THE DRUZE OF ISRAEL
What We Learned At Lunch
In The Old Village of Isfiya
STORY AND PHOTOS BY TIM BOXER
HO knew you can get a kosher
meal in a Druze village? Azmi Azmi, a knowledgeable and
amicable Druze tour guide, welcomed members of the American
Jewish Press Association to Isfiya, a Druze village on Mount
Carmel. He led us to a guest house in the quaint Old Village
section of town where a typical Mideast lunch was already on
the tables. He said thousands of tourists come here,
including students from the University of Haifa nearby.
It was a drizzling day in January.
No one carried an umbrella so we were glad to be indoors for
the afternoon. On the wall was the Druze five-colored flag
symbolizing their principles: green for nature, red for the
land, yellow for sunlight, blue for the sky, and white for
purity. On the next wall was a framed rabbinical certificate
attesting to the kashrut of the kitchen.
The Druze number more than a
million spread out in the Galilee, the Golan and the
bordering countries of Lebanon and Syria. Plus another
million in the rest of the world. "We don’t have a
homeland," Azmi said. "We don’t believe in borders or holy
places."
The Druze population in Isfiya is
12,000. Azmi said that 80 percent of the Druze serve in the
IDF compared to 65 percent of Israelis who serve. "We have
five Druze serving as pilots. That’s why the Jews consider
the Druze their only friends."
An offshoot of Shia Islam, the
Druze abstain from pork, and don’t mix meat and dairy (like
the Jews, curiously).
"We believe in reincarnation,"
Azmi said. "Death is the end of one part and the beginning
of another part. We are reborn as people, never as animals."
The Druze are divided in religious
and nonreligious. You make a choice at age 15. If you opt
for religious you give up "smoking, alcohol, disco, movies,
swimming and traveling." If you choose to be nonreligious
you are secular and you can swim, smoke and drink.
Azmi described the Druze worship
place as a simple empty room, no lights, you sit on the
floor. There is no kneeling. "Our holy book is called
Chochma (Wisdom). I’m not religious so I’m not allowed to
read the book or even touch it."
Druze don’t fast, or pray five
times a day like traditional Muslims. "You have one wife
only," Azmi said. "Even that is sometimes too much."
