Years ago, I was a guest for a few months in the home of a Jewish family in Pennsylvania in the United States. The family members maintained a basic connection with Israel and Judaism, and occasionally would attend services at a Reform temple. It was in the kitchen of this family that I first encountered a product called kosher imitation bacon bits. My hosts explained to me that “it’s almost like the real thing,” and since they did not bring pork into the house, they would spice their omelets with those artificial crumbs with an industrial taste. As someone who grew up in a totally secular household in which we ate omelets with real bacon on Shabbat, I wondered about this use of a substitute for a product that one could do without.
I was reminded of the bacon-substitute story from my youth this week, when I followed the details of the first meeting between the Israeli and Greek governments that took place in Jerusalem on Oct. 8. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras arrived from Athens with a respectable delegation of eight ministers to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a series of ministers in his government. It was officially announced that 10 agreements were signed at this meeting, agreements regarding cooperation in various spheres between the governments. The highlight was the announcement regarding strategic-security cooperation.