Today was my last day to be a tourist in Israel and the next three days will be all about business. Instead of going with Amir my old friend, I was with Lior instead, a 26 year old who spent 6 years in the Israeli Navy who bought his first investment property at 18 and who I met at my Sunday meeting with the Israeli investment corporation. I wish I had about 3 no make that 6 Liors working for me because this millennial destroys the stereotype. He is smart, ambitious, and is way ahead of anyone his age I had every meet. We got a chance to share our lives with each other on the way from Tel Aviv, traffic is murder, but we finally arrived in Jerusalem.
To be completely transparent I am not religious and have not attended a church in I don't remember when, so I am this person going to a Holy City more Buddhist than Baptist so I didn't know what to expect. What I saw is people from everywhere, from Europe, from Africa, and elsewhere. They were all colors, all religions as well as people like me non-believers. But I believe in going anywhere where I see belief triumph over hate, and positive over negative. I saw this years ago in Kyoto, and I saw it today in Jerusalem, true believers from every part of the world. Of course I saw the cheap tourist shops selling and I didn't let that deter me, in fact I do what i do everywhere I go, I buy a ball cap.
We went to the Greek and Russian Orthodox section, the Armenian section, the Muslim section including the disputed Church of the Rock, and the Western Wall where Jews go to pray and leave notes. But what I found remarkable and most significant was the Christian section especially the Church of the Sepulcher. This is the site of Golgotha were Jesus was purported to be crucified, and in the church there is a place where Jesus was supposed to be anointed and wrapped for burial in the Jewish tradition and also where you go into a Holy place which is where they say he was buried and resurrected. But the place of anointment is what I want to focus on and what the picture below shows because this is where I can connect to a true Christan believer who made a pilgrimage to this site.
I watched as people kissed the stone, poured water on the stone and then used a cloth to wipe it up and place it on their face. I say people rubbing cloth on it so that they could take something home that to them was sacred. I saw tears in peoples eyes who were overwhelmed by the experience. I couldn't take my eyes off of the scene so I lingered and wondered what thoughts were in their minds? My conclusion was belief is a powerful motivator and can be used for good or evil. These people were sending out good vibrations to the universe in their supplication, their prayers, and their emotions. In that I felt a connection to them despite my lack of Christian belief for myself. They were also not attempting to impress anyone or convert anyone. Instead they were reaffirming something positive for them, something deeply held within them, and in this the universe was affirmed as a place of hope, so in it's own way it was a spiritual experience for me as well as my Jewish friend and guide who had never been to the Christian section even though he had been to Jerusalem many times.
I know that a few days in this country does not tell me everything I need to know but in the two cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Christians, Muslims, and Jews coexist without any hostility I saw, even eating together in cafes. I know that Israel is not without conflict in the Middle East and peace is far from assured, but from what I have seen so far, I have a strongly held belief in that out differences are not so great, our ability to love is not weak, and the future is not as bleak as people would have us believe. This is true as long as we reject bigotry, prejudice, and hatred. i like to say that the only thing we should be intolerant of is intolerance.
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