Thursday
As we got back on the bus after looking out on Mt Hermon and the Syrian/Israeli border, listening to retired commander from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), one of my colleagues quipped, "If I learn anything more today, I'll have to forget something I already knew to make room." And it's only 10am.
Having traveled in Israel somewhat extensively, I am always amazed at how much more this tiny land contains.
Yesterday's itinerary brought this idea into sharp relief as we visited holy places where none of the rabbis had ever been. It was a remarkable thing to be in Nazareth, the birthplace of Jesus and to visit the Church of the Annunciation where Christian tradition says the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would be the virgin mother of Jesus. (or as I learned - perhaps he asked for her permission or assent - Jews are not the only ones with varying interpretation of sacred writings!) Who knew that a long discussion would ensue among the Protestants and Catholics in the back of the bus about the significance of the placement of that church?
After visiting the church we had afternoon coffee and burekas with Amell, an inspiring Arab Christian Israeli woman who is pushing against Nazareth's status quo of relative poverty and obscurity. Rather than (as she expressed it) feel angry or disrespected by the Israeli government's unequal financial support for the community where her family has lived for three generations she has started a non-profit organization to promote small business development, to help the community advance from within. When our group sat down to reflect together on our experiences so far, many of us mentioned meeting Amell as well as another young woman named Racheli whom we met earlier in the day.
Racheli is an Ethiopian Jewish woman who works at an amazing place called Yemin Orde. Yemin Orde is a youth village where teenagers come to live who do not have families who can adequately care for them of any number of reasons. The director of the village, Chaim Peri has an incredible philosophy of caring for children, helping them heal the traumas of their past and enabling them to move forward in life instead of repeating their troubled history. We were deeply moved to hear Chaim say that what motivates all the people work at Yemin Orde is a sense that these children belong to all of us and that they deserve justice - the justice of a future with real possibilities. And then we were even more impressed with the way that Racheli spoke about managing her immigrant identities - as a teen rejecting everything Etiopian, including the clothing and language of her parents and people, but coming later to a deep appreciation of her roots and of the sacrifices her parents made especially her father who left a position of prominence in Ethiopia to be a factory worker in The Promised Land.
So much more to do and hear and see....
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