Salaam Aleikum! I have arrived at last in Jerusalem/West Bank to begin my year of international service through the Young Adults in Global Mission Program and ELCA. We had a great week of orientation in Chicago with all 50 of the YAGMs who are headed to locations throughout the world, then the six J-Crew (Jerusalem Crew) girls headed off to the Holy Lands! We had a week of in-country orientation, during which we stayed at a guest house called Talitha Kumi in Beit Jala. Now we have moved into housing near our placement sites for the coming year. I am very excited to tell you that I will be living in a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem called Beit Hanina, and will be serving at the Helen Keller Center for the Visually Impaired also located in Beit Hanina. I live with another volunteer (Anna) at the home of a Palestinian Christian woman who works at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City. Many of you have asked me where I would be living, and what I would be doing, so I am very happy to finally be able to tell you!
While I have been here only a week so far, I am beginning to see what an eye opening experience it will be to live here for a year. The situation in Palestine-Israel is utterly complex and multifaceted--politically, socially, and emotionally. I will never pretend to be an expert on the conflict; rather I can only communicate the stories that are told to me, the experiences I have, and the acts of oppression or reconciliation that I witness. I humbly and timidly ask you to learn with me, though, to share your thoughts and questions, and to not be afraid to challenge your own assumptions. I know that I am daily trying to challenge mine and grow in the process.
Arabic, Hebrew, English, German, Italian...A multitude of languages enter my eyes and ears when I walk down the narrow, uneven streets of the Old City in Jerusalem. When I used to think about the story of the Tower of Babel, I admit that I was mostly perplexed about what God was doing- I mean, why mess with perfect communication? There are certainly many times in this past week since I arrived in the West Bank/Jerusalem when I have already felt the "effects of Babel." Any time you go to a new place you can more or less feel the effects of our having being scattered across the earth. I do not yet understand the Arabic language, nor do I read its elegant script, and I am frequently reminded of my inability to speak to the many wonderful Palestinians I am meeting in their own language. I happily attempt to wrap my tongue around the new sounds, but at the same time often find myself smiling docilely because I do not know what is being said around me.
But is Babel actually a story about God wanting to divide, confuse, and even frustrate us? I think not. Can we look at Babel instead as showing us how God wanted humans to be multifarious- different and unique within His creation? To come from different lands, to create different traditions, speak different languages, eat different foods, sing different songs? And then, what I find myself thinking now: how do we move beyond Babel? Beyond the differences that arise from the scattering of humankind? While it perhaps sounds cliche to say that I am talking about seeking our commonality, our shared humanity, I think it is vitally important to think this way within a context such as this one. There are great divides between groups of people here, but I am searching for the moments in which we look at one another and realize that we are each of us blessed, flawed, unique, connected- we are utterly and exquisitely human. So while we are scattered, while our tongues are confused, I look at this year as a time to focus on recognizing the beauty and holiness within the differences along with the similarities.
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