ABSTRACT

A Zastolie ceremony in Israel can be seen first and foremost as a social gathering as well as a form of leisure entertainment to which the participants are accustomed. This tradition, which uses the table and food as the gathering axis, and which welcomes the “immigrated” along with the newcomers, includes the interaction among friends, acquaintances, and relatives in the home environment. The immigrants from urban environments in European Former Soviet Union (FSU) imported traditional middle-class gender relations, male dominance, and a relatively strictly structured division of labor. Discussions centered on political affairs in Israel, work-related topics, events taking place in Israel as well as in FSU. For a start, the hosts carrying on the Zastolie tradition were no longer constrained by limited availability, as they had been in the FSU, due to the wealth of products that characterized the new society.