It's difficult to appear crisp in this heat, only the Jewish men and the Arab women pull it off. There is a slightly bewildered look to everyone else.
An Arab man I had a long talk with this morning said that the Israelis and the Arabs are cousins, descendents of Moses but of two different wives.
Later, getting a chance to engage a Jewish scholar in the Ohel Yitzhak synagogue, among other things, I asked him why he was studying and discussing a book that is so many thousands of years old, and which so many people have picked apart in so many different ways and in which the words themselves haven't changed in all that time. Hadn't it all been figured out by now?
He gives me the impression that they are just getting started.
"Hey, we're Jews," you says, " You know what they say, two Jews , three opinions. "
He confirmed that Arabs and Jews really are, according to the story, first cousins.
All the more puzzling.
"Hey, we're Jews," you says, " You know what they say, two Jews , three opinions. "
He confirmed that Arabs and Jews really are, according to the story, first cousins.
All the more puzzling.
He does doubt, somewhat, my Walt Disney analogy, but more because he considers Uncle Walt an anti-semite.
Points easily get lost here.
To enter the area of the mosque is astoundingly difficult. No one makes it easy, the harsh sun least of all.
On the vast (for Jerusalem ) plateau of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the identification of all these religions with light and heat, with the starkness of loss and redemption, and the terror of insignificance is hard to miss.
I like how the women and children use the Dome of Chains as a picnic area.
Christianity is smoke;
Islam is light;
Judaism is conversation.
This plaza is so big ,and so flat, and so hot.
Back in the Armenian Hospice, I get my roomkey and an expostulation on how the Christians have many problems with the Muslims and the Muslims with the Jews and the Jews with the Christians and the Muslims with the Christians, etc., but of them all, the Druze are the worst. They are extra, extra bad.
To enter the area of the mosque is astoundingly difficult. No one makes it easy, the harsh sun least of all.
On the vast (for Jerusalem ) plateau of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the identification of all these religions with light and heat, with the starkness of loss and redemption, and the terror of insignificance is hard to miss.
I like how the women and children use the Dome of Chains as a picnic area.
Christianity is smoke;
Islam is light;
Judaism is conversation.
This plaza is so big ,and so flat, and so hot.
Back in the Armenian Hospice, I get my roomkey and an expostulation on how the Christians have many problems with the Muslims and the Muslims with the Jews and the Jews with the Christians and the Muslims with the Christians, etc., but of them all, the Druze are the worst. They are extra, extra bad.
Even worse than the Syriacs.
In fact, at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, there are so many factions represented there: Catholic, Orthodox, Copt, Armenian, and others that in order to open the church every day, they've turned the job over to a Muslim because no one trusts anyone else.
Sheesh!
I just noticed that it is 91° here in Jerusalem and 45 at home.
Time to do some laundry.
I've come back to Holy Sepulchre Church to get a picture of the candle that I lit for Mitch. It makes the third time today that I have been in the Presence of God according to some major faith. They are all less than a mile from each other! Come on, people, it can't be this hard to make it work out.
I must be gaining that otherworldly look in my eye; people are starting to ask me for directions.
I've always noticed that overseas there are so many more shops catering to men's fashions.
What I can't figure out, having a glass of wine outside the Old City ( inside, it's forbidden ) why anyone wants the Old City. Why not make it an international city, like the Vatican ?
Gee, it almost sounds simple.
The game here is like chess; how many moves ahead can you imagine?
I love Arabs for their simplicity.
I love Jews for their complexity.
Christians, it's all one.
According to Joseph Campbell, the hero of Christianity is Jesus , but the hero of Judaism is the Jewish people.
Big difference.
You achieve redemption as a race, rather than as an individual.
Someone asked the rabbinical student why Jews have been so reviled and he replied that it was because they have been so successful and other people resent that, but that seems so simplistic. Jews have not always been successful. What are the roots of anti- semitism? What are the roots of racism, for that matter?
Maybe the next trip is to India , this monotheism stuff is wearing me out.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
In fact, at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, there are so many factions represented there: Catholic, Orthodox, Copt, Armenian, and others that in order to open the church every day, they've turned the job over to a Muslim because no one trusts anyone else.
Sheesh!
I just noticed that it is 91° here in Jerusalem and 45 at home.
Time to do some laundry.
I've come back to Holy Sepulchre Church to get a picture of the candle that I lit for Mitch. It makes the third time today that I have been in the Presence of God according to some major faith. They are all less than a mile from each other! Come on, people, it can't be this hard to make it work out.
I must be gaining that otherworldly look in my eye; people are starting to ask me for directions.
I've always noticed that overseas there are so many more shops catering to men's fashions.
What I can't figure out, having a glass of wine outside the Old City ( inside, it's forbidden ) why anyone wants the Old City. Why not make it an international city, like the Vatican ?
Gee, it almost sounds simple.
The game here is like chess; how many moves ahead can you imagine?
I love Arabs for their simplicity.
I love Jews for their complexity.
Christians, it's all one.
According to Joseph Campbell, the hero of Christianity is Jesus , but the hero of Judaism is the Jewish people.
Big difference.
You achieve redemption as a race, rather than as an individual.
Someone asked the rabbinical student why Jews have been so reviled and he replied that it was because they have been so successful and other people resent that, but that seems so simplistic. Jews have not always been successful. What are the roots of anti- semitism? What are the roots of racism, for that matter?
Maybe the next trip is to India , this monotheism stuff is wearing me out.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment