Star Wars Day is celebrated annually on May 4, when everyone from casual fans to hardcore enthusiasts of a galaxy far, far away celebrate what is arguably the most successful and iconic science fiction franchise in history. And these festivities even reach the Jewish state.
In honor of the celebration, whose date is a play on words of the franchise’s signature phrase “May the Force be with you,” several Star Wars fans and children ostracized due to social boycotting flocked to the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem for a special festivity.
There, they met and took pictures with members of Israel’s local 501st Legion outpost, a global fan organization that sees people dress up in meticulously crafted movie-accurate costumes of various Star Wars characters, who managed to mount their flag atop the museum’s newly refurbished minaret.
But how did a Star Wars event get to be held at the Tower of David, of all places?
“Well, this is what happens when your friends who are involved go to the same shul,” explained Adam Nahoum, founder of Israel’s 501st Legion who, while not working as a dentist, is known as the stormtrooper TK-51948.
“We’re always looking to do events. Star Wars disarms a lot of people because of all the love for it worldwide. And then these guys are coming to give up their time and photograph us, and take these amazing pictures of us.”
“We’re always looking to do events. Star Wars disarms a lot of people because of all the love for it worldwide. And then these guys are coming to give up their time and photograph us, and take these amazing pictures of us.”
Adam Nahoum
“Bad Guys Doing Good”
The 501st Legion, which traditionally dresses up as some of the more villainous characters in the franchise, has a reputation for engaging in charitable activities under the banner of “Bad Guys Doing Good.” This has helped them with their outreach work, such as making guest appearances at conventions and stores – they’ve even shown up at people’s weddings.
But helping children is arguably what’s most important to them. This includes visiting children in hospitals, schools and – as was the case during May 2021’s Operation Guardian of the Walls conflict between Israel and Hamas – visiting children who were living under rocket fire in the Gaza border area.
“It’s one of those things where you’re taking the children out of their unfortunate situation that they’re in, for example the miserable situation in the hospitals. It changes their reality for a few minutes, it makes their day. Even the staff and parents can become kids again for a few minutes,” Nahoum told In Jerusalem.
“We’re all from different walks of life, and one thing led to another. Now we’re a bit of a crew like that. It’s bad guys doing good guy stuff.”
“I love the idea of combining Star Wars with doing something good and charity events. They’re absolutely connected,” said 501st Legion scout trooper Anna Hershowitz.
“I didn’t know any of these guys before I joined, but now I definitely feel like we’re a team, especially after Celebration [a Star Wars event held in London]. We all have day jobs, so it’s a clear volunteer love of Star Wars. We all come from different cities and backgrounds, so it’s very cool.”
THE EVENT was helped out by Disney Israel, as well as Yam Shel Haverim, an organization that helps children who are ostracized through social boycotting.
And the feeling of being ostracized is something many Star Wars fans can relate to.
“I think a lot of us experienced teasing or bullying at some point or another. I experienced it as a kid, so to make these kids feel a little bit more empowered and make them feel like there’s hope and there’s life beyond that is great,” Hershkowitz explained.
“Ultimately, Star Wars, as Dave Filoni [executive creative director and producer of Lucasfilm] said, is a story of hope and a story of family.”
And helping our children is something the Tower of David can easily get behind.
“Our aim as a museum and as a cultural place is to advance, educate, enrich and empower the children and give them the confidence to come here and to demonstrate their abilities and minds, to learn and be curious about things they’ve never been exposed to before,” Tower of David head of accessibility and inclusion Reut Kozak explained.
“We wanted to support all the children from every education system and to make them feel like they can come here and enjoy, no matter what.”
She added: “‘Ostracizing’ is a word that should disappear. It shouldn’t even be in our lexicon. I have luckily never faced it myself, but it seems like generationally, there’s a change happening. With technology, boycotting accompanies children to their homes as well.”
Kozak has strived to help make the museum more accessible.
“We’re currently in an archaeological and historical site, a place with ruins from the periods of the First and Second Temples, and the Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, etc,” she said.
“Each one of them has built a fortress designed for defense and fortifications. They wanted people to not come here, to back off. We’re doing the opposite. We’re opening the museum, welcoming people with inclusive arms.”
THIS ISN’T the first time the Tower of David has gotten in the Star Wars spirit.
In late March, the museum put out a post on Facebook that said the fourth season of the hit Star Wars streaming show The Mandalorian would be filming scenes there and put out a call for extras.
While this managed to attract significant buzz on Facebook, it turned out to be nothing more than an April Fool’s Day joke that was timed a bit early, much to the disappointment of many local Star Wars fans.
However, it wouldn’t be the only time people associated some iconic landmarks and landscapes in Israel with Star Wars.
This year for Star Wars Day, the State of Israel’s official Twitter account released a thread of different locations throughout the country that could be used to film scenes for different Star Wars locations.
View this post on Instagram
These included:
- The desert ruins of Masada as a filming location for the iconic desert planet of Tatooine
- The salty Dead Sea as the salt-covered world of Crait
- Haifa’s extravagant Baha’i Gardens for the planet Naboo
- The historic Timna Park for the desert world of Jedha.
The IDF even got in on it too, releasing a video narrating the background to Israel’s War of Independence in the style of the iconic Star Wars opening crawl. For its part, the Israel Air Force shared a clip of an Imperial TIE Fighter spaceship taking off from an Israeli air base, captioned with “May the Air-4th be with you.”
May the Air-4th be with you #StarWars pic.twitter.com/6WtAnC7kwY
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) May 4, 2023
The apparent connection between Israel and Star Wars is something Nahoum is well aware of.
“Israel also has such a Star Wars-like universe backdrop to it, with the desert midbar and all that, almost looking like Tatooine,” he said. “We’ve become well respected in the international sphere because we don’t need to photoshop any of our images. It’s all here, in Israel.” ❖