“Jerusalem is a port city on the shore of eternity”

A friend of mine showed me this poem the other night, its written by world renowned poet Yehuda Amichai (The Songs of Zion the Beautiful: 21).

Jerusalem’s a place where everyone remembers
He’s forgotten something
But doesn’t remember what it is

And for the sake of remembering
I wear my father’s face over mine

This is the city where my dream containers fill up
Like a diver’s oxygen tanks

Its holiness
Sometimes turns into love.

Since coming to Jerusalem I have found myself immersed in poetry, religion, fear, love, and emotion. From the soldier I met at a bar to the cab driver who drove me to the old city and the store owner who is struggling to make ends meet, I have silently listened to their stories. My time here in Israel, isn’t always emotionally charged and philosophically enlightening it has also been filled with excitement, fun and just crazy moments. I think Jerusalem is the only city I could get proposed to 4 times all by Arab men and offered things like a Mercedes to the biggest house in Bethlehem. Jordan and I also had some pretty interesting experiences especially when he almost got me arrested one Friday night. I also realized I spend most of my time making fun of Wajida but things like that just lighten our moods.

For me the weirdest thing will be when we return to the US and go back to Brandeis. We are no longer politically correct about anything, we became pretty rude because that just happens here in Israel, I fell in love with Indian music, Wajida loves Idan Raichel and picked up a few Hebrew phrases, Anushka will start bargaining for everything she buys from mulch and beans to her Brandeis tuition, and Jordan became way too ROTC for his own good. We have become good friends; we have dealt with ups and downs and emerged as better people and better friends. We’re leaving soon and I’ve just been taking a lot of time looking back at a lot of what we have done here in Israel, our journeys, experiences, mishaps, and basically everything under the sun if there was a way for us to do it no matter how dangerous it sounded we did it.

While talking to another SCB Fellow today, we discussed how even though this summer has flown by so quickly it still feels like ages ago we had landed in Israel. The things we have done here have been jampacked into the span of 2 months but these adventures and experiences we have had are 6 months worth of time here in Israel. Even though we all had a purpose here, which most of us have fulfilled, we stepped out of our box and our comfort zones and pushed ourselves to explore and discover. From waking up at 6am to make our first group excursion to Bethlehem to spending over 3 hours traveling to Sderot and walking through the city in the hot sun we have done all of this on our time off. It makes me think, why there aren’t more people in the world who care enough about others to listen to their stories, to empathize, and to cry for them.

That brings me back to Jerusalem, a city of confusion and holiness but when will that holiness turn into love? Its something I often wonder to myself when I am alone. Its funny because I spend a majority of the year in Waltham, Ma, in an area that is just as quiet and residential as the apartment I live in here in Jerusalem. But in Waltham I am constantly bored, I am always trying to find something to do because just sitting in my room at night seems to be such an unattractive idea. Yet, in Jerusalem I jump at the opportunities to sit alone and just gaze out into the distance. I sometimes find myself envisioning this city’s future in a perfect world. Will it be divided? Will it remain under the governance of the Israeli government? or will it become a city controlled by the international community?

Its peaceful here at night. Its an uneasy peace, an eerie silence, but nevertheless its still peaceful. I always wonder how long that sense of serenity will last.

Prayer is an interesting thing. It brings out emotions, pain, sorrow, it also brings out hope longing, gratitude and love. Today is the fast of the 9th of Av. This fast symbolizes the end of a period of mourning for the destruction of both the First and Second Holy Temples that were destroyed on the same day, just 656 years apart.

Its hard to compose my thoughts at the moment. I had an interfaith encounter Sunday evening in Beit Jala. The topic of this encounter was “The Holiness of Jerusalem in Islam, Judaism and Christianity”. I thoroughly enjoyed this encounter, it was though provoking and at the same time I had a profound emotional connection to the topic and I felt at ease discussing it. Three things truly jumped out to me, one from the Christian perspective, the second from the Muslim perspective and the third from the Jewish perspective.

Jesus said to his Apostles, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria…” and from Judea and Samaria to the rest of the world. I found it so interesting that Jesus began by saying that they will be G-d’s witnesses from Jerusalem and then to Judea and Samaria and then to the rest of the world. This sheds light on the religious connection Christians must feel and have to Jerusalem, the first of G-d’s witnesses were from there and then they spread to the rest of the world.

The Prophet Muhammad said, whoever desires to have a good pilgrimage must also travel to Jerusalem. In Islam, Jerusalem is a blessed land and it is believed that it is the shortest way between heaven and earth. When someone dies, the souls go first to Jerusalem.

Finally, I presented the Jewish perspective on Jerusalem in this encounter. But on thing that jumped out at me as I researched the Judaic connection to Jerusalem was Psalms 137:5, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.” What is Jerusalem for the Jewish faith, it is a city that has been a nucleus of holiness for centuries and it’s a city that should be so important to us that if we forget her its as if we have forgotten how to use our right hand. This, in some way, can explain my connection to Jerusalem. Every time I go to the Western Wall I feel G-d’s presence and every time I walk through this city it feels so very different than any other city I have ever been to. Jerusalem is a home, a home to not only Judaism but to Islam and Christianity.

The encounter as a whole was concluded with a powerful message from Dr. Taleb (as I like to call him). He said, “Our differences should not be a matter that divides us but rather one that unites us in respect for one another.” This got me thinking about what do we do in the name of religion, in the name of a greater good? We cause harm, we hurt others, and we seek our own methods of justice and in order to fulfill our own interpretations of religion.

I had a conversation with my friends Wajida and Noam earlier this evening and we discussed the Temple Mount as well as what a Third temple would mean to the Jewish people. Wajida asked us, “If you visited the Dome of the Rock (where it is believed the Temple once stood) would you be upset?” My immediate reaction was yes I would. But when I delved deeper into my thoughts I realized something, I wouldn’t be upset because there was a holy sight for another religion in place of my Temple, I would be upset because of the reasons my Temple wasn’t there. I would be upset because of the division and animosity between different sects of Judaism, I would be upset because thousands of years ago the Temple was destroyed because of “sinaat chinam” (hatred between fellow Jews) and today that hatred continues to resonate throughout Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora. We have brought this upon ourselves as a nation and a religion.

I wear a necklace every day and on the necklace there is an engraving in Hebrew, it read, “Am Echad Belev Echad” (One nation with one heart). When people learn what it says they just smile and say “well that’s so you.” You know, Zionist Shirel just picking out a random quote and engraving it in her necklace, that’s typical. But very few people know why I wear it. I chose this quote and I chose to wear this necklace because I want to remember something, we are one nation. One nation that is divided, a people that continue in the practices that caused for the destruction of the Temple years ago but we have not learned, we have not changed our ways.

I wear this necklace to remind myself that the day we act like one unified nation is the day we will no longer year for peace because we will have it. It’s a day that is in the distant future and I wear this necklace because I pray for that day, the day when the nation of Israel (which includes not just Jews but Muslims, Christians, and every single person that lives in this country) will be a nation of unity rather than constant turmoil. Before peace can be achieved, the people of Israel must find it within themselves to become “Am Echad belev echad”.

As I conclude this blog entry, I realized something, Israel is home to over 8 million people but even though they call this country their home, they rarely feel at home in this country. In Jerusalem I think that is caused by the rising tensions in the city between different people, religions, and political leanings. But to me I feel at home in this country regardless. I have rarely felt uncomfortable, I have rarely felt out of place, because this country has stolen my heart and Jerusalem has inhabited my soul.