel in 1997, the new age scene in Israel has burgeoned in impressive incremental leaps and bounds.

That initial "tribal" gathering was attended by around 2,000 faithfuls, mostly 20-something Israelis who had backpacked around the Indian sub-continent for several months after completing their military service and were looking to recapture something of that on-the-road insouciance and eastern chill-out ambiance.

In the interim, all manner of new age festivals have cropped up at different times of the year. These days, in addition to the mid-spring Shantipi Festival, there is the Passover Boombamela gathering on Nitzanim Beach south of Tel-Aviv, the fall Bereshit Festival, the Segol three-day event held shortly after Bereshit, as well as other smaller events. The festival consumer cross-section has also changed significantly over the past seven years. This year's Shantipi Festival, for example, attracted around 12,000 visitors with both families and unattached young adults attending and taking advantage of the nearby Akhziv Beach.

Israel's new age festival scene has developed against a backdrop of fluctuating political developments. The 2000 Bereshit Festival took place literally as the current intifada erupted. It was thought that the escalating violence would adversely affect attendance at ensuing festivals; happily this was not the case. In fact, some festivals attract more than 20,000 visitors, with increasing numbers of Israelis looking to get away from it all.

Festival organizer Ronnie Tabachnik feels that the ongoing hostilities have actually contributed to the festival's growing popularity.

"Escapism isn't just a concept for the psychologists," he said. "It's real. In my experience, particularly because of what's going on around us, people are looking for some kind of respite. We provide that, big time. Of course, there are concerns about having such a large gathering of people and all the security considerations that entails. But in this country, you always have a police and an army presence at this kind of event anyway. We're going ahead as planned; we refuse to be party to any national doom and gloom."

A glance at the list of leading Israeli artists appearing at any of the new age festivals shows that Tabachnik's words are not just the stuff of PR-oriented bravado. The musical line-up at last year's Boombamela, for example, featured such local stellar acts as Moshe Ben-Ari, Corinne Alal, Reva LeSheva and Ariel Zilber, while megastars like Shalom Chanoch and Ehud Banai have performed at Bereshit and Shantipi.

Of course, new age is about much more than hip-shaking musical grooves. All the festivals offer a wide range of alternative and holistic treatments, workshops and events. There are meditation sessions, didgeridoo-building and playing, women-only gatherings and, despite its primarily secular ethos, Jewish study, religious discussion and even prayer services.

This year's Boombamela Festival provided further evidence of the new age festivals' acceptance into the mainstream fold with the addition of the Prayer and Love Village, run by Rabbi Michael Golomb. The concept is not new – visitors to the 2003 Bereshit Festival could take part in prayer and study sessions with TV personality Rabbi Mordehai Gafni, and Golomb has also attended several alternative gatherings in Israel over the past few years. This was, however, the first time that Boombamela had a completely kosher-for-Passover area devoted exclusively to religious matters. The religious compound included a yeshivah and even a stage for Jewish ethnic music.

"There will be a lot of sharing at the village," Golomb said at the time. "The most important thing today is to get things together. The only antidote to the crisis is the unity of the Jewish nation."

Boombamela, Shantipi and Bereshit all have women-only activities and the Prayer and Love Village had its own feminine aspect at the tent of the shechinah (divine presence).

"Woman is the divine presence," said Golomb.

Other religious compound activities have included a synagogue, as well as yoga and tai-chi sessions where participants learned to make the shapes of Hebrew letters with their bodies. In a country where there is sometimes a gaping divide between secular and religious Jews, new age festivals are providing a healthy bridging point.

But things seem to be shifting once again. The new age scene appears to have reached its peak a year or so ago, when the likes of Boombamela and Bereshit were attracting crowds of up to 30,000. While festival organizers, artists and stall owners were naturally delighted with the voluminous traffic, some were beginning to shy away from the crowds and wax nostalgically about the "early years" and the intimacy the first festivals offered.

The message has been fully taken on board by the new age "establishment." This year's Shantipi Festival was drastically downsized to about 12,000 visitors, with a consummately reduced artistic program, and last month's Bereshit Festival, held on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, was similarly streamlined.

"These new age festivals are not going to bring peace or the Messiah," said Tabachnik, who, together with his cohorts, has gone through a gradual maturation process and come out older and wiser. "We just want to make people happy and give them a fun time in a beautiful nature spot. Anything else is a bonus."

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