Jo Ann Zvares

Walls

Israel has many walls literally and figuratively. There is a real wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians – a wall that goes beyond borders. There are check points and a ghost town and hatred between some groups of people who, at one time, co-existed peacefully.

I am not a political person and would probably have been quite comfortable not having been exposed to all these walls. And yet, I chose to go on a trip where I knew, ahead of time, that we would see many aspects of Israel that would leave me feeling very uncomfortable. And it did -- I felt ashamed of the treatment Palestinians have received, and continue to receive, at the hands of Israel. I was especially affected by listening to a young Palestinian man speak about the humiliation and abuse he has experienced from Israelis in Hebron.

After our visit to Yad Vashem I felt that we were doing to the Palestinians what was done to us by the Nazis. Yet, when I stated this to a fellow traveler recently, he reminded me that the Jews never did anything to warrant the treatment they received by the Nazis and that the Palestinians have been, and continue to be, a threat. So, now I am simply confused.

Despite my mixed emotions regarding Israeli treatment of Palestinians and Israeli politics in general, I am somewhat able to wall my own feelings and remember the positive – the one wall that was an extraordinary spiritual experience for me -- praying at the Western (“Wailing”) Wall.

I touched the ancient stone wall, embraced it, kissed it. I felt the spirit of thousands of years of ancestors as I prayed. I slipped pieces of paper with written prayers into a crevice in the stones. I found myself silently saying the Serenity Prayer and the Shma, an odd combination but one that has served me well. I didn’t want to leave and had to force myself away so others might also share in the sweetness of the Wailing Wall.

It is my hope that the walls between people will come down in time, but that the Western Wall will remain a spiritual retreat for all who come to worship there.