For our fourth trip as part of the Destination Israel program, we traveled to Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city. The focus of the day was on Israel’s minorities – a unique angle. We learned about three religions – the Druze, the Baha’i and the Ahmadhiyya. In this post I’m focusing on the Druze – in part because I took the most notes, but I also found it the most interesting.
There are 136,000 Druze in Israel and three to four million worldwide. The Druze religion began in Egypt 1,000 years ago as an offshoot of Muslim Shi’ite. Their prophet spread the religion for 25 years; after that time, the gates to the religion closed – no one else could convert to Druze. To this day, there are no Druze converts; the only Druze are those born to two Druze parents.
The Druze follow six books written only in Arabic. They are never translated into other languages, and are all handwritten, never copied. Only the religious Druze are permitted to read.
The Druze have one main holiday, Eid al-AdHa, which celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. It’s 14 days long; the first 10 days are for the religious Druze, and the last four are for all the Druze to come together and sacrifice sheep. The most important thing during the holiday is to volunteer and sacrifice the self.
At the age of 15, Druze teens decide whether they want to be religious or non-religious. After the age of 15, they are given the opportunity to switch two more times. The majority of Druze choose to be non-religious at 15 (not a surprise!) and may change their minds later in life.
Parents must grant their children permission to marry before a couple can become engaged. The groom must bring the bride gold; the bride can then sell the gold to help the family if they fall on hard times in the future. The groom has to build a house for the couple with his own money. After the wedding ceremony, the couple moves into the house. If they divorce (and women are permitted to request a divorce), the groom gets 50%.
The Druze communities are usually not in contact with other Druze communities outside the country, but they can marry a Druze from another village or community. In those cases, the woman must move to the husband’s country or community.
If a Druze marries a non-Druze, the couple is cast out of their village, and their children are not considered Druze. Intermarriage is more common outside of Israel than inside, because Druze feel they have more freedom to practice their religion in Israel (and therefore meet other Druze to marry) than in many of the surrounding Arab countries.
When I asked whether the Druze were concerned about a potentially shrinking population due to intermarriage, I was told that they aren’t – because they believe in reincarnation. The soul of a Druze who dies immediately goes into a newborn baby, so there is always a Druze soul for a Druze body. Some Druze, especially those who died in tragic ways, remember their past lives.
The Druze don’t have their own country; they believe in one G-d who is everywhere, so everywhere is holy. They have five main colors: green (nature), red (love and loyalty), yellow (strength), blue (water and sky) and white (hope and pure heart). The colors are seen in different incarnations throughout Druze communities.
One of the most unique aspects about the Druze is that they are always loyal to the country in which they live. The Druze were the only people who consistently stuck by the Jews and Israel when the world turned against Israel. Non-religious Druze men go into the Israeli army’s combat units, comprising the highest rate of minorities int he Israeli army. Sometimes they have to fight against other Druze; our guide referenced the 2nd Lebanon War in 2006 in particular.
Though the Druze generally side with the Jews in conflicts with Palestinians, they still face discrimination. They’re sometimes viewed as Arabs, not Israelis, and at times feel the Israeli government doesn’t want to put in the time and money to develop their communities because of that. They also face inequality in the workplace, particularly when they want to advance in their careers. Nonetheless, they still feel it’s easier to live in Israel than other Arab or Muslim countries.
Though Israel is a Jewish country, there are so many other religions and nationalities who reside here. If we don’t take the time to learn about – and from – them, how can we expect those in Christian, Arab or even non-religious countries to learn about the Jews?
Third of a Life Crisis 