First Thoughts from Jerusalem--The Sacred and the Scary

April 02, 2023

Contrasting Images. The holy and the wholly unbelievable? The very sacred and the very profane? That's what life is always like in Israel, but it has never been more true than today. The protests dominate the headlines here, as well as most Saturday nights.

The Sacred and Spiritual. The first photo will be explained later. The second photo contains a whole lot of sacred. The Western Wall is in the background, where we Jews put our special prayers at this retaining wall (not the wall itself) of the 2nd Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. It's always one of my very first stops in Israel. After a long day of running around shopping, getting things to set up our beautiful apartment, looking for a whole bunch of other things we needed to acquire or do, Karen went back to the apartment we are renting in Rehavia or Kiryat Shmuel or Katamon (we are at the intersection of all 3 neighborhoods), I decided I needed one more walk to touch the Wall, as exhausted as I was from my nearly 42,000 steps and doing so in the pouring rain.

The Wall itself contains such holiness for the Jewish people on its own, and then, to see my friend Pastor Dumisani Washington, who does so much for Israel from a Christian and a Black perspective, made me realize there was Divine Providence in my decision to take that walk.

We also spent a lovely Shabbat, remembering just how quiet the normally bustling streets of Jerusalem were just a few hours earlier with Friday night services at the spirited Yakar synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue just a 7 minute walk from us, and Saturday morning services at the much further away Conservative/Masorti synagogue Mayanot, where we ran into people we'd met at various Jewish gatherings before as well as the sister of a Beth Abraham member. We were also hosted for lunch spontaneously by members there and ate with them and some JTS Cantorial students. There was tons of ruach, energy, and spirited singing at both services. We loved them both, and you just can't really replicate it in the United States. Rak b'Yisrael, only in Israel, can you capture such a sacred feeling.

It's just so easy to live a Jewish life here; the country runs on Jewish rhythms. I mean, you can just be walking on the street and you come upon a scene like this one. What is this man cooking? Utensils. You can Kasher your cutlery for Passover here at no cost or real effort. Again, Rak b'Yisrael, only in Israel.

Cooking? No, boiling utensils to make Kosher for Passover

And where else can you see the exact times of services on an electronic signboard sponsored by a Real Estate Company? Rak b'Yisrael, only in Israel.

The Signs, the Safety, and the Scary. It's always an "interesting" time to be in Israel, but I've honestly never seen it quite like this. Most people's first reaction when you tell them you will be spending time in Israel is about safety. Aren't you afraid of terrorists? What about all the soldiers with guns? Both the Math (it is extremely unlikely you will be near a terror attack and, remember, we live in Oakland, which is far more violent), and you get used to soldiers with guns everywhere you turn. Israel does not have the same problem with guns that we do in America, and there are a whole host of reasons for that. Either way, you forget those fears by the end of the first day and get comfortable. It has been a part of life since Israel became a State, and I will never criticize Israel for defending itself as any other nation would.

However, what is happening now is a different story, and like many Centrist American Zionists, I have gone from spending so much of my time defending Israel's existence to wanting to defend Israel's democracy by protesting. I don't really have the energy to explain it all, but, essentially, Israel is in danger of becoming more dictatorial than democratic, both because of some of the people involved in the ruling coalition and new laws attempting to give a simple majority the ability to overrule any checks and balances brought forth by the Judiciary. So people are out in the streets in force. Israel is extremely divided. Interestingly, in contrast to America's protests, both "sides" claim the flag. In America, there is a narrative that the right wing is patriotic and the left wing is anti-American. While it's not that simple or even true, in Israel, both sides are using the Israeli flag and what they believe it stands for as their symbol.

My conversational Hebrew is weak, but when we went to a protest on Saturday night about 2 blocks from our house, we could certainly understand the chant of "Democratya, Democratya." And some of the signs speak for themselves.

A play on the name of one of Israel's past Prime Ministers, Menachem Begin, contrasting with some believe could be the end of Israeli Democracy under current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.