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An Intimate Look At Israeli Culture

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By SARAH ROTHWELL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 30, 2008

USF CAMPUS - There's more to Israeli culture than what is shown on major news networks, according to University of South Florida Professor Rina Dochin.

Students in Dochins' Israeli Film and Fiction class learn less about the country's political conflicts and more about Israel from a personal viewpoint. By reading books and watching movies, students learn about the country from the people themselves.

"I teach what students don't see on TV," Dochin said. "I teach about the daily lives of the people."

Dochin was born and raised in Israel. After high school, she served in the Israel Defense Forces, stationed at a kibbutz on the Jordanian border. Later, she studied archeology and geography at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1969, Dochin and her husband moved to the United States. Dochin was director of the Hebrew Program at the University of Illinois until moving to Tampa in 2001. She is the director of the Hebrew Program at USF.

Students consider the professor's personal history beneficial.

"This is a unique course with a fantastic teacher," Nachman Susson said. "She offers a different perspective on Middle Eastern culture."

Israeli Film and Fiction includes lectures, film viewings and readings. Students start the semester watching "The Word Maker" and "They Were Ten." They study writings by 20th century authors Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Dvora Baron, among others.

"In Israel, writers were considered replacements for the prophets of ancient times," Dochin said. "You can see through novels and stories what bothered the Israelis, what the social problems were and what the hopes were for the future." The films studied offer a different perspective.

"For a very long time, movies depicted what was approved by the government, so it wasn't real life at all," Dochin said. "Very recently, films have started to change."

Students watch films from both time periods. Because Dochin chairs the Tampa Bay Jewish Film Festival every spring in Tampa, she is able to incorporate more modern Israeli films into the course. Students are encouraged to attend festival showings, then compare and contrast the new films with the old.

"Film is the medium students relate to most easily," said former student Steven Behr. "They are the best way to understand Israeli culture without actually going there."

Behr considered Dochin's class informative and interested. He appreciated the professor's teaching style.

"She lets the artistic works speak for themselves, works from a variety of religious and political ideologies," said former student Steven Behr. "She doesn't push perceptions."

"You don't have to agree with what everyone says, and that includes myself," Dochin tells her students.

Dochin visits Israel as often as possible, making it easier to keep her lectures up-to-date.

During one class, she talked to students about what Israeli people do for recreation.

"The Israeli people love to eat," she said. "They also love outdoor activities. They love to walk. There are lots of sidewalk affairs."

A couple of minutes later, a student raised his hand with a question about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I don't want to talk about politics," Dochin said, then changed the subject.

Sarah Rothwell can be reached at (813) 865-4845 or srothwell @tampatrib.com.

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