February 1, 2008Today we took a tour of Old City and the Jewish Quarter. We stood in the room where Jesus supposedly had his last supper. The tour ended at the Western Wall. It is divided into two gender sides with the much larger division being the men’s. I overheard other girls on our tour expressing their anger at how much smaller the women’s side was, but my friend turned to me and said they are lucky the women even have a side. Here Jews were praying, reading their Torah out loud, swaying up and down, burying their faces in their Torah, pressing themselves against the wall. There are pieces of paper stuck in the wall that have people’s prayers written on them. It was a really interesting place to observe and people watch. Old City is a historically significant place for many different religions; however, I feel like a lot of the meaning and history is lost on me as I am not religious. Some people might refer to it as culture shock. I’m not sure if that is exactly what I am experiencing, but it is different being in Israel without being Jewish. They have such a strong community that everyone studying abroad here knows each other through someone somehow. All except our little group of Penn nurses. The topic comes up somehow in every conversation where I hesitantly admit, “no I am not Jewish”, and the response is usually something like “oh.” At least we have each other.
Being an outsider in this particular region is not necessarily a bad thing. We have a whole different perspective on the whole Arab-Israeli conflict. It is really quite disturbing the little derogatory comments we hear in everyday conversation. But we are having difficulty with what we can do with those comments. We are outsiders, so on one hand, do we even have a place to say “this is wrong”? But on the other hand we have a valuable unbiased perspective. Will our views impact any one person and make a difference? Or will we lose friends by opening our mouths? We feel like we have gone back prior to the Civil Rights Movement in America. It is a frustrating situation.
February 1, 2008
1 comment:
Interesting dilemma. But if no one interrupts racist talk, how will anything change? Perhaps there is a gentle way to do it. Maybe ask questions about their experiences that lead them to those beliefs. Ask how they think the experiences of their Arab neighbors compare. Just exploring in a way that shows interest without appearing judgmental may open up thinking. Join with them by sharing experiences you have had where you thought one thing about someone who was different, only to find out they were not so different once you got to know them better. Ask questions. When you get an offensive answer, try to find a way to gently probe with further questions, and lead the person to a place where they at least begin asking themselves questions about why they feel the way they do. How can there be peace if these old attitudes persist? We see each other not as we are, but as we are taught to see by ancient hatreds.
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