There's an interesting post on Metal Israel, consisting of an open letter to Ozzy Osbourne, asking him not to play in Israel on 28 September, which is Hoshanah Rabbah:
I beg you, switch the concert date. It’s good for you. It’s good for Israel. Don’t disrespect G-d on His own turf. Please, Ozzy. And I want to come see you. I love you. Don’t play on chag.
Aviva, the author of the letter and of the blog is an orthodox Jew who loves metal. Now I don't for a second think that the letter will be effective. And I don't think that it's necessarily appropriate to send such a letter. That said, I can identify with the letter up to a point. I'm not an orthodox Jew but I virtually never go out on Friday nights and at least some of the festivals. Consequentially, I've missed a lot of my favourite acts (for example, I'll miss Converge and Kylesa in July). That's what it is to be Jewish I guess. I suppose that Aviva's point is that if you play in Israel you need to respect Jewish law. I don't accept this myself but I can certainly see how it can be pretty galling to live in a Jewish state and still be faced with the kinds of dillemas that diaspora Jews are faced with. Still, the separation between religion and state is to me much more important. And in any case, it's good to be reminded that you're Jewish once in a while by making a sacrifice - even in Israel.
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