Right now I am in no man’s land.
Not the one that wedges apart the two Koreas. Not the Berlin wall in the 1980’s. There are no warships, battle tanks, or foot soldiers here.
At 31,000 feet there isn’t much of anything. Sometimes lightning strikes, playing hopscotch with the clouds. At -32 degrees Fahrenheit it’s much too cold for rain to fall. Instead, any trace of water stays locked up in frozen clouds, searching for a warm moment to race toward the earth.
No one claims to own the skies. Most people agree that the heavens circling above our small tracts of God-given land are perpetually gifted to all nations.
Why can we not then look to the skies for guidance? The kefiyah and the kippah both serve to remind us of God’s presence by connecting our land based lives with the never-ending life of Hashem above.
We strive to mount our case for Eretz Yisrael just as Muslims wish to unite the Ulamm (community) under the rule of the Caliph.
Or do they?
My hypothesis is that these grand images of hegemony and grandiose monarchy (whether palatial harems or priestly temples) may exist in the fantasy worlds of Hamas politburos and Likud MPs but not in the conversations of the people.
The people just don’t care. Of all the advice I received about going to the Holy Land, only one statement was echoed both by my Palestinian and Israeli friends: don’t talk politics, people are apathetic.
Pessimistic as that mind sound, I am so relieved. When people aren’t talking, they might just have the chance to look up to no man’s land and listen.
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"don't talk politics" -so you are more of a cultural writer.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize it was so cold in Israel at this time of year (-32F, really?) or is that the temp on top of a mountain and i missed that part?
Anyways, I will follow your progress, O young traveller. They said "Go west young man" and you went east. Hope your find something good.
--emma