November 4, 2009

Bob’s Sabbatical

November 4, 2009 – “Explorations”

 

            It is a
beautiful morning. I go out to get a newspaper, and realize I can make it back
in time for the 7:30 am Eucharist at the Cathedral.  During our Prayer of Consecration, we heard
the call to prayer from a local Mosque’s minaret, then the chanting of
prayers.  It was a reminder of the
multiple identities of this city.

            Dean
Stephen Need began the day with part of a new DVD put out by the Franciscans,
“Terra Sancta,” which has segments on many parts of the Holy Land. (We need
this for St. Paul’s).  Stephen reminded
us that in this land of three faiths and two peoples, God’s presence is found
in places of beauty and in places of pain.

            He then
told us that in order to “experience” the city, we will be sent out in groups
of four.  No college members of the
College staff are allowed to accompany us. 
Each group will be sent to one of the four ‘Quarters” (refers to living
areas, not equal parts of a whole), of the Old City, Muslim, Jewish, Christian
and Armenian.  We are given maps (of a
sort) and told to go ahead, “get lost, meet people, determine what the
boundaries of your quarter are, what is the major religious shrine, are there
excavations, etc.,  “Experience it!”  We are given lunch money and 20 Shekels
(about $5) to bring back some “symbol” of our experience.  We will spend an hour and a half before
dinner sharing our experiences.

            Susan
and I are paired with two men from the Delaware group, and sent to the Muslim
quarter.   We walk down to Herod’s Gate
and enter the quarter.  This is where
Susan and I got lost on Monday.  Fred and
Bob had the same experience.  We all got
lost again today.

            Having
been encouraged to meet “locals,” we stop to ask directions (a new experience
for me!).  We are in a residential area,
not one of the main tourist streets. 
Ismat is not trying to peddle anything to us.  He lives down the street.  He asks where we are from.  We say, “Tennessee,” and he asks,
Memphis?”  We reply, “Nashville,” and he
smiles and says, “country music.” 
Then  Bob (other one), says,
“Delaware,” and Ismat says, “Oh, without Delaware, Tennessee would not be a
State.”  We were impressed of his
knowledge of the United States.  When we
ask about getting to the Temple Mount, he gives us directions, then tells us
that access is limited to 8-10am and noon to 2 pm, “or whenever they decide to
let you in.”  He also tells us that there
is only one access point now, and tells us how to get there.  We tried going up one street where the map
showed access to Temple Mount, but guards turned us away.  Without his help, we probably would have
missed it, though our class is going there another day.

            We find
our way to Lions Gate, to a Greek orthodox church claiming to be the birthplace
of Mary, to St. Anne’s and the pools of Bethesda.  After lunch, we go through security (delayed
at scanner when electricity went off) to get to the Western (Wailing) Wall,
which our friend Ismat told is the only access to the Temple Mount.  We had to go through another security check,
and were admitted to the Temple Mount. 
Upon leaving (through the gate the guards turned us away from earlier –
you can get out, but you can’t get in), we headed back, deciding to go by way
of the Damascus Gate.  Up one alley we
saw a hand-painted sign, “Saint Peter’s Prison.”  We did not stop, or report it later as one of
the major shrines in our quarter.  Although
we were headed in the right direction, we struck up a conversation with a
school-boy, Heddi, and he confirmed that we were headed the right way and even
walked part of the way with us.

            During
the reports later, it was interesting to hear how very different each of the
quarters are.  Our first impression,
walking down the main tourist streets had been that everything looked pretty
much the same.

            After
dinner, Ophir Yardin, a young Jewish professor and member of the
Ingter-religious Coordinating Council for Israel (an independent group still
hoping for a two-state solution to the political/social/religious issues here)
spoke to us.  He tried to give us the
broad perspective.  Israel feels
threatened.  The West Bank is a large
area, situated high above the narrow strip of land near the Mediterranean.  There are huge differences of opinion in
Israel as to what to do, the what and why of “peace.”  He talked about the “Wall” which is actually
only 5% wall and 95% fence, and suggested that some would prefer referring to
it as the “separation barrier.”  That
sounds a little benign to me, especially when you see how imposing the wall
is.  Palestinians, like some who work
here at the college, who have jobs in Jerusalem, used to take 25 minutes to
travel to and from work.  Now, it takes 2
hours (or more) to get through checkpoints.

            We will
be hearing more in the coming days.  It
seems that there is so much bitterness, mistrust, prejudice, geographical
issues and such, that “solutions” will be hard to come by.

Peace,

    Bob