Heartwarming Story from Israeli Reality TV

The formula for most reality TV shows is to reveal the depths to which humans can sink in the face of greed. Not in Israel, however:

Only in Israel would the prize for the winning team in a weekly Survivor challenge be a Shabbat Dinner with Challah, honey, wine and Shabbat Candles for the whole team.

And only in Israel would the winning team share that prize with the losers because Jews don’t stop other Jews from eating a Shabbat dinner.

Here are the comments of someone who watched the show:

I watched the first few episodes of the show and the kiddush and hamotzi was actually initiated by one of the tribe members. And the stereotype of the religion hating secular Israel failed to show its ugly face. All were into it, visibly comforted, happy and moved and there was a definitive collective Amen!

The alleged rift in Israeli society between the religious and secular is largely wishful thinking on the part of the highly biased media. Average Israelis are religiously traditional, and generally admire those who integrate Judaism in their lives to a greater extent than they do.

There is a legitimate problem, but it is at the macro level and is common to most socialist-oriented governments. If the government takes the majority of income and hands back a minority of the take to competing factions, then there is a tendency toward political gang warfare.