Friday morning began with an overview of contemporary politics and a discussion of some of the current events and the state of affairs in the Israeli government with Canadian-Israeli journalist & author Matti Friedman. Matti is a former reporter for the AP in Israel, one of about 40 foreign correspondents assigned to cover the country in the news. It was truly enlightening to hear him speak about the equivalent of propaganda produced across the world about Israel, with the "headline driving story" perspective at the forefront, regardless of all of the facts. "When I worked in the AP’s Jerusalem bureau, the Israel story was covered by more AP news staff than China, or India, or all of the fifty-odd countries of sub-Saharan Africa combined," wrote Friedman. He also shared some interesting safety stats of Jerusalem violent deaths compared to San Francisco in 2013, which definitely shed light on some of the exaggerations made to enhance stories of Jerusalem and Israel.
As a part of our day we were invited to learn some of the basics about the Muslim religion and the local community inside of a mosque in Ein Nequba, an Arab Israeli village outside of Jerusalem. The Imam invited us into the mosque and it was incredible to have that experience - one that not many non-Muslims would ever have the opportunity to take part in. It was wonderful to see how the Imam interacted with some of the local Jewish community members and how he supports a community program with a goal of peaceful coexistence as well.
In Ein Rafa, a neighboring community we met with Dr. Simon Lichman at the Center for Creativity in Education and Cultural Heritage, which strives to connect Israeli Arab and Jewish children through play (a universal language) to creat positive interactive memories for children and families of both communities, in hopes of building those relationships and fostering positive memory association as they grow up.
After our community visit, we joined the masses at Mehane Yehuda, picking up last minute supplies in the open stalls of the market in preparation for the start of Shabbat. We convened for Shabbat welcoming ritual songs and prayers at the Kotel with a group of Bay Area youth, one of whom, Alex, is our soon to be camp intern at the APJCC. I'm starting to think Israel is like the Kevin Bacon 6 degrees of separation, with even less degrees!
This was followed by a "Shabbat of a Lifetime" experience in the Lester home. The family was incredibly welcoming, friendly, and made the traditions fun and relevant to modern society although they are part of an orthodox community of religious Jews. This was only my second organized Shabbat experience, and it was truly a gift - the perfect way to celebrate the week we had already been through together, and an incredible way to share our feelings and look towards a day of rest and rejuvenation before the week to come.
Shabbat Shalom!