Friday, January 24, 2003

Dear Friends.

THE POLITICAL SITUATION

It is Muslim custom that the muezzin calls the faithful to pray before each prayer. This is done with a loudspeaker located in the minaret adjacent to the mosque. Usually the volume on the loudspeaker is enough to be heard in the area around the mosque. Two weeks ago, in celebration of the death of 23 innocent persons and the serious wounding of 113 more, our Muslim brothers and sisters turned up the volume so loud that we heard the main call to prayer several miles away. Similarly, the Church bells of Jerusalem, which are usually used to herald the faithful and to signal the consecration of the host, were sounded loudly to celebrate the murder and maiming of 136 innocent people. Such is the state of interfaith relations here in the Holy City of Jerusalem -- and, this time, most of the dead and maimed weren't even Jewish though this has been the largest, most-deadly attack since we have been here. Disappointingly, not one Christian church that I know of has instructed its local branch not to sound the bells when others are murdered and maimed and, of course, no Islamic authority has instructed the local Muslims not to celebrate murder and dismemberment. Such is the state of interfaith relations in the world. The new year and the new millenium are not off to a great start religiously.

Politically, nothing is new either. Arafat's mainstream Fatah organization was so pleased to be able to take credit for this murder of what they thought were Jews -- they have been outclassed by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others -- that their leader went on live international Arab television (Al-Jazeera) to claim credit. The Palestinian Authority responded by expelling the representative of Al-Jazeera for having the temerity to broadcast the truth and, of course, Arafat issued a denial that it was his organization that did the foul deed. Meanwhile, the Egyptians, who are sitting at an all-Palestinian peace table with all these murderers, in order not to admit their failure, have said that the attack has nothing to do with the peace process and that Israel is really at fault for acting to protect itself when the Palestinians won't control their own people, and the rest of the Arab world is passively or actively encouraging them to continue the violence. The Americans are too preoccupied with Iraq to care that so many people were killed; so, all Israel got was the ritual condemnation. The Europeans are silencing their glee and the most that can be expected is another ritual condemnation from one or two states and the usual blaming of Israel. The new year and the new millenium are not off to a great start politically.

Americans and Europeans just do not understand that Islam works because of "Islam" -- the word means "submission," total submission in your heart and soul. This means submission to Allah and to the leaders He has given the people. There will never be an uprising in the Arab world, except a coup d'etat which just means more of the same leadership. It also means that, if the leaders say "Hate," the people hate. Westerners know only "nice" Muslims -- and there are many people like that -- so they think Islam is "nice." Westerners also think of religion as peaceful, or at worst as harmless, which it is in America. But this is not so, especially in the rest of the world. Religion molds people. It determines what they feel in their hearts, and people of faith -- and Muslims are believers -- follow what is in their hearts. Contemporary Muslim religious and political leaders do say "Hate" -- all the time: in the press, on television, in the schools, in the mosques. They say, "Hate the Jews," and the people hate the Jews -- deeply, profoundly, out of the depth of the submission that is "Islam." The very totality of the submission that is the core of the religion generates the totality of their hatred. This is not a political issue; this is "Islam," submission to authority even, and maybe especially, when it says "Hate."

The West also does not understand that Muslim leaders also say "Hate the West," and they mean it. They mean that, with all the total devotion that is "Islam," Muslims must hate, resist, and undermine the West. As Jews, we are accustomed to living with hate, though God knows how we have managed centuries and centuries of Christian and Muslim hatred. But Westerners do not believe that Muslims, rooted in the submission of their religion, hate them. The West refuses to believe that this devotion to God is deeply linked to hatred of who we are. This attitude is very dangerous and it will bring disaster upon western heads. Most of the Muslims of the world are not the educated, westernized Muslims we know. Most are deep believers, and they will follow what their divinely sustained leaders tell them, blindly. When Islamic terror strikes, he who does not resist will eventually pay the price.

Meanwhile, I have found a voice in the wilderness. A sufi sheikh whom I know has decided to fight the Islamic Movement. He and his son have written articles, made speeches, and organized followers -- and so their lives have been threatened. What they are doing is very, very courageous and I support them as best I can but it is not my life and that of my family that is on the line.

War is coming. Everyone believes it. It is only a question of when. We have told our Tel Aviv friends that they are welcome to join us in Jerusalem which general opinion says will be safer because the Iraqis are afraid they might hit one of the great mosques. That won't stop the terror though. The real fear is not from Iraqi missles or planes; we assume the army and air force are ready for that. Nor is it from gas or chemical warfare because those bombs, whether delivered by terrorists ("intelligent bombs") or by plane or missle have only a limited radius. Even a dirty nuclear bomb has limited range. What everyone fears is biological warfare because it starts and is carried by contamination to everywhere. The Palestinians will also get caught in this, perhaps even by soldiers who have been exposed or by fellow Palestinians. However, since their hospital and public health system is worse, they will die in greater numbers. Saddam Hussein doesn't care about the Palestinians, if he can only deal the Jews a hard blow. The Palestinians don't seem to care either that they will be decimated by biological warfare. It is pretty scary. But we are not moving. No one I know is moving. A Jew must make a stand somewhere in history.

The good news: A friend stopped by and said casually, "After the war, we'll go on a trip together."

CULTURAL EVENTS

We have been very privileged to be able to sit in on the classes of Gabriel Barkay, one of Israel's leading archaeologists. He is a superb lecturer and the students, and I, are held spellbound as he talks us through the bronze age and the various iron ages. Gaby, whom we also know personally, also has the uncanny knack of presenting the information as a detective story and puzzle on how to construe the evidence of the Bible as against the archaeological evidence, or how to resolve conflicting views on how to read the archaeological facts. He also mixes in a good dose of archaeological gossip. We've been on several tours with him now, too -- to the Israel Museum and to Ramat Rachel, a fortress halfway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. One looks at piles of stones but, with Gaby's archaeological imagination, they come vividly alive. Gaby is the one who discovered the amulets with the priestly benediction from the Book of Numbers in them. These are the earliest quotations ever of verses from the Bible. You may have read in the press about the new find: a tablet from the time of King Jehoash recounting how he repaired the Temple. This is the first and only mention of the Temple in Jerusalem outside the biblical text. Gaby has been in the press and on television talking about it and it was stunning to be with him in class as he talked us through the various disputes around this new object. To close the semester, he told the story of the priestly blessing and said, "With these words of blessing, we take leave of one another and I thank you for your attention this semester." Well deserved applause followed this.

Last week was the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shalom Shar´abi, a Yemenite sage who wrote the kabbalistic prayerbook that Philippe's rabbi and all kabbalists use. We went with Rabbi Darzy to Rabbi Shar´abi's grave on the Mt. of Olives, opposite the Temple mount to the east, to say prayers and to ask his intercession on behalf of the Jewish people in this time of danger. Many others came, mostly sefaradim. They made way for Rabbi Darzy who also took us to the graves of other saints buried near Rabbi Shar´abi. What struck me was the state of the cemetery on the Mt. of Olives. It is probably the most holy of Jewish cemeteries, being so close to the Temple mount. But the grave stones are turned over and strewn all over the place. One can hardly walk without stepping on an overturned tombstone. I've never seen such destruction. This was done by the Arabs during the years that they controlled Jerusalem, up to1967, and has never been fixed up and prettified by the Jews. The destruction was worse for being juxtaposed to the ethereal beauty of the vision of the walls.

A joke (there aren't too many here these days), though some of you will have heard it: A man rents a horse to ride and is told that this is a religious horse. To make it gallop, one says, "Thank God." To make it stop, one says, "Amen." The man has a great time, riding around the Galilee saying "Thank God" to make the horse gallop and "Amen" to make him stop. One afternoon while riding, the horse gallops firmly toward a cliff. "Amen. Amen," shouts the man and the horse comes to a stop right at the edge of the cliff. The man wipes his brow and says, "Thank God."

I had occasion to drive down through the Judean desert, east of Jerusalem, last week. On my previous trips it was brown and dry, very much a desert. This time, after the rain, it was green. Amazing. I had read about this but never seen it.

THE WALL

I have a new parking spot for morning prayers at the Wall. Instead of driving to the parking lot below the Dung Gate, I have taken to parking at the top of the hill that descends toward the Western Wall. From my spot, I can see the sleepy Arab villages, the stunning morning star, the constellation of the Swan which glides across the sky with such grace, and I can watch the lightening of the sky as dawn approaches. I can also hear the muezzin call the faithful to morning prayer. On the walk down to the Wall, the golden dome of the Mosque of Omar appears suddenly. It sure beats the parking lot on La Vista drive in Atlanta. When I return after services, the low southern sun is shining on the graves on the Mt. of Olives.

I have also taken to saying the preliminary prayers outside at the Wall before I enter the enclosed area to pray with my usual group. It is very special to stand in the open air at the Wall and to say: "Blessed are you, Lord, our God, King of the universe asher asani Yisrael, asher asani ben horin, Who has filled all my needs, Who prepares one's footsteps, Who girds Israel with strength, [and] Who crowns Israel with spiritual glory." It is worth going to the Wall just to say those blessings.

Our colleague and friend, Deborah Lipstadt, was operated on this week. In preparation for that I had prayers said at the Wall. In addition to my group, I asked the women who collect charity to say prayers. When one of them said, "I'll give it to my son to do," I said, thinking of Deborah, "No, I want you to say the prayers." She was momentarily taken aback, being in a society where men are the chief prayer-sayers; however, she agreed. By the next day, all the women regulars at the Wall were saying prayers for Deborah. I guess word had spread that women's prayers for another woman were needed. I think I shall do the same for our Israeli soldier. He had a foot severed and the other seriously damaged while stopping a terrorist from getting on a bus. Unfortunately, the bone and muscle are not growing together. Prayer is really needed. For those of you who pray, his name is Aaron son of Rachel.

Ursula's very elderly aunt died. She had led quite a life, being married five times and so on. Since she has no close relatives, I took on saying Kaddish (the mourner's prayer for her) for a week. Tante Lilo, who was herself non-religioius, would never believe the places in which I have said Kaddish for her: at the Wall, in Moroccan services, in hasidic services, in modern orthodox services, etc. In addition, we share an older man at the Wall who is a very remote relative, but a relative in need nonetheless. I've given him some money to continue saying prayers for her. Real history is full of such ironies.

One of the women who regularly collects charity was absent for a few days. It took the others some time to locate her; she had been sick. The care people have for one another continues to impress me. She is back now.

FAMILY NEWS

I have learned the meaning of the verse, recited by religious Jews several times a day, "And you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way, when you lie down and when you rise up." Ursula does this with her Hebrew. She wakes up with questions, studies with me in the car, memorizes words as she walks and shops, sits down and gets me to help her, and goes to sleep asking questions. I will admit that, though her study consumes a lot of time and energy, she has learned an awful lot of Hebrew in one short semester. I am very proud of her, as we all should be.

One day I suggested Ursula make a list of words that sounded or looked alike. "Oh no, I can't do that. I have to keep those words away from one another" -- a thought, I confess, that had not occurred to me.

The peniche (boat on the Seine River in Paris) which Benjamin and Alexia inhabit has had its ups more than downs. The river has risen about nine feet, which has meant adjusting the ropes, calling the electrician to reinstall the electricity and phone cable, and building ever higher gangplanks with which to enter and exit the boat. The car also can no longer be parked near the boat as that area is under water. I think some of the romance of living on a peniche is wearing off. Another nine feet of surge is expected.

When we go into theaters or classes, we turn our cellphones to "silent." On Ursula's phone, the "silent" button is not working -- really; I have worked on it for some time -- is anyone surprised?

When I eat, I take off my glasses and put them on the table. I usually collect them after I finish the dishes. The other day, I went to get them and just couldn't find them. I searched; then Ursula joined in. Finally, she yelled I found them -- which is unusual because it is usually I who find lost objects. They were on Ursula's head; she had picked them up after breakfast and just put them on. After almost 35 years of marriage, there is always something new.

SOME NEW PEOPLE

I've been to see Rabbi Levi Kelman. He was a student of mine when he was fourteen and his father and my father were best of friends; in fact, his father officiated at my father's funeral. Levi, who is an ordained Conservative rabbi, is the rabbi of the oldest Progressive (Reform) synagogue in Jerusalem. He and I also share a long, loving relationship with the late Joy Ungerleider Mayerson who helped both of us in crucial ways in our careers. His synagogue is for the non-orthodox and it is very rewarding to see how much he is able to do for those Jews of Jerusalem who want some religion but do not want to be orthodox. He added a new thought on the coming war: Some people think it means a new beginning. That is all wrong, as Levi says; no "new beginnings" begin with war.

I also saw Ruthi Moshayov, a distant relative of the Chesters (old friends of Ursula's family). Ruthi, who lost her father recently and whom we visited on her Moshav (agricultural village), is a non-religious social worker. She works with the endemically poor and otherwise unassimilable elements of Israeli society, particularly with those Ethiopians who have just not made it into the system. The poverty is not to be believed and the inadaptation to modern life is very deep.

Also met with David Shulman, professor of Sanskrit at the Hebrew University. He arrived from Nowhere, Iowa, where his mother grew up speaking Hebrew. He is not religious and he, too, is active socially. His cause is helping Palestinians who are being harrassed by Israeli settlers. He says that the last time he went to deliver blankets to a non-violent Palestinian group he was roughed up by the Israeli police and shot at by the settlers. It is hard to believe that such things happen here. I am reminded of the days of integration in the South.

Today I was at a meeting of the Israel Ecumenical Association: Jews, Christians, and Muslims (the latter two are Israeli Arabs and Palestinians) who meet occasionally for religious dialogue. There wasn't much dialogue, at least not during the short period of time I was there though a good friend told me that it developed later in the conference. Still, one has to support the cause of peace and interfaith understanding. The other group I work -- and I do that once a month -- is composed of Israeli and Israeli Arab educators. We meet in Nazareth for an afternoon. I will lead the next session based upon my work with the banality of good and evil. I hope my Hebrew holds up and that my Arabic does not desert me. That group, partly because it meets regularly, is making more progress.

It has been good to meet people who are actually doing something to help with some of the deep social and political problems of the Jewish State.

Ronny, our Israeli soldier -- the one who was wounded when stopping a suicide bomber -- went in for a procedure which caused him a lot of pain for a few days. Very difficult. He also has to decide where to go from here with his treatment and Hanina Falk has been very helpful in getting us some good advice for him. His 1 1/2 year old daughter couldn't be sweeter.

Shabbat Shalom to everyone, U&D