Israel’s Going Through A Spiritual Transformation. How Is It Dealing?

Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv has long held a special place in the Israeli imagination. On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion announced Israel’s independence there at what was then called the Tel Aviv Museum—now undergoing an extensive renovation which will hopefully do justice to the site.

Over the past few decades, the quaint and somewhat shabby gentility of the old Rothschild Boulevard has given way to a parade of higher-end restaurants, luxury-goods shops, and a cluster of skyscrapers that seems to expand by the week. It was thus no surprise that the boulevard was the site of the so-called “tent city” protest against rising costs of living in 2011. New Rothschild is one symbol of the country’s blistering economic transformation—blink twice and you might think you’re in Dubai or southern California.

Just off Rothschild stands Alma, the Hebrew cultural center and unaffiliated beit midrash led by the Talmud scholar and former Yesh Atid parliamentarian Ruth Calderon. From that perch next to Rothschild, Calderon has, over the last few decades, witnessed not only a massive material change in Israel but also a major spiritual one.