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Some Memories
Of Celebrations Past

CATHERINE GERSON

F

Special to The Jewish News

arty-three years of in-
dependence have
brought about a
change in the way Israelis
feel about their country.

Independence Day celebra-
tions, which once consisted
of all-night dancing, are now
"forced and have lost most of
their spontaneity," accor-
ding to 43-year-old Malka
Regev.
Ms. Regev, a teacher, was
born in 1948, only a few
months before Israel's
Declaration of Independence.
What she remembers most
clearly in thinking back on
the Independence Day
celebrations of her youth "is
dancing, dancing, and more
dancing.

"I can't remember ever
sleeping on Independence

Day," she said, describing
how she and her friends
would meet in the center of
town to dance through the
night. "Only when our legs
started trembling, and we
were too dizzy and tired to
continue, did we stop. And
not even then, at 4 or 5 in
the morning, did we go home
to sleep."
Sitting in her spacious
Ramat Gan apartment, only
a few yards away from Scud-
damaged buildings, Ms.
Regev compared the celebra-
tions of her children with
her own celebrations.
"While we activated
ourselves, dancing to our
own singing, the children
today expect to be amused
and entertained by others,"
she said. "They walk from
place to place passively sear-
ching for the best perfor-
mance but not really par-
tiapating, while in the '60s
and early '70s we created
our own festivities."
While acknowledging that
the changes were to have
been expected, Ms. Regev
still thinks that "it was
better before."
As a teen-ager in the
Israeli Scouts movement,
she remembers feeling that
"by dancing, I personally
continued the tradition
which began with the first
independence festivities. We
continued the spontaneous
outbursts of dancing in the
streets, just like the first
night in 1948."
While skeptical, Ms. Regev
expressed some hope that
the first Independence Day

following the Persian Gulf
war would bring with it
some of the happiness and
freedom she used to feel as a
young girl on Independence
Day.
Although Ms. Regev's
apartment was not damaged
by the Scud missiles raining
down on Ramat Gan only a
few months ago, the school
in which she teaches was hit,
and many of her pupils had
to be evacuated from their
shattered homes.
Despite recent events,
however, the school and
municipality, after consulta-
tions with psychologists,
decided not to use the last
war as a theme in this year's

It is uncertain what
effect will the
experiences of the
Persian Gulf war
will have on
Independence day
festivities.

celebrations. Instead, they
chose to continue the tradi-
tional focus on the War of
Independence.
"I think most of us are try-
ing to forget the terror of the
winter, of being on a cons-
tant alert for the radio beeps
and the sirens," Ms. Regev
said. "During the war, my
students talked about their
feelings and fears constant-
ly, but now they refuse and
just want to go on with their
lives."
What effect will the expe-
.riences of the Persian Gulf
war have on Independence
Day festivities?
"I really don't know," Ms.
Regev said. "I hope it will
improve the celebrations,
that it will bring back to life
the bond between the fallen
soldiers and what they
fought for. But it can also
create total hysteria. There
is no way of telling what will
happen."
But she and her husband
will do what they have done
every year since their chil-
dren started celebrating by
themselves.
"We will get together with
some old friends," she said,
"to sing and talk about old
times, laughing and crying
over the good memories and
the bad."

❑

Jewish Telegraphic Agency