Tuesday October 22 ~ Don Schultz

When our bus had a flat tire on Thursday morning and our departure from the hotel was delayed, we missed an opportunity to walk the Wall. On Friday afternoon our second attempt to find time for the Wall walk before meeting with Dalia Landau got squeezed out of the schedule. Finally this morning, Usama and Joan made time for us to walk the Wall.

Many pieces of the illegal art caught the attention of one or more of us. Photo memories were secured to serve as reminders of all we have seen and heard.

I’ve walked the Wall a number of times since my first trip here in 2008. I have taken many photos. This time I took only one.

“Street art show us things we may try to avoid seeing.” I’ve heard it said about the Living Stones Pilgrimages that those who choose to participate in them see what many other Holy Land tourists do not want to see or are not given the opportunity to see.

We have not avoided seeing things or hearing stories about the Occupation and the realities the Wall art portrays. So today we changed our pace and saw things many Holy Land tourists do come to see.

We saw places that helped us see more fully the stories many of us have heard (or sung) about since childhood. The Good Samaritan, the Temptation of Jesus, Zacchaeus and baptism of Jesus stories will all have a visual associated with them from now on. The Dead Sea now has not only a visual but a feel for those who ventured into its water and mud.

Once again the day ended with a “special meal” prepared and served by our hosts who have allowed us to see, feel and taste Palestinian hospitality.

Monday evening, Oct 21 ~ Mary Beth Byrne

Today concluded with wonderful but heartbreaking sharing from Rami Elhanan and George Sa’adeh, calling themselves brothers, though Rami is Jewish Israeli and George is Palestinian. Rami lost his beautiful daughter Smadar to a suicide bomber when she was 14. He struggled for a year trying to deal with his anger, his grief and his pain. Then he met Yitzhak and others who had experienced the loss of their children. The first time he met Palestinians who had also lost a child, they hugged and cried out of their common human pain. They agreed that they must work for peace by listening to each other and acknowledging that they are both human beings dealing with pain. “The price of anger leads nowhere.”

George’s family has lived on this land for hundreds of years. He was educated in the US and came back to work as an engineer and teacher. He witnessed the wars of 1967, 1973, and the intifadas of 1987 and 2000. As his family was going grocery shopping, soldiers opened fire, killing his daughter, Christine, and injuring himself, his wife, and his other daughter Marianne. Like Rami, he, too, was suffering from pain and anger. He was able to say that he forgave the shooters, but he could not forget what happened.

Both these men are now part of the Parents’ Circle/Bereaved Families organization, (www.theparentscircle.org) organized in 1995. Its 600 members are committed to speaking out and educating about the conflict as they witness for peace.  They provide hope by wedging a small crack in the wall~~through which a little light can shine. This light provides hope and a chance for changes.

“Two things will never be stopped by a wall: suicide bombers and peacemakers.”

Their strong message is to be pro-peace and pro-justice. We must listen to each other as equal human beings as we find ways to live together peacefully.  Their stories of reconciliation were refreshing after seeing so much division earlier in the day.

What a beautiful message of reconciliation, with a commitment to take action for change.

Monday, 21 Oct ~ Bev Abma

Where to begin with a day in Jerusalem that was seen by each of us through very different eyes depending on our life experiences?  It would be safe to say that it was a very emotional day for all.

Descending the Mount of Olives, we passed thousands of Jewish graves decorated with stones in even more abundance than flowers in an American cemetery. A vast Arab cemetery lay further down the mountain. Every step of our way was monitored by security cameras – a small foretaste of the bigger separation and control we would continue to see.

As we descended, we stopped at Dominus Flevit where Jesus wept over Jerusalem and the Garden of Gethsemane. For some there was a deep sense that Jesus’ prayers and tears were not only for the Jerusalem of his day but also for the fear, hatred and pain so evident today. 

Evident in our visit to the Dome of the Rock in Old Jerusalem: a highly contested area sacred to both Jews and Muslims as the rock on Mt. Moriah where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son. The two faiths differ in whether it was Isaac or Ishmael that Abraham was preparing to offer. Over time the area has become even more sacred to Islam as the rock from which the Prophet Mohammed began his night journey to heaven. As non-Muslims we were given this rare privilege to visit both the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque. As women we need to appropriately cover our hair, and also cover our arms to the wrists and legs to the ankles. Anyone wearing slacks was given a long skirt to wear. 

At the Western or Wailing Wall Jews grieve the loss of this location as the Temple Mount by inserting prayers into crevices. Men and women are separated: women peering over the wall to see the bar mitzvahs of their sons. Israeli soldiers maintain tight control on security and quietly watched a group of young conservative Jews demonstrating at the Dome of the Rock shaking of fists and shouting that the place belonged to them. 

The Via Dolorosa with its fourteen stations of the cross is now a crowd filled market area – difficult to associate with the path Christ took. However, St. Anne’s Church that marks the place of Mary’s birth near to the pools of Bethesda where Jesus healed a sick man (John 5:2-9) was different. It offered a sacred moment as the strains of “How Great Thou Art” resonated in the amazing acoustics. 

Our group sang “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.” The words are a powerful reminder of how we all need God’s wisdom and healing, especially in this place where Christians have fought over control of this church planned to enclose the site of both the cross and tomb (John 19:41-42).  Later in the day we were challenged to consider how we can live out Christ’s message of peace to all humankind. Blessings!