Lunch with Soldiers

We had lunch with several Israeli soldiers who graciously took a break from patrolling the northern border to join us. We were so close to Lebanon we could have practically touched the border fence. We could also see a lot of new construction on the Lebanese side after the battle between Israel and Hezbollah last year. Here's a shot of Sgt. Almog Reshef, a tank gunner, flanked by Kimberly and Brenda. (He didn't quite know what to make of us, but we had a good time anyway!)

Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity,
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore.

The view of Mount Hermon as we stand on a hilltop at Kfar Gil'adi overlooking the border of Lebanon on the one hand and toward Syria (on the other side of the mount) on the other. How ironic that this Psalm speaks of the unity of humankind while we stand at borders that have been in deep and desperate conflict for thousands of years.

The Mount of the Sermon

This is a view near the church built at the spot the Sermon on the Mount was purported to be preached. I confess that I am finding myself quite resistant to the "holy" spots, which seem to me to be little more than giant churches built around biblical stories with little or no archeological evidence to support their existence. They are also heavily crowded with tourists (who knew that I would hear so many accents from America in Israel? Kevin even met a minister from a church near his in Pennsylvania, whose wife used to attend his church until she married the aforementioned pastor.) So we've got big crowds, big predominantly Catholic churches and not a whole lot of the sense of "where Jesus walked" anywhere. I finally sat myself down as far away from the madding crowd as I could get and still be near enough that our tour guide, Aharon, wouldn't get nervous and tried to see the scenery, listen to the birdsong, notice the breeze and connect with the God I was so hoping to feel while here. I wasn't totally successful, but it was better than it had been before.

The Loaves and Fishes

We visited the church built over the spot where it is said that Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Although I am personally dubious that this site is the actual location (how could we possibly know?), certainly the pilgrims who come here believe it to be so. While we were there, there was also a group of Indian Dalit Christians present. A woman in full sari with the red dot on her forehead sneaked beneath the guard ropes and laid her body across the mosaic you see pictured here, and placed her face upon the stones above them in prayerful attitude. Perhaps she needed healing? At any rate, my skepticism did not affect her devotion nor vice versa. Perhaps that is as it should be...

Next Stop: Capernaum

Capernaum was the home of Peter and a place out of which Jesus based his ministry early on. We saw the synagogue there, which was made out of limestone - a substance that was not immediately handy, but had to be brought from quite a distance. The other building pictured is modern and made of basalt, the local option that most all other buildings in the archeological remains are made of. The other photo also has items from early times including an early olive press at the front right.

Visiting Christian Sites in Galilee

We spent the morning touring the area of Nazareth, beginning with the Galilean Sea. You see here a photo of a beautiful mosaic bench where one could rest near the water. Below it is a shot of the sea itself with a No Swimming sign posted along the dock. It was a gorgeous spot, somewhat reduced by the many "Jesus Boats" with tourists tramping up and down the way.

Cooperation and Challenges to Interfaith Relations in Israel

Christian Elias Jabbour, Director of the "House of Hope", Sufi Sheikh Ghassan Manasra and Rabbi Yehuda Gilad share their experiences of working on interfaith relations in Israel. The challenge is huge, but the hope is high. It was good to meet with people of different faiths in the state of Israel trying to work together - and succeeding. This is the kind of thing the media never reports!

Scenes from the streets of Nazareth

An outdoor market next to which we drank delicious high-test coffee and the dome of the Synagogue Church, which is built above the synagogue where Jesus challenged his Nazarene friends and family to understand him as the one who came to fulfill the prophetic scriptures. Unfortunately, it was not open, so we were unable to go inside.

The Church of the Annunciation

This church is built over the spot where the angel supposedly came to Mary and told her she was to bear the Son of God named Jesus. The center photo is the outside of the church. The photo below is a grotto in the physical basement of the church that holds the archeological remains of the house (whether or not it was truly Mary's or not, it is still interesting to see these remains that are from Jesus' time). The photo above is is of the interior of the cathedral that is built above the grotto. It is a very interesting design. (Note the strangely angled and pock-marked columns.)

Well Fed

We are soooo well fed on this journey. At Al-Qessemi College we enjoyed a veritable feast (the chef even sent me home with some fabulous mushrooms) with the beautiful, amazing, intelligent young women students. I think they enjoyed our company as much as we were grateful for theirs.

Al-Qessemi College

This morning's second program was a visit to Al-Qessemi College, an Islamic Teachers' College in Bacha that was established in 1989. Its vision as stated by English Literature professor Dr. Ali is to promote a culture of respect for the individual and collective narratives of all who live in Israel - Jews and Arabs. We met several of the students as well as Dr. Ali, all of whom were women. The college itself has 1600 students, 92% of whom are women. It is an accredited college in Israel offering among its degrees a B.Ed.

The whole program was awesome, the young women were inspiring and it is my hope that the aim of individuals such as these are met in the coming years.

The Security Fence (part 2)

Ops Officer Hoch by the jeep (Brenda and I got to ride inside) and pointing out the Wall near Kalkilya.

The Security Fence

We traveled to the "narrow waist" of Israel today and stood along the "balcony of Israel", the spot where Ariel Sharon made the decision to build the "Security Fence" that has caused so much outcry in my own faith tradition as well as around the world. The fence itself is 800 kilometers long, 97% of which is chain link - actually it's barbed wire next to a ditch next to a road next to the chain link fence next to more barbed wire, so it's wide, but not high. Then 3% in the most "critical" areas is actually a wall and a very tall one at that.

We met with soldiers who showed us a portion of the Wall near Kalkilya and we viewed the fence as we drove along the way. The soldiers were quite young (but maybe everyone is when you get to be my age), but also very articulate and compassionate about their dual duty to the Israelis and the Palestinians they serve. Operations Officer Eran Hoch was the primary spokesperson and seemed to understand that it is in the best interests of the Israelis for the Palestines to also be secure with a strong economy, good schools and quality of life.

Wednesday Morning

We met this morning with Jonathan Rynhold who spoke on Israel in the International Arena. He posited that Israel is being demonized, delegitimized, and being held to double standards compared to the rest of the world community. He brought many pertinent points to the fore including a reduction of context in the discussion of Israel in the world community. His remarks were quite well-spoken especially as he was willing to debate and accept the possibility of human rights violations. His argument was not about the issues, but rather the disproportionate negative press as compared to other countries with human rights violations. In other words, the discussion is not about the morality of Israel's behavior, which he was willing to debate and negotiate, but about the desire, request and requirement that values about normative behavior be equally applied across the world. This seems to me to be viable argument and a reasonable request. The irony of the upshot of this situation in his opinion is that Israelis are probably more willing to compromise in the situation than ever before, but are less trusting of any compromise that comes to the table in practice.

Dinner at Forelin

AJC representative Eran Lerman gives his opinion of Israel's Strategic situation. Some concerted wrestling occurred after this presentation as we considered all that we had seen and heard so far.

I love this picture...

Kimberly and I try to charm a precious dog in Jaffa's main square.

Walking the Old Town

Walking along the narrow cobblestoned streets of Jaffa. It's filled with antique shops (guaranteed ancient!) and at the end is the supposed house of Simon the Tanner where Peter had his vision of the sheet filled with all the animals and he is given permission to eat that which is not considered clean by Jewish dietary law.

Archeological Remains in Jaffa

Ruins in the old city region of Jaffa.

Morning Two

We're are about to leave the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv and head north. Today's agenda includes a trip to the "Security Fence" - what we Presbyterians are more used to thinking of as The Wall - and then on to Nazareth in Galilee followed by a night at a Kibbutz.

Last night was very interesting. We met with Eran Lerman, who is the Director of the AJC Israel/Middle East office. I found him fascinating, very cagey, rather like meeting a character from a John LeCarre cold war spy novel. Several of the guys in the group got their backs up with his demeanor, which was an interesting response. It appeared to me to be about power and power-sharing - certainly a dynamic not unfamiliar to the Middle East.

There were two things that Eran said that resonated with me. One was that his youngest daughter, who is a teenager and adopted from a home where she was living in an abusive situation, when pressed in an argument to do her homework or complete some other obligation, will say: "What does it matter? Ahmedinejad is going to kill me anyway!"

The other was a comment that perhaps we need to reframe the relationship that Israel has with its neighbors - rather than considering it a part of the Middle East, perhaps it should relate as a neighbor to the Mediterranean States, thereby giving it a means to move forward, rather than remaining stuck in the same old place.

All for now...

An Afternoon in Tel Aviv

First we enjoyed falafels from a streetside cafe, eating as the Israelis do, then our tour guide Aharon explains the history of modern Tel Aviv outside the front of Independence Hall. The plaque behind him names the sixty-six founding families of the city.

The Parents' Circle - Family Forum

Rare and beautiful smiles from Shireen and Aaron as they so generously share their painful stories with us.

Challenges to Israeli Society

The very articulate and engaging Miri Eisen shares her point of view.

Amazing Beginnings

I have been in Israel for barely 24 hours at this point and have already met a wide variety of people and experienced a broad diversity of opinion. This morning, we heard from Col. (res.) Miri Eisen, a very dynamic, articulate former Foreign Press Advisor to the Prime Minister. She laid out the three major challenges to the state of Israel now in its 60th year as: 1) domestic with growing gaps between rich and poor, 2) the Iranian relationship (or lack thereof considering that country's refusal to acknowledge Israel and the threat of nuclear armament) and 3) Palestine and the resolution of the 2-state solution. Her perspective was a bit hawkish, but she was very clear and engaging. I confess I could have listened to her for quite a bit longer and was surprised by my response to her opinions.

Then we heard from a Palestinian woman, Shireen Essawi and a Jewish man, Aaron Barnea, who have both lost loved ones to the violence here and are committed to furthering peace and reconciliation through education in classrooms, doing summer camps for youth, and media-oriented responses such as art installations and documentary film. Their stories were so poignant and they both were honestly involved in the reconciliation process. Aaron stated: "A peace agreement is not peace. It is a piece of paper." He was very clear that any governmental policy making had to be reinforced through active education and reconciliation processes.

This afternoon we spent touring the old city of Jaffa/Joppa and the modern city of Tel Aviv, learning about its history including a trip to Independence Hall. More on that later. Now it's time for dinner! (We're nothing if not well fed here...)

More at Magando

Our host stands before a picture of him and his sister in younger days; Program Coordinator Yael Gamon shares her thoughts (she is flanked by our driver on the left and our tour guide, Aharon, on the right); and Kevin and Christian manage to have french fries, ketchup and Coca-Cola as a part of their first authentic Israeli meal.

Dinner at Maganda Restaurant

What an amazing meal! Wine is poured, the table is filled with wonderful food. You can see plates laden with all sorts of salad: tabouli, humus, spicy carrot, picked beets, olives and pickles, and much more. The platter has stuffed pepper and eggplant. We were filled to the eyeballs, given and Orientation talk by Yael Gamon, our program coordinator, ready to go home and hit the hay and then told it was time for the main course!

Waking Up

It's morning, the second day (or actually the full first, if you want to count it that way). We had a fabulous evening with a marvelous Israeli dinner at the Magado restaurant, owned by a Yemeni Jew who has lived his whole life in Tel Aviv. His parents immigrated in 1948 when Israel became a state. I've got pictures that I'll post now, but I'm also adding some of Dan Bryant's later. (His are much better than mine, but I can't seem to copy them from my email account yet, so we'll do some fiddling and add them in later.)

This day promises to be huge: our program topics include "Challenges to Israeli Society", "Arab-Jewish Coexistence in the face of terror" and "Israel and Its Strategic Environment" plus we've got a walking tour of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and visit to Independence Hall (Tel Aviv is Israel's answer to our Philadelphia!). Anyway, our time is jam packed with fascinating stuff, as you can see. More later...

Dan (the other one) and Steve in front of our "Project Interchange" bus and Christian beside the Hebrew lettering that literally transposes as "tur bus" (pronounced more like "toor boos").

The Eagle Has Landed...

Or should I say the Dove? A shot of the incredibly lovely sandstone (?) columns in the brand new Tel Aviv Airport. We whisked through customs and are officially off on our adventure!

Five Hours Into the Flight

We got on the plane at 11:00 p.m. and took off before midnight. While the flight attendants were serving dinner, I went straight to sleep. Can’t say that I slept deeply or well, but I did sleep, which was good considering it is now 5:30 a.m. New York time and a little bit after noon in Israel. When I awoke, I got up to move my body around a bit. I feel all tight and puffy. The cabin had men in huge white prayer shawls with blue stripes covering them pretty much from head to toe surrounding each little uncovered window davening and praying toward the light. As I walked up and down the aisles of this very large airplane (I’m in seat 56K), I noted more people reading little Torahs than I’ve ever seen reading Bibles in airplanes in America. For all the talk about us being a “Christian nation”, it’s clear that Israel is far more actively in touch with its “Jewish” identity.

In the El Al Lounge

Here are a few of the group: Brenda and Kevin connecting one more time with family, Jim smiling (despite the fact that his luggage didn't make it to NYC, much less Israel) while Bonnie reads the paper and Dan takes pictures - all from the lovely El Al lounge. We're being treated awfully well so far on this trip!

Second Impressions

We just had a marvelous Israeli dinner (heavy on the garlic, vegetarian) and moved on to the Orientation speaker, Rabbi Noam Marans, who was tasked with exhorting us on the connection of the Jewish people to the land on which lies the state of Israel. It was not an easy charge, and I confess some reservations as to his rationale. I did think, however, that it was an interesting place to begin.

Our First Program

The very expressive Rabbi Noam Marans shares his thoughts on the Jewish connection to the land.

Meeting Over Dinner

Sarit Lisogorsky, the Assistant Director of American Programs, who has been our liaison thus far, with her significant other and the Rabbi of the JFK Synagogue chapel shared supper with us before we left.

First Impressions

I arrived at JFK airport at shortly after 6:00 p.m. and the other folks were either there or came along shortly. Sarit, the liaison between us and Project Interchange was there and it was great to meet her. It was also good to meet the people I’ll be spending the next 10 days with. A nice group. Very diverse. Four women, the rest men, three African-American, one Korean, one Japanese-American, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, AME, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, UCC. This is going to be an interesting experience.

Philippians 4:6-7

Tomorrow I leave for Israel - it feels as though I barely got back and I'm off again. I will be leading worship tomorrow and I'm grateful for that opportunity, but after that, I'm pretty much on my way.

Grace and I both are a little anxious about my leaving. She's been on school vacation this week, which has been good. I've been trying to get all my Lenten ducks in a row, so that nothing falls through the cracks while I'm gone (to mix metaphors).

Meanwhile, I keep repeating Philippians 4:6 to myself (and sometimes to others): "Be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to the Lord and the peace of God which passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Sometimes it helps, sometimes my own concerns take over, but it's good to remember even in the midst of those nerves. Besides, I did learn one thing in all the years of being on the road with the touring theater company: once I'm somewhere else, I'll be there and this uncertainty will be a thing of the past. All things change; nothing stays the same (even when I'm in the same place).

Beautiful Memories

I think what I enjoyed most about the trip was not the lectures, the sermons, the worship, the workshops, the adventure of getting stuck and exploring new places, but was the bounty of God's green earth. Even though I had lived in San Diego so many years ago, I did not remember the gorgeous variety of plant life that did not even begin to resemble what we see on a regular basis in the NE. And this is the middle of winter! Thank you, God, for expressing such amazing creativity for us all to enjoy.

Guantanamera

Me with the Mariachi Brothers - we enjoyed their music at the Mexican restaurant where we ate supper. Authentic tortillas patted out by hand and laid on the griddle, terrific salsa (the true test of a Mexican restaurant) and great entrees...

More Interesting Flora

The trees are either naked and look like huge asparagus rising out of the earth - or they're wearing coats! It's a totally different world here in San Diego. (The asparagus tree is in front of the old Printing Shop in Old Town.)