The Bishop’s Blog

Yesterday was a great day.

Our day began with breakfast and then we rushed off to meet with a couple of our UCC ministry partners here in Jerusalem.  We first met with a wonderful woman named Cedar Duaybias who is a current board member of the organization SABEEL.  This is a Palestinian Ecunenical Christian Group with all kinds of programs to help folks here detail with what she called the "tragedy on both sides" of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  I enjoyed listening to her as she weaved her very personal story along with the historic elements of a very deep and complicated narrative.

Then we moved to our next appointment with Rabbi Kellerman, a faculty member of Hebrew Union College.  We were recieved by her and given a tour of the campus.  Quite a spectacular place, positioned just beyond the Jerusalem government area.  Rabbil Kellerman was the first ordain women of the Reformed Jewish movement here in Jerusalem.  So, she is somewhat of a celebrity.  She spent more than a hour with us, telling her story and giving her opinions of the situation here.

We next move to stand with some remarkable women from a group called, Women in Black, Israeli women who weekly stand against the occupation of Israel in Palestinian territories.  We were engaged by a number of people while they past  by this most busy corner.  Two young Israeli men, Elisha (American) and Daniel (English) engaged Pamela in an extraordinary conversation.  Several others chimed in as they heard other and understand each other.  I have to say, my beloved was superb in facilitating this conversation for more than 45 minutes of our hour witness with these women.  After the witness, we then talked with the leader of this group, Gila Svirsky, American born former orthodox Jewish woman who’s passion and fire we felt from the beginning. 

And finally, our evening was full with meeting the Rabbi and Cantor of Congregation HarEl, the first Reformed Jewish Congregation of Jerusalem about to celebrate 50 years of service to downtown Jerusalem.  And then stayed for Shabbat Service with wonderful music and a warm reception of us by the members of the congregation. 

Just a couple of reflections about the day: the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is very complex, with no simple solutions.  I have become very aware of my personal affinity for the Palestinian story/narrative.  Meeting Cedar Duaybias and hearing her story was joy!  During our 1 hour public witness with Women in Black, a German man walked up and took my picture without my permission, yet again.  I spoke to the man, saying to him that I would have like it that he asked me first before taking the picture.  He later turn up at the Shabbat Service at Congregation HarEl.  I was able to have a breif conversation with him learning his name, Wolfgang from northern German.  Lastly, it was great to meet Elisha and Daniel, the two young Israeli men.  The human connection, the human story is the essence of life for me.

More to come,

+JS

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.