By All Means

"I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." (I Corinthians 9:22)

It is little known that nearly a full century before Theodor Herzl wrote "Der Judenstaat" (The Jewish State), a group of Evangelical Anglicans (which apparently is not an oxymoron) called the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews were promoting the idea of a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel in anticipation of the Second Coming.

Fortunately for the Christian dreamers of Zion, in England the head of the church is also head of state and it was only natural that religion oil the wheels of Empire and visa versa. Patronage of the Jewish community in the Ottoman province of Palestine was both the pretext and modus operandi of British intervention in Turkish internal affairs in the Middle East, while the LSPCAJ lobbied for the venture at home.

The Ottoman firman permitting a British consul within the walls of Old Jerusalem paved the way for the Mission. The church was allowed as a personal chapel for the consul, although proportionally this was like strapping the engine of a 747 on a VW Bug and calling it a turbo. Since the British compound is due west of the Temple Mount, the church faces the rising sun as prescribed by Christian tradition, but like a synagogue the direction of worship is also towards the Holy of Holies. In order to disarm Jewish suspicions, there are no crucifixes or images in the sanctuary (Although cleverly, the church itself is built in the shape of a cross.) Instead, verses from the Old and New Testament written in Hebrew adorn the alter and an ark.

While those Pre Zionist English dreamers didn't live to see the fruits of their labors, they played an important part in its cultivation. They promoted Jewish settlement in the city and in the development of the modern neighborhoods outside the walls in West Jerusalem. For more than a century and a half there has been a Jewish majority in Jerusalem.

And while the dream of a Jewish state is today a reality, the vision of a mass conversion of Israel failed to appear.

Well, almost. Today Christ Church is primarily a guest house, but its still a church. Messianic Jews use the sanctuary on Shabbat, sanctuary in both its meanings as within the walls of the compund it is most likely one of the few places they can meet without interference. And I understand that there is a regular English service (Mass?) held there on Sundays. Our second night there, a small group of Christian Arabs met in the patio under our window. I knew they were worshiping from the sound of hymns, even though I didn't understand the words in Arabic.

A friend of mine, an Anglican, once told me that their religion is Catholic in practice and their faith pivots on obedience. A fresh convert, 'saved' from her Evangelical upbringing, she painted her new religion in black and white. It seems to me that the Anglican Church is able to change color like a chameleon, turning its skin to fit circumstance. I'm sure that obedience is the rule for followers, but expedience is the keyword for their leaders.

I am not the one to judge if Christ Church was the product of cynical statesmen or a sincere attempt to bridge the gap between Christians and Jews. I suspect it was a little of both.

Christ Church is one of my favorite places. The compound with hidden gardens and the rooms with the original stone floors and domed ceilings; waking in the early hours to the sounds of church bells and Muslim calls to prayer in the old city – it takes you back to 19th century Jerusalem and somehow the experience feels more authentic than in more modern accommodations.

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Christ Church belongs to a bygone age, born out of the politics of Empire and not so Catholic currents in the Anglican stream. It is an anomaly; unlike any other church of its day, and an island of tranquility in a city known for turmoil. It is certainly worth a visit.

Breach in the Gate

It is told of how merchants from far away countries came to Jerusalem. They would set up booths out side the city gates and peddle their wares to the locals. It must have been the ancient version of a shopping mall.

Nehemiah, incensed when they persisted to do business on Shabbat in the holy city, instructed the guards to close the gates. He wanted to separate the people from outside influences, to prevent the commercialization of society - to keep those merchants of Tyre from turning God's people into mall rats.

After the War of Independence in 1948-9, Jerusalem was divided between Jordan and the modern state of Israel. The border ran along walls on the western side of the ancient city, a no-mans-land deserted until the city was reunited in 1967. As a result, the city benefited from a wide strip of prime real estate that escaped development and over the years has been turned into a north by south thoroughfare in the heart of the city as well as parks and other public works.


Just outside Jaffa Gate the area around an abandoned Ottoman water reservior is now a city park where concerts are performed outside on warm summer evenings. Every August Jerusalem hosts an international artists' fair for two week after the 9th of Av (The date of the destruction of both the first and second Temples.) The foriegn diplomatic corps in Jerusalem sponser exhibits featuring artists, dancers and musicians from their native lands alongside the local artists.






I don't believe I can describe it better than the photos I took last week .......





























































No doubt that Jerusalem's artist's fair isn't as impressive as festivals held elsewhere. It isn't a reason to visit Israel, but if you live here or happen to be passing through, it's alot of fun.



Today the nations don't make the trip to Jerusalem in order to make a buck. (I didn't see many buyers among the many just lookers.) As a capital and and the heritage of three major religions, countries are bartering for visibility at the Jerusalem's little fair. And Jerusalem loves it.














Nehemiah is probably turning in his grave. Instead of bolting the gates, Jerusalem's fathers have broken a breach in the walls.










Today Jerusalem's gates are open to one and all.

Changing of the Guard

Last week my battalion, the 670th Artillery Bat. took a refresher course. They had first aid lessons and ammunition updates, and we got to practice loading, aiming and firing on squeaky clean simulators designed to replicate our ancient M-109 self propelled howitzers.

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I don't know what it is, but something was missing. Was it being covered with dust, the blast of gunpowder when the ol' girl fires, the smell of men that haven't bathed for a week or the taste of the Turkish coffee we make when we think the CO isn't looking? (But he really knows, 'cause he always just happens to show up when it's ready.)
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Soldiers have stories they can't tell. There are things about being in the army that you can't explain. You can't understand if you weren't there.




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Israeli soldiers have this tough macho image, but it's not true. Lior (on the right) came out of the closet recently. I don't usually use the G-word to describe people because I believe a person's preference is a personal matter, but Lior final admitted what I've suspected for some time. He's a Geek.

The crazy thing is that Lior snagged a wife most men can only dream about. A couple of weeks ago he brought her to a brother soldier's wedding and she stole the show. She gave the Vulcan salute and said, "Live long and prosper." How many female Trekys live on planet Earth? (It blew me away; after she did that I hardly noticed the bride.)

Tzachi (on the left) lives in an institution for the criminally insane in Tel Aviv called Florentine. The rational behind releasing him for reserve duty (and letting him bear arms) is that when he's in the army he's off the streets. I know exactly how long he's been in the 670th - he arrived to do his first tour of duty as a reservist at an outpost I commanded on the Syrian border two weeks before my youngest Odelia was born.


I'm something of a dinosaur in uniform. Nir, my crew commander was on vacation in Holland, so Ori took his place. Ori hadn't been born yet when I joined the army.

(And the cute blond is younger than my daughter. She also out ranks me. Note the officer bars.)

Serving in the Israeli Army has been a significant part of my life - it is one of the reasons I came here. I don't know how much time I have left before my soldiering days will be over. Sooner or later my body will betray me, or they will just kick me out.

There's never been much ceremony at the changing of the guard in the 670th. The guys I knew when I joined got tired and then you didn't see them anymore, and new faces took their place. One day I will be gone, and then I will be just another one of the stories the guys tell to pass the time.

Shir La'ma'alot - Yosef Karduner (Tehilim 121)

(Song of Ascents - Psalms 121)

I Want You To Meet Someone

Maayan's big dream when she was a girl was to be a bride. She wasn't too keen on being a wife, but she wasn't one to let a little detail like marriage keep her from having a wedding. Her wedding would be fancy; a white wedding dress, flowers, adoring family and envious girlfriends. The groom was an unattractive but essential accessory, like a telephone pole by the Taj Mahal.

I fixed her lunch one day after school. She was in first or second grade and sat there by the kitchen table waiting for me. I told her there was someone I wanted her to meet. She didn't show any interest or objection.

"Who?"
"You know how Savta Sophie and Saba Yaakov (Yael's parents) were matched." (60 or so years ago arranged marriages were the rule in Jewish Bombay, love matches were the exception.) She knew, but didn't get the connection.

Well, a friend of mine has a son your age, I told her. I went on spinning this yarn. Now I had Maayan's attention. "My friend and I have decided that you (Maayan and the boy) are right for each other, so we (my imaginary friend and I) have arranged for you to get married when you're old enough. We think it would nice if you get to know each other."

"I don't want to marry him."
"You don't even know him."
She didn't care. "You can't make me marry him."

She had a point there. The trick in successfully fooling someone is to never deny the truth, but to twist it.

"I can't make you marry him, but only I can decide if you will have a wedding. If you won't marry him, then I won't let you get married."

I had her over a barrel. It was the prospect of missing her day more than a lifetime of loneliness that troubled her. She paused. Then her face hardened and her forehead furled.

"Okay, I'll marry him, but he'll wish he were dead."

The drop of anger in the corner of her eye told me I had gone too far, so I came clean before she started crying.

"Abba, that wasn't kidding – that was lying!" That's when we made the rule that pulling someone's leg longer than 5 minutes is lying.

In spite of being deceived regularly by her parents, Maayan grew up to be a well adjusted young woman with a healthy distrust of authority. With the exception of her first beau in high school, she's never made the mistake of bringing her boyfriends home.

So now there's a man she wants me to meet.

I don't know much about him. He grew up on a religious kibbutz in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem. He was/is a paratrooper in the army and now he's a student. He's a man of faith. He met Maayan in India and saw something in her that he liked. It took her time to warm up to him. Maybe she wanted to see if he was fooling her like her old man, but now she believes he's sincere.

I don't know where this is going; I don't think even Maayan knows. But I know for the first time in 25 years there is someone she wants me to meet.

The time will come when Maayan will bring a man into my life. I don't have much choice in the matter, and I will have to live with it and hope for the best, like a bride in an arranged marriage.

Maayan is the matchmaker for herself. For me. For him.

Okay, I'll meet him. I hope it's a good match between the men in Maayan's life. Because if it isn't, one of us will wish he were dead.

The Right Person

לר' ומעין (בעיקר מעין)נ

"The best thing you can do is find a person who loves you
for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what-have-you.

The right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass."



From Juno.

Taking the Reins

When Maayan was in 5th or 6th grade, she took riding lessons. It was, I thought at the time, the prudent thing to do. We live in one of the few rural areas in Israel where there is still open range. Its cattle country, and our kids will sooner or later end up on the back of a horse. If you live by a river, you teach your kids to swim; if you live here you make sure they can ride.

With Maayan, more so than with Netanel and Odelia, I tried to take control. Not because I like to dominate so much, but out of worry, fear. She was our only child for 9 years, she was everything, 100% of all we had. I was aware of the risks at every step, reining her back whenever I perceived danger lay ahead.

The summer between 9th and 10th grades, she took the Moshav Youth movement's leadership course. That's where she met Chen.


After that summer, she was always taking off to visit Chen, who comes from a moshav in the foothills half way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I see now that it wasn't just the friendship taking her away on weekends, but also the need to free herself from me.








I had mixed feeling about Chen and Maayan's new friends. It wasn't anything personal, but they seemed to be more inclined to take chances. I didn't know what kind of people they were and was afraid that Maayan would prefer their values over mine. Maybe I worry too much about the ones I love, but there was something to it. Chen is fearless. My guess is that she had a lot to do with Maayan's decision to travel India and Nepal.







We want to shield and protect our children, but in the end the idea is to give them the reins and let them go. There are so many choices they have to make - dating, education, work, travel. All those things involve risk, but the only thing more dangerous than taking a chance in love and life, is being too careful to try. And if we have done our job, they will find the right path for themselves – and if they don't, they will know what to do about it.

I think Maayan will find a path that neither I nor Chen would have guessed. I have a stake in her future, but now I am only an observer.

Its a little scary knowing that now Maayan has control of 100% of all I have, because no matter how many kids you have, each and every one is everything to you. Its scary on one hand because I no longer hold the reins, but on the other hand I am proud of her. She has more than proved that she knows what she's doing.