Lofty souls

Encounters with individuals of real depth – Hasidic masters, NGO leaders, soup kitchen volunteers, and taxi drivers – quickly became a preoccupation in my first week.  Israeli culture is given to cause-adoption.  Virtually everybody is intoxicated with this or that religious, political, ideological cause.  Yet when you meet somebody who is able to bring a reflective, seasoned approach to the complexities of a cause, along with a passionate intensity to it, then you know that you have something to learn from wakeful meeting and listening. 

Reading Alex Singer’s book, Alex: Building a Life, has been one of the most significant ingredients in helping to make my Sabbatical as nourishing as it has been.  Alex was a person of true depth and glowing humanity.  As a Platoon Commander, he tells of Musa, a 43 Bedouin in his Platoon who didn’t know how to read or write. “What about Arabic?” I asked.  No, not Arabic either.  He says he has trouble with the public toilets where he doesn’t know which is the men’s room.”  Yet as a shepherd with a lifetime of experience as a tracker, Alex concludes about Musa, “he is teaching me a lot.” Someone who never learned to read or write and has trouble going to the bathroom, still has much to teach the wakeful student.

More than soldiers and rabbis

A presenter at the Herzliyah Conference shared the results of extensive research on  Americans’ (Jewish and non-Jewish) attitudes toward Israel.  “The two things that dominate impressions of virtually all Americans whenever they think about Israel” he said “are religion and military security.  So the average American in Oklahoma or Wyoming thinks that every Israeli is either a rabbi or a soldier.”  This evoked a raucous laughter from conference attendees.  Yet it did serve as a sobering reminder that so often we look at remote parts of the world uni-dimensionally.  Yet there is so much more to Mumbai than Slumdog Millonaire, to Afganistan than the Taliban, to Australia than the Koala bear.  My falafel dinner at Tel Aviv’s Dizengof square later that night featured Nightly News stories about irrigating the Negev, the week’s lottery winners, and the latest challenges at Ramat Gan neighborhood charter school, served to reinforce the multi-dimensional reality that daily life in Israel is, for the vast majority, far removed from the static fixations of those who have never experienced Israel.

Courage’s face

Meeting the Founder and Chairman of the Sudan Liberation Organization was an inspiration.  After having shared superficial handshakes with more political, military, and business leaders than I could count at the Herzliyah Conference, a meeting with three African NGO leaders was almost entirely accidental – and thoroughly fortuitous  They had come to seek support from Israel-friendly NGOs in their quest to seed democracy, grow hope, and offer refuge for the millions of displaced and desperate Sudanese in Darfur and its surroundings.  They cried when they saw my green “Not on our watch” Darfur wristband.   I cried when they conveyed how inspiring Israel (her exodus story, her democracy, her hope) has been to them.  Having been imprisoned dozens of times and having been kicked off of Al Jezeera for supporting Israel, their needs are so very great. I told them how much their heroism and courage inspires me, and I pledged my support. They thanked me and we embraced.   A most important beginning.

Flowing to and from God

God and human beings communicate primarily through words.  Sacred text insinuates God’s will, ways, designs, and dreams into our consciousness.  We, in kind, pray via sacred siddur passages.  But, just as communication happens ineffably, through deeds and other forms of expression, so too communication for non-human entities flows to and from God.  As photosynthesis is about a ‘give and take’ of elements, so too organisms of every variety respond to God in ways commensurate with the flow of sustenance from God to them.  Each morning’s opening blessing, affirms the way the rooster’s response to dawn awakens us to the symphony of nature’s flow to and from God.