More from Friday of old Jerusalem,
And today – “books ladies and gentlemen books”,
Children of the Ein Kerem neighborhood wait in line for a mobile city library, 1963.
In the first years of the small state of Israel, which had just been established, the neighborhoods were built hastily, containing waves of Jews from all over the world.
Most of the neighborhoods were built as transit or tent camps, which absorbed immigrants from different cultures into the hot and sweaty melting pot of the Land of Israel.
The parents who came from distant countries and started a new life in Israel did not yet master Hebrew, and the libraries initially also included books in the original languages of the new aliyah.
Since no public buildings had yet been built, the budget was limited, and the neighborhoods were scattered and isolated, the mobile library was built – A truck with bookshelves on it, which arrived every day of the week and at a fixed time to the centers of the neighborhoods and the crossings. There, a line of curious children, who learned the new language at school, waited for the library.
The books were a refuge from the difficulties of everyday life, the difficulties of acclimatization of the parents, and an escape to the realms of imagination.
At that time, the radio was the main refuge of escapism, in radio dramas that were actually a story or a movie that went over the sound waves. Of course, there was no television yet, binging on Netflix was a far-fetched idea that didn’t even enter the science fiction section, let alone a touch screen in the palm of your hand, which reaches from one end of the world to the other end in a second with the push of a button.
The excitement before the truck’s arrival was at its peak, and children exchanged 3-4 books, which they devoured eagerly, knowing that it would be best to finish the readings by the regular exchange next week.
In 1968, there were 8 trucks in the whole country that were used as mobile libraries, and at the height of the boom of mobile libraries, in 1975, there were 14 mobile libraries in the whole country that were used by the library areas, the kibbutzim, and the moshavim, on a predetermined weekly route.
The solution was excellent for people in their new country, and generations of children grew up to be bookworms and traveled the world with their minds.
children of educated populations alongside children of new immigrants who did not know the language, could create an alternative reality and education for themselves, and build an independent life path on their own.
We have come a long way since then.
The book as a source of escapism was initially replaced by television, which transmitted and shaped the consciousness of the people with the content and messages that the creators and editors wanted to convey to the people, later the television channels were also opened to channels from foreign countries, and after the commercial channels broke into our lives, the television became mainly a business-digital supermarket that broadcasts shallow programs between advertisements and conveys sophisticated messages from the wealthy, who also own the broadcasting rights.
We have become zombies who ask fewer questions, and the messages, beautifully wrapped in a bright and shimmering cellophane wrapper, are delivered directly to the mind.
The next generation of the people of the book became in part the people of the smartphone, with the consumption of superficial and catchy messages and the ability to pay attention continuously for 10 seconds, until the next pleasure, along with a persistent feeling of FOMO, which brings teenagers and adults to constant distress.
The book was replaced by the story and the Tik Tok, and the reading and the imagination were replaced by huge companies that engineer the consciousness of an entire generation.
But how can we complain?
It happened and is happening in our shift.
This is our Jerusalem-
A line of children for a mobile library who are thirsty for knowledge in a new and emerging culture, innocent and devoid of artificial thrills with every passing minute, for children from neighborhoods and crossings, who will later become the backbone of the country.
And the passages that have become neighborhoods in a vibrant and developing city.
May we get to return to our true essence as the people of the book and a light to the Gentiles, and may we be able to judge by ourselves what is good for us.
Shabbat Shalom to all, far and near, from Jerusalem.
