From Israel With Love

Sunday, the tenth of Tammuz, Bat Ayin, The Holy Land.

It is light. Darkness may come in a few hours, but now it is light.

It is dark. Light may come in a few hours, but now it is dark.

I have spent the day in sunshine: My bare feet caressing the cultivated soil, my bare hands weeding the grapevines; my bare mind thinking nothing, my bare heart feeling everything; my bare body aching to exhaustion, my bare soul aching to G-d.

The Holy Land has spent the day in darkness: its bare feet caressing yet a few more wounded bodies, its bare hands bleeding in the grapevines; its bare mind thinking we’ve gone crazy, its bare heart broken in halves; its bare body too exhausted to ache, its bare soul aching to be recognized.

Dirt under my fingernails, dirt under my skin; sweat pouring down my back, sweat soaking my shirt. I climb over the Judean hills, a towel wrapped around my head. I reach a stream flowing through the sun-drenched stones, pooling into a two thousand year old Mikvah. I jump in: the water is freezing – so cold it warms my heart. I come out, into the sunshine, clean.

Dirt under its fingernails, dirt under its skin; sweat pouring down its back, sweat soaking its shirt. It climbs over the Judean hills, but no one has wrapped a towel around its head. It is begging to be allowed the stream, for that freezing water to shock it into reality; but no one cares. It wishes to come out, into the sunshine, clean; but we don’t give a damn.

We are having a BBQ under a fig tree, over a grapevine, hotdogs and cold beers in the setting sun. The rhythm of a helicopter’s rotators matching the rhythm of my rotating heart. The sun is falling fast: now only a half is seen, wait, now only its red expression. Now nothing, only darkness.

It is sitting, alone, waiting for its children to come home. It hasn’t even seen the sun rise so how can it see it set? But in darkness there is hope: it knows someday the sun will come up from behind the hills.

It is a time of change. Yes, now it is dark, but light may come in a few hours –

It is up to us.