hot hippies
I think so anyway, though ck does not seem to agree.

I was recently commissioned to do a story for the World Jewish Digest on different summer festivals in Israel. With little time to spare, I convinced ck to join me on a ridiculous journey up the coast to hit the Shantipi Festival for a few hours before making it back down to Jerusalem for Shavuot.

Shantipi is run by the same folks who put on Boombamela and Bereshet during Passover and Rosh HaShana, respectively. As the smallest of three, I was slightly charmed by Shantipi’s quaint nature compared to the other two. ck, however, was less impressed and spent most of the time doing his Cartman “I hate stupid hippies” voice.


I went to my first Israeli festival just a week after arriving in Israel for the first time. I tagged along with some religious hippy folks who were going to Bereshet and had a truly transformative experience (even wrote an article about Boombamela a year and a half later). Having only known American Jews (not that there’s anything wrong with that) I was struck dumb by the beauty and range and passion of the Jewish people in Israel. I never knew we could be so cool, or so hot. Or that we carried off dreadlocks so well.

In any case, compared to it’s population, Israel has a disproportionate amount of these and other sorts of festivals, and a large amount of people go. We got to speak to a lot of interesting people as to why. But that’ll wait for the real article. In the meantime, enjoy these pics, with a few more to come.

Braids!

Uh... Patchouli everywhere!!!

And I was wondering why no one offered us drugs! Note to self – next time you go to a hippy festival with the hopes of interacting with said hippies, do NOT be accompanied by a big guy wearing a “Police” shirt.

Here\'s another one dreads-r-us

Dreads-R-Us

About the author

Laya Millman

50 Comments

  • ya know wot, i agree with laya, israeli hippies are SO hot! But i think its just israelis in general..Looks fun!

  • jew-boob-a-licious!
    this should *definitely* be a stop on your next birthright tour. who knew that other countries had their own attractive youthful burnout cultures? i thought only american trust-fund kids got to live in the wilderness these days!

  • jah no dead is an burning spear reference. De lion, de lion, de lion! Jah no dead, from the cult classic “Rockers,” a tale of struggling jamaican kids, trying to get a hit record made.

  • Sorry, Jobber. They didn’t actually “die” (see your comment #4- it happens to the best of ’em), they just formed sleeper cells that pop up from time to time.

  • The process by which hippies migrated to either the East Village, San Fransisco, etc.. to just be, w/out any established formulae of ‘what they want to do in life’ this is over. And in so doing, experimenting in drugs and other hedonistic pursuits. That of going to demonstrations against the Vietman war and other oppressions and so on.

    What you have now is a replica, there might be one or two such people, but as a mass crowd, they are all going back to their jobs as graphic artists, HTML programmers, etc…
    Not that it is not a colorful festival. They are. I have been to these myself. But you are misusing the word Hippie.

  • Were any of the Bat Ayin crowd there? in 2001 at the Boombamela festival they set up a Bait Kenneset it was really beautiful. We almost sang as much as the Harri Krishnas and our songs I must say we far more lyrical.

  • For Jobber:
    “Hippie” from Dictonary.com
    A person who opposes and rejects many of the conventional standards and customs of society, especially one who advocates extreme liberalism in sociopolitical attitudes and lifestyles.

    Whoa, Wine Guy, you were there in 2001? You didn’t strike me as the type 😉

  • CK – maybe they would have enjoyed some of your other tshirts a bit more – “challah is great” would have gone over well with those who have the munchies!

  • I didn’t think of that Stacy! And you sitting there behind us the whole trip, I had no idea you were so funny!

  • Hippies suck!! THey all need to be flogged, or something, and then forced to work a minimum of 40hours a week! THat Police T-shirt being worn there is priceless! I was literally laughing when I saw that pic

  • oh wow lay- u’ve totally inspired me to get dreads!! and speaking of dirty israeli hippies, when is rainbow in israel this year?

  • Hippies are awesome. They do a lot of drugs. They remind us how cool it can be to be lazy and dirty for a while. They are frequently naked. If only the music they listen to wasn’t so awful, and if only they didn’t say such cheesy things when high…

  • While I am a fan of the shower and even the occasional bubblebath, I must say that the blonde is absolutely gorgeous.

  • lol muffti, I never understood teh whole phish thing myself… And Hippy chicks are easy, just have to make sure they shave their armpits and legs.. Ichsa

  • I’ve gotta say that Avital’s still hotter. Give me tznius over hippies any day!

  • Bec, you would look totally rockin in dreads, and it would help your new image. Let’s get it done as soon as you get here. I’ll even pierce something in solidarity. Unsure when Rainbow is…we’ll find out.

    Speaking of tho, if anyone out there has any info on other festivals happening in Israel in the next week of two, this would be very useful info….

  • this weekend in the jerusalem forest, right behind Yad Vashem is the Or Yerushaliym festival, the highest rainbow-type festival all year, if’n y’all ask me. kiddush levana and kabbalas shabbos are both unstopably amazing there, traditionally.

    rainbow in israel is always on the 15th of cheshvan, like a week before and after., p.s.

    welcome home y’all.

  • Hey Laya I’m really a dirty tree huggin hippie the clean cut frum thing is just a disguise

  • Agreed DigI. They certainly are easy. And give muffti hippies over Tznius any day. Tznius sucks.

  • yoseph…is that or yerushaliyim fest still happening on sunday?

    wine guy, does it translate into grape vine hugging these days?

  • yea the chicks were doable, everyone loked pretty good. except that shlub in the police shirt.

    ps: dave how come your rss feed doesnt work?

  • Laya I actually haven’t been in the vineyard for a while and I really am starting to suffer from some serious seperation anxiety, if you know of any lonely grape vines in the ventura LA area you gotta let me know :*P

  • i just come back from Israel (i live in paris) i went to the dead see and meet member of the rainbow there!!! it’s realy fantastic!!!!You realy make life wonderfull!!!I wish i could come and stay there! Maybe next year!
    (by the way do someone know phoenix??)
    Lots and lots of love!!!
    muaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

  • what you think that everione whith dreadlocks is hipye what i think there is more hipye pleople of soul that hipyes wiht dreadlocks.
    dreadlocks there are fashion but it is a serios thing to wear them because you are representing a religion and people they just don’t know what the dreadlocks reprsent for them represents fashion

  • yea israeli women are hot, very hot. from an up and coming hippie from ireland.

  • hippies are sick mate they are really kool i love em i wanna be one but dont know wat to do if ya a hippie give me a clue

  • hippie hippies hippies they are hot and i have a bestie who is a hippie i want you to be my best friend to

  • New Age hippies dont all look liek this i think i smoke more pot then any1 my age and i look like any other normal kid except my eyes are almost always glazed

  • Most, not all!, Israelis are a stupid bunch of selfish, spoilt rats. They like to gather in groupsand they do not give a Fuck about different cultures! Sorry

  • yO I GOT DREADS TO HOW YOURS GET SO NICE AN THE WOODEN BEADS YOU GOT IN ARE COOL WELL THATS ALL PEACE

  • Hepinizin bildi?i gibi ülkemizde canl? casino ve bahis siteleri yasal de?ildir. Bundan dolay? BTK taraf?ndan ald?klar? yasak nedeniyle s?kl?kla adres …