calendar is just about to finish. What I experienced in the last 24
hours is just amazing. Everyday life and its activities slowly ground to
a halt yesterday until it all ceased and transformed into something
unfamiliar. The people, usually passionate, loud, opinionated
and argumentative - and the place often chaotic - have become serene, calm and
reflective. Not a single car on the road! But the roads are only a
little less dangerous on Yom Kippur, as frenzied secular Israeli
children go out in their thousands with their bikes, skateboards and
roller blades, taking advantage of the empty streets, avenues and roads.
The air of calm, peace and serenity has filled me with optimism. If it's
possible to get a whole nation to assume this mode of being for one day
then the potential is there for peaceful coexistence.
The silence is reminding me of a different type of silence, one I am
encountering on a daily basis. Whenever I tell people (old friends and
new, Jews and Arabs) of my plans for the year (specifically leaning
Arabic and volunteering on the Barta'a project) I get either no
response (maybe just a smile or grimace) or the customary: why would you
want to do that? you're so naive, you don't know them, it won't help,
etc. But the silent response is the most difficult to deal with. I first
experienced this in 1989 at the Serpentine Gallery, London, where I was
working as a newly arrived student. I walked into a room full of people
I was due to be working with and was introduced by the person who
employed me. When asked by someone, where are you from? I replied,
Israel. Suddenly the whole room fell silent. It took me a few moments to
realize what had happened; I was from THAT place, a place viewed so
negatively you couldn't even mention it or talk about it. People give
you the silence treatment when it's too uncomfortable to embark on any
dialogue or conversation. It's easier to stay attached to your version of reality than trying to challenge your thinking, considering other perspectives.
3 comments:
A very loud salutation from one who I hope never gave you the silent treatment and at times pushed some of those 'uncomfortable to be Israeli' buttons... You're doing a great and fantastic thing that few would have the courage or vision to undertake. Stick with it and bask in the silence of the ignorant!
Nic x
Hi Shai,
... finally, ... we are on our way to Israel in only 7 hours. This is so exciting. We are a day and a half in Tel Aviv before traveling to Eilat, the Dead Sea, and back to Tel Aviv via Jerusalem. We are hoping to have a chance to visit you up in Zichron Yaakov. I will email you when we are back in Tel Aviv to see if you are free.
all the best
Jeany
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