Yesterday, I spent almost the entire day just talking with different Israeli's. We were at a pool helping Amir's sister, Zohar, work at the pool's concession stand, and then we went to Amir's house to have dinner and hang out. It was crazy to encounter so many opportunities to learn more about how Israelis perceive themselves and others in just one day.
I don't have time to write about these things in extreme depth, but here are a couple of glimpses into two conversations that I won't soon forget:
Convo 1:
This is a part of a conversation between a 13 year old Jewish boy. He was an Ashkenazi Jew with big blue eyes, and curly brown hair. It was cool because we spoke in Hebrew about things I could understand, but, because he spoke English really well, when it got more complex, we were able to speak in English. Among other things, we talked about his Bar Mitzvah, God, prayer, Christianity, Judaism his grandfather coming to Israel from Romania, his father being a pilot in the Israeli Airforce, his brother having to serve in the army in a few months and what he was doing for his summer vacation. What was really amazing to me though, was hearing him speak to me about being a Jew. He was extremely articulate, I feel like he was a good example of how a common Israeli child views himself and the world. Surprisingly, it is very similar to things I have heard from adults. I will try to replicate part of it as accurately I can. This starts after we had been talking about the Holocaust.
Me: So, were you grandparents in the camps?
Boy: No. He got away. My mother told me he was naked in the snow hiding. That is all she will tell me though... have you seen the Pianist
Me: No
Boy: It is very sad. I couldn't believe it when I saw what they did.
Me: Ya I know, its crazy.
Boy: I don't understand why everyone hates us.
Convo 2:
This one was between myself and Amir, the man who has been letting us stay in his store. We were talking about different types of Judaism and the Lubavitch Rebbe, a Hasidic Rabbi whose pictures are all over the place in Israel; some people think he may be the messiah and that he is not really dead. Amir was saying that some people claimed they saw him in Europe after he died. We then started talking about how there are different types of Christians. He was not really understanding my explanation, so decided to just try to sum everything I was saying up.
Me: There are a lot of different beliefs about certain issues within Christianity, but basically, we believe that Jesus was the Messiah and we to love God , to love people, and to
follow the things Jesus taught.
Amir: Christians believe Jesus was Moshiach!?
Me: Yes.
Amir: But Jesus died!?
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5 comments:
It's interesting that for Paul the resurrection was so important for this very reason...God vindicated Jesus by bringing him back to life, proving that he was the Messiah. If Jesus had died on a cross and remained dead, it would have been defeat. It's the same reason those that believe that the Rebbe is Moshiach have to believe he is still alive.
Very cool conversation.
haha. convo 2 is priceless.
I think Jesus and the resurrection are thrown around so much in modern Western culture that, even within the Christian church, it is treated more like fiction than fact.
It is nice to hear of a conversation that actually takes into considerations the actual implications of a death of the Messiah... even if, and perhaps especially when the reaction is shock.
man, this stuff is crazy. i'm so happy that you are doing this.
It takes courage to be able to stumble through conversations in your second language in the first place, let alone about things that set you apart from one another. It seems more like a blessing than a hinderance that you were able to speak so simply about what it means to follow Jesus Christ as our Messiah. I admire that, Brett! It's wonderful that you care to learn about the things that define the people you're coming in contact with there, and your genuine interest must be coming across. We miss that here, too.
Hey bud, hope all is well. I'll echo what Kate said; we do miss you here.
I'm glad to hear that your journey is going well. (Even if not exactly as you'd imagined.)
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