Like Water on the Rock

A post by Richard (Aryeh) Nanas
From Jerusalem

Zecharia Sada (left) and Rabbi Yechiel Grenimann

Today was our 2nd full day in Israel. Quite a contrast between morning and afternoon. The morning was spent at the holocaust museum (Yad V'Shem), and the afternoon was spent in the West Bank with Rabbi Yechiel Grenimann, Director- Occupied Territories Department, Rabbi's For Human Rights. With Rabbi Grenimann, we helped a Palestinian family pick olives. Olive groves are a primary source of income for many Palestinians in the West Bank. Radical settlers have been targeting Palestinian Olive groves. They have prevented people from tending their groves and have destroyed entire groves. Today for example settlers cut down 200 trees belonging to Palestinians. According to Zacharia Sada, a Palestinian Field Coordinator, for Rabbi's for Human Rights (RHR), settlers try to destroy the groves so they can no longer be tended. Once the groves are untended, the land reverts to the state and becomes available to the settlers. The stories were heart breaking.

In the evening we shared reflections on the day with the group. I was searching to find the link between the morning at Yad V'Shem and the afternoon in the West Bank. Rabbi Paula gave us a piece to read by A. B Yehoshuoa, a major Israeli author. His piece was a complex series of reflections on the meaning of the holocaust. What struck me was a paragraph which I will have to paraphrase. Essentially it said that being victims of the holocaust does not give the victims any special moral status. You still have to earn your morality on the basis of your actions. I think that we might be able to understand the fear based on the holocaust that drives the actions of the settlers in Israel, but understanding the fear that drives actions does not justify actions. What a stark contrast between being at the holocaust museum where we were shown all the distinctions the Nazis imposed on different people's and then being on the West Bank and seeing roads that only Israelis can use and the various distinctions made between the two people's that always seem to favor the occupying power. Please understand that I am not comparing the holocaust to the current Israeli policies in the territories, but I am comparing the demeaning and dehumanizing actions which seem to have too much commonality.

What an experience to share everything with a group of 19 people, Jews and Christians. Now when I see things I have seen before, I see them through my eyes and then imagine how they are being seen by others. The dirty laundry is out there for all to see. I know that they are vile Tee shirts sold everywhere in the world, but when I see 'Guns and Moses' tee shirts sold near the Western Wall, I get a special sense of disgust. The seems to be an element of triumphalism that must come from a sense of deep insecurity.

A last note before ending. Rabbi Grenimann was a real model for me. He is always on the front lines and sees terrible things on a daily basis. At the same time he was calm, sweet and somewhat optimistic. He told a Talmudic story about how over time water can etch grooves in rock. In other words change comes slowly, but can come. I needed to hear and witness that because I am so ready to give up on Israel and the possibility of a peaceful resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. I guess that I have to hold on to the memory of water and the rock.