My dear Friends
I think it is very important to remember how complex the situation in Israel/Palestine is. We must not forget that in November 1995 Yitzchak Rabin, the premier, was assassinated and the devastating effect this had on the population, particularly the Jews. 'A house divided cannot stand' - it was an Orthodox Jew who murdered Rabin when he was at a peace rally in Tel Aviv on a Saturday night. I was in Israel at the time with my Indian friend and we were staying in the convent of The Sisters of Sion in Ein Kerem, near Jerusalem.
All Saturday night an Israeli woman had been pacing up and down as if there was something terribly wrong. I woke up early on Sunday morning, intending to go to Mass. I was very tired so my friend suggested I missed it. I went out in the sunshine to have my breakfast. 'Lovely day' I said to a woman sitting on a wall opposite me.'How can you say it's a lovely day when our Prime Minister has just been assassinated,' she replied.
Yitzchak Rabin had been a fighter in the War of Independence and had become a peacemaker, so it was all the more poignant, and some say it has never been the same since. All the great men seem to go..Martin Luther King, Kennedy, Rabin and many more. When I told my Indian friend what had happened he said: 'Maybe we were meant to share the grief as well as the joy of this land.'
The nuns in the convent were weeping as the body was brought back from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. My friend Sat had a visa which expired that night. So we made our way to the airport in Tel Aviv.After a heavy interrogation we were let onto the plane, which was the last to fly out before they closed the airport for the funeral.
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Friday 21 August 2009
The other side of Israel
My dear Friends
'The other side of Israel' is the title of a book by Susan Nathan, a Jewish woman who, after settling in Tel Aviv under the Law of Return, goes to live in Tamra, an Arab-Israeli town of some 25,000 Muslims. Her intention is to show people that it is possible to live together, but, in the course of doing so, she loses all her Jewish friends.
It is a courageous book - we learn throughout of the injustices the Arabs have suffered, how 400 villages were appropriated(and most destroyed) in 1948, during the War of Independence, when the Arabs were driven out to other Arab countries, some of whom welcomed them and some of whom did not.
The main thrust of the book centres on how Arab Israelis, supposedly part of Israel and who can claim rights to citizenship, are treated as second class citizens today. Some are living in what have been termed 'illegal villages' and therefore have no rights to running water and electricity.
Susan Nathan describes the 'Zionist myth', Israel as a land of milk and honey where actually injustice is perpetrated and the Arabs are also being stripped of their history, culture and sense of personal identity. The solution is to face up to the 'Nakba', the disaster that befell them in 1948, and to get the Jewish community to do the same. She also describes the cruel treatment the Palestinians are suffering at the hands of the Israeli army in the occuppied territories, a situation where some young Israelis are refusing to serve.
For me the religious dimension was not given any credibility, the concept that God has been gathering in the exiles in a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, a concept which Susan Nathan feels has been exploited by religious Jews and others. The concept is not meant to mean that people who have been on the land for centuries should have their land stolen amongst other things, as this betrays the concept of justice, which pervades the Old Testament on which the Jewish religion is based. And there have been periods in the Land in which Jews, Christians and Muslims have lived in harmony.
In 1989 I returned to Israel after an absence of 21 years to do a summer programme at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. On the course I met an Arab girl living in the US and we spent a day together in the Old City. It was the beginning of the Intifada. As we sat together high up on the old walls, we could hear gunfire in the background. Suddenly she turned to me and said: 'I believe you have a right to this land.'
Susan Nathan mentions the community of Neve Shalom/Wahaat al Salaam (Oasis of Peace) in which Arabs and Jews live together on land given by the Catholic Church. I visited the community in 1989 and had the privlege of meeting Fr Bruno Hussar, the Catholic priest from an Egyptian Jewish family, who founded it. He described how the Jews were being brought back to the Land and then said 'I'm a Catholic priest, and a Jew and I love the Arabs, so we must wear our labels lightly.'
Susan Nathan skilfully and movingly describes other complexities in Israel, for example amongst the different Jewish groupings and makes it very clear that she retains a love for her fellow Jews, although she has made new family ties in the Arab village in which she now lives. I take a more objective approach to both sides, but then I don't live in the Land and I am a Christian, unlike Susan. With the love of God as the dynamic for resolution, hopefully The Little Sisters of Joy can one day spread the peace of Christ that Pope John Paul II did on his visit to Israel/Palestine some years ago.
Shalom/Salaam
Sister Gila
Fr Bruno Hussar's autobiography is published under the title of 'Quand la nuee se leve' or 'When the cloud rises'
'The other side of Israel' is the title of a book by Susan Nathan, a Jewish woman who, after settling in Tel Aviv under the Law of Return, goes to live in Tamra, an Arab-Israeli town of some 25,000 Muslims. Her intention is to show people that it is possible to live together, but, in the course of doing so, she loses all her Jewish friends.
It is a courageous book - we learn throughout of the injustices the Arabs have suffered, how 400 villages were appropriated(and most destroyed) in 1948, during the War of Independence, when the Arabs were driven out to other Arab countries, some of whom welcomed them and some of whom did not.
The main thrust of the book centres on how Arab Israelis, supposedly part of Israel and who can claim rights to citizenship, are treated as second class citizens today. Some are living in what have been termed 'illegal villages' and therefore have no rights to running water and electricity.
Susan Nathan describes the 'Zionist myth', Israel as a land of milk and honey where actually injustice is perpetrated and the Arabs are also being stripped of their history, culture and sense of personal identity. The solution is to face up to the 'Nakba', the disaster that befell them in 1948, and to get the Jewish community to do the same. She also describes the cruel treatment the Palestinians are suffering at the hands of the Israeli army in the occuppied territories, a situation where some young Israelis are refusing to serve.
For me the religious dimension was not given any credibility, the concept that God has been gathering in the exiles in a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, a concept which Susan Nathan feels has been exploited by religious Jews and others. The concept is not meant to mean that people who have been on the land for centuries should have their land stolen amongst other things, as this betrays the concept of justice, which pervades the Old Testament on which the Jewish religion is based. And there have been periods in the Land in which Jews, Christians and Muslims have lived in harmony.
In 1989 I returned to Israel after an absence of 21 years to do a summer programme at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. On the course I met an Arab girl living in the US and we spent a day together in the Old City. It was the beginning of the Intifada. As we sat together high up on the old walls, we could hear gunfire in the background. Suddenly she turned to me and said: 'I believe you have a right to this land.'
Susan Nathan mentions the community of Neve Shalom/Wahaat al Salaam (Oasis of Peace) in which Arabs and Jews live together on land given by the Catholic Church. I visited the community in 1989 and had the privlege of meeting Fr Bruno Hussar, the Catholic priest from an Egyptian Jewish family, who founded it. He described how the Jews were being brought back to the Land and then said 'I'm a Catholic priest, and a Jew and I love the Arabs, so we must wear our labels lightly.'
Susan Nathan skilfully and movingly describes other complexities in Israel, for example amongst the different Jewish groupings and makes it very clear that she retains a love for her fellow Jews, although she has made new family ties in the Arab village in which she now lives. I take a more objective approach to both sides, but then I don't live in the Land and I am a Christian, unlike Susan. With the love of God as the dynamic for resolution, hopefully The Little Sisters of Joy can one day spread the peace of Christ that Pope John Paul II did on his visit to Israel/Palestine some years ago.
Shalom/Salaam
Sister Gila
Fr Bruno Hussar's autobiography is published under the title of 'Quand la nuee se leve' or 'When the cloud rises'
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Last day in Glasgow
My dear Friends
I spent my last in Glasgow with my friend Kelda. We go back nearly 30 years and we met singing in a choir together-it was called The Good Shepherd Chorus and the conductor was Robert Burns! I went to Kelda's lovely flat not far from the Hostel and after some refreshments she gave me a much needed singing lesson. As well being a singing teacher she is a viola player.She said that my voice was in good shape and took me up to a high Ab! She described the technique of singing in some detail, and how to have a natural loose sound.
After the lesson we went to a lovely cafe for a proper meal and a lovely chat and I invited her down to Cambridge. She said she would like to see the Hostel so she walked me back and I gave her a guided tour; she could see how much hostels have changed over the years.
I met two lovely people during my stay there: one man was a professional clown in New York and a juggler also and there was a Frenchwoman of Tunisian background who was the head teacher of a school for deprived children in Paris.
I left Glasgow on Saturday morning with a really good feeling.
Shalom from
Sister Gila
I spent my last in Glasgow with my friend Kelda. We go back nearly 30 years and we met singing in a choir together-it was called The Good Shepherd Chorus and the conductor was Robert Burns! I went to Kelda's lovely flat not far from the Hostel and after some refreshments she gave me a much needed singing lesson. As well being a singing teacher she is a viola player.She said that my voice was in good shape and took me up to a high Ab! She described the technique of singing in some detail, and how to have a natural loose sound.
After the lesson we went to a lovely cafe for a proper meal and a lovely chat and I invited her down to Cambridge. She said she would like to see the Hostel so she walked me back and I gave her a guided tour; she could see how much hostels have changed over the years.
I met two lovely people during my stay there: one man was a professional clown in New York and a juggler also and there was a Frenchwoman of Tunisian background who was the head teacher of a school for deprived children in Paris.
I left Glasgow on Saturday morning with a really good feeling.
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Tuesday 11 August 2009
St Aloysius
My dear Friends
After I left the art school in Glasgow I headed round the corner to the Jesuit church of St Aloysius (hope I have spelled it correctly.) I reflected that in my days at the Glasgow High School for Girls we Jewish girls used to have special school dinners in the Synagogue. On the way we used to see the boys from St Aloysius! Little did I think where my own path would lead.
Now I went into this beautiful church for Mass on the Feast of the Transfiguration and met a very nice lady from Glasgow who was interested in my Project. the Feast of the Transfiguration is the one where Moses and Elijah appear on the mountain with Jesus, whose clothes and face are shining. And finally he is the only one left. God speaks and says He is the one with whom He is well pleased.
After the Mass I chatted to the nice lady and then went down Sauchiehall Street to meet my first cousin Frieda and her granddaughter Morgan. We went and had kentucky fried chicken and chatted for about two hours, beginning and ending in George Square, with its rather beautiful flowers and monuments.
Final installment tomorrow!
Shalom from
Sister Gila
After I left the art school in Glasgow I headed round the corner to the Jesuit church of St Aloysius (hope I have spelled it correctly.) I reflected that in my days at the Glasgow High School for Girls we Jewish girls used to have special school dinners in the Synagogue. On the way we used to see the boys from St Aloysius! Little did I think where my own path would lead.
Now I went into this beautiful church for Mass on the Feast of the Transfiguration and met a very nice lady from Glasgow who was interested in my Project. the Feast of the Transfiguration is the one where Moses and Elijah appear on the mountain with Jesus, whose clothes and face are shining. And finally he is the only one left. God speaks and says He is the one with whom He is well pleased.
After the Mass I chatted to the nice lady and then went down Sauchiehall Street to meet my first cousin Frieda and her granddaughter Morgan. We went and had kentucky fried chicken and chatted for about two hours, beginning and ending in George Square, with its rather beautiful flowers and monuments.
Final installment tomorrow!
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Friday 7 August 2009
The city of Glasgow
My dear Friends
After I left the art gallery, I took a bus into the centre of town. This was a little like walking down memory lane, as Sauchiehall Stree has several hills off it. Up the first hilly street, Garnet Street, was my old school, the Glasgow High School for Girls, so I stood at the bottom of the hill and reminisced. In the same area is Garnethill Synagogue, the oldest Synagogue in Glasgow and the one my grandfather helped to found. It is a listed building and apparently it is possible to see the beautiful interior. I didn't go this time but I hope to on the next. It is where my father came up on business from London and attended the service. His eyes strayed and he looked at the ladies gallery and saw my mother!
I took a few photos of the streets, as my Eleanor has never been and had asked me to. This part of Sauchiehall Street has become a pedestrian precinct, and the streedt was full of people walking to and fro and looking at the shops.
More next time
Shalom from
Sister Gila
After I left the art gallery, I took a bus into the centre of town. This was a little like walking down memory lane, as Sauchiehall Stree has several hills off it. Up the first hilly street, Garnet Street, was my old school, the Glasgow High School for Girls, so I stood at the bottom of the hill and reminisced. In the same area is Garnethill Synagogue, the oldest Synagogue in Glasgow and the one my grandfather helped to found. It is a listed building and apparently it is possible to see the beautiful interior. I didn't go this time but I hope to on the next. It is where my father came up on business from London and attended the service. His eyes strayed and he looked at the ladies gallery and saw my mother!
I took a few photos of the streets, as my Eleanor has never been and had asked me to. This part of Sauchiehall Street has become a pedestrian precinct, and the streedt was full of people walking to and fro and looking at the shops.
More next time
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Art in Glasgow
My dear Friends
After I left my cousin on the first day of my stay in Glasgow, I made my way to the University to visit the Hunterian Museum just off University Avenue. I have a lot of difficult memories of the University, where I spent my wild youth, but it was good to see the broad sweeping avenue and the beautiful quadrangles and the trees.
I had never been to this museum before, which is on campus, and it was very interesting. They had a visiting exhibition of Edvard Munch's paintings ( the most famous of which is the Scream); the lithographs, mainly in black and white are both brilliant and depressing at the same time, dealing with themes of human isolation and death. Even the ones on love are pretty depressing! But they were a great privilege to see.
Downstairs they had a variety of paintings, including a whole collection of the American artist Whistler and his portraits of young women in different costumes, quite colourful. And quite a few of his amazing landscapes. The artist's wife bequeathed the paintings to the Hunterian museum.
More next time!
Shalom from
Sister Gila
After I left my cousin on the first day of my stay in Glasgow, I made my way to the University to visit the Hunterian Museum just off University Avenue. I have a lot of difficult memories of the University, where I spent my wild youth, but it was good to see the broad sweeping avenue and the beautiful quadrangles and the trees.
I had never been to this museum before, which is on campus, and it was very interesting. They had a visiting exhibition of Edvard Munch's paintings ( the most famous of which is the Scream); the lithographs, mainly in black and white are both brilliant and depressing at the same time, dealing with themes of human isolation and death. Even the ones on love are pretty depressing! But they were a great privilege to see.
Downstairs they had a variety of paintings, including a whole collection of the American artist Whistler and his portraits of young women in different costumes, quite colourful. And quite a few of his amazing landscapes. The artist's wife bequeathed the paintings to the Hunterian museum.
More next time!
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Wednesday 5 August 2009
First bulletin from Glasgow
My dear Friends
I arrived at the Glasgow Youth Hostel after a very long all day journey by bus from Cambridge. The hostel used to be a hotel, is a very nice old building and overlooks a beautiful park in the west end of Glasgow, near one of the areas in which I used to live in my wild youth. Best of all there was a very friendly welcome at the hostel and a nice dinner to be had in their basement cafe.
I slept quite well and there were some nice girls in the room with me. Had a great breakfast, of croissants, orange juice yoghurt grapefruit segments (my favourite) and tea so felt well stoked up for the morning. I waited for my cousin who collected me in a taxi at ten o'clock and then we drove to Sandyford Henderson Memorial Church, where my cousin is a member, as another Jewish Christian. As we entered the church we met another Jewish lady who spoke to me in Hebrew!
More later
Shalom from
Sister Gila
I arrived at the Glasgow Youth Hostel after a very long all day journey by bus from Cambridge. The hostel used to be a hotel, is a very nice old building and overlooks a beautiful park in the west end of Glasgow, near one of the areas in which I used to live in my wild youth. Best of all there was a very friendly welcome at the hostel and a nice dinner to be had in their basement cafe.
I slept quite well and there were some nice girls in the room with me. Had a great breakfast, of croissants, orange juice yoghurt grapefruit segments (my favourite) and tea so felt well stoked up for the morning. I waited for my cousin who collected me in a taxi at ten o'clock and then we drove to Sandyford Henderson Memorial Church, where my cousin is a member, as another Jewish Christian. As we entered the church we met another Jewish lady who spoke to me in Hebrew!
More later
Shalom from
Sister Gila
Saturday 1 August 2009
I belong to Glasgow
My dear Friends
Iam going to see my family in Glasgow on Tuesday 4th August and won't be back until Sunday the 9th. So I am signing off temporarily, unless I get a chance to use the computer in the Youth Hostel.
Be well until then!
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
Iam going to see my family in Glasgow on Tuesday 4th August and won't be back until Sunday the 9th. So I am signing off temporarily, unless I get a chance to use the computer in the Youth Hostel.
Be well until then!
Love and Shalom
Sister Gila
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