Lessons from Israel: Life where the world’s 3 major religions co-exist is ‘complicated’
We have been in Israel for a little over a week now and if there is one word we have heard over and over in our travels from guest speakers, tour guides and clergy, it is the word “complicated.”
Whether we were actually standing at the border with Lebanon or in the area called Samaria listening to Arabs and Jews speak about peacemaking in the disputed territories, or visiting a Kibbutz for the Sabbath — everyone tries to explain the situation of life in Israel by saying, “It’s complicated.”
That’s because it is true, and the reason is that life in Israel is complex, yet, the people somehow make it work. Is there drama in Israel? Of course, we were in Jerusalem when an Israeli Arab ran into a bus stand in East Jerusalem and killed two brothers ages 8 and 6 as well as a 20-year-old man. Almost 100,000 people turned out to protest at the Knesset in Jerusalem the Netanyahu government’s reading in the Parliament of a new piece of legislation to curtail the authority of the Israeli Supreme Court.
Despite those events, I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I left you with the impression that we were all in the midst of chaos in the streets of Israel. Our group, consisting of Jews and Christians, have visited in one small area of the Jewish quarter of the Old City the room where Jesus is said to have conducted the Last Supper. Afterward, we gazed out to the Temple Mount to behold the El Aksa Mosque the third-most-holy site in Islam next to Mecca and Medina. After a five-minute walk we headed over to the holy Western Wall that holds up the ancient Temple Mount.
In a short period of time we beheld sacred sites of three major religions. We worked our way through the crowds consisting of pilgrims from all over the world whether they were Jews from the United States or Catholics from Vietnam or Muslims walking to their prayers on the Muslim Sabbath on Friday. The other day we drove to Capernaum, the site of a Roman period synagogue where Jesus was said to have preached, healed the sick and drove out demons.
The roots of Christianity are in Judaism. Jesus was Jewish, and while our religious tradition’s pathways have gone in different directions, we share this history. In fact, wherever we went and visited ancient houses of worship we could all agree that Israel is holy in many different ways. I am so proud of our travelers who showed respect to each other’s holy places and opened their minds and hearts to watch and observe others practicing their rituals and sharing their faith and prayers to God.
Walking through the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is controlled by the Armenian, Ethiopian, Egyptian Coptic, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, gives a new meaning to the idea of diversity within the Christian faith traditions. And a little-known fact that the keys to unlock the church in the morning and lock it at night is in the possession of an Arab Muslim family who have been in charge of this duty since about the 1840s. Again it is complicated when these vastly different religious traditions live and work together inside one church.
One of the most-complicated and joyful lessons we experienced is how Israel handles its diversity. On the Jewish Sabbath, we visited a Kibbutz and prayed with the Rabbi and his congregation. I will never forget that five Catholics joined the congregation from a nearby monastery for the Jewish Sabbath prayers. I sat there worshiping when I looked up from my prayer book and witnessed the two priests and three nuns reading the Jewish prayers in Hebrew like the rest of the Israelis.
Afterward we conversed in Hebrew and beheld their love and respect for Judaism as well as their ability to speak Hebrew, even though they came from all over Europe. That encounter was totally impressive and inspiring. It gave me a new picture of what religious ecumenicism could be like in Israel.
We arrived at the Golan Heights in the north of the country and toured the security areas of the border of Israel with Syria and then drove to the border with Lebanon. We were right at the border and could see the cars from Hezbollah (supported by Iran) that patrolled their town on the other side. We met with Israeli soldiers who guard the borders and protect Israel. There was one soldier who was a Druze, who is a non-Muslim Arab and whose tribe is loyal to Israel and serve in the Israeli army. If that is not complicated I do not know what is.
All of us learned that protecting the state of Israel is the greatest service that Israelis can provide and the honor it is for these young teens and adults who are required to serve three years, and the women who serve a required two years. It gave us all perspective about the importance of serving one’s country.
Clearly the Israeli government is fully committed to protecting these holy sites and making them available to travelers and pilgrims from all over the world. For that alone I am grateful and proud of Israel.
I am hoping that we have all learned how to differentiate between the rough-and-tumble politics of Israeli culture and the underlying heritage and history from ancient times to the emergence of a modern Jewish state. I like to believe that all of this belongs to the Jews, Christians and Muslims. I can’t answer how Israel and the Arabs can make a permanent peace. Yet I advise that we couldn’t have felt safer in any place we visited.
I am ready for the next trip to Israel. Even though we do not have the peace that Israel has always yearned for, I still believe that Israelis want peace and will make the peace when they have partners who are sincerely interested and committed to making that peace. There is always hope and for that hope I pray to God and have faith in the great nation of Israel to make that prayer into a reality.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
