Keeping this blog updated has not been a great success for me, my goal is to post something every Shabbat, but time seems to fly and other things get in the way. But sometimes fate is a stronger motivator than the day on a calendar so here I am again.
Although Israel may not be where my time is put these days, it is still seems to find me, often in the strangest ways and places…this was one of those weeks. I was on a business trip in Chicago and after finishing my last meeting I grabbed a cab for the airport. There was nothing special about this cab that made me select it….right time, right place, nothing more, one amongst millions, or so I thought.
Due to an injury to my leg this week, I opted to sit in the front seat of the cab, which increased the chance I would have to chat with the driver. I have to admit this is not usually something I enjoy, making small talk with a stranger. I have very little time alone and when I am in a cab or on a plane, I just like to decompress. So I wasn’t overly happy when he started talking.
The first thing I noticed was his wonderful accent, obviously middle eastern. He mentioned moving here from Kuwait during the first gulf war, I assumed his country of origin. But as the conversation developed it became clear that wasn’t the case, so I asked where he was born….Palestine.
The answer left me speechless for a moment. This is one response that I never know how to respond to. Whenever I learn someone is from Palestine I find myself torn. Do I discuss it? Do I dance around it? Do I mention being Jewish? Do I mention my trips to Israel? Do I change the topic completely?
I am not sure why I have such a weird reaction. It is definitely not a prejudice, I have friends from Palestine who I greatly value. I guess part of my reaction has to do with the fear of THEIR reaction. Will this become a hostile conversation? Will the situation become uncomfortable? Am I opening a can of worms I should keep closed?
But for some reason I decided to take the risk, this was obviously a well educated man, I later learned that he had a Masters Degree from Hebrew University, and I thought the conversation would be interesting. It was and more.
We spent our next 40 minutes dodging the Chicago traffic and discussing the problems with Hamas and Hezbollah, the problems with the Israeli Government, the last 70 years of conflict in the middle east, the role of the US in it all and so much more. We discussed each of our views for a solution, and our agreement that as sad as it is there may never be a true solution. It was one of the most enjoyable and stimulating conversations I have had about the middle east.
Out of all the topics, what surprised me most though, was his view that a one state solution was better than a two state solution. His point of view, which now makes sense, but had never crossed my mind, was the fear the Palestinian people have of being left alone under the control of the PLO or Hamas. That while their quality of life is poor now, that many of their services that are sustaining them would be lost to them if two states were created and that this scares them, many fear for their lives if two states are created. They do not trust that their own government will be there for them.
I have always known on an intellectual level that Israel was providing much of their services, and have always viewed that through my “why should Israel take care of these people, they want to be their own state, we started at zero and created a society from the ground up” lens, but had never gone to the next level of the void that might never be filled in people’s lives.
It is a horrible thought, people being left abandoned, but is that our problem??? As Jews we are taught we are responsible for each other, for our community, but where does that line of responsibility extend to. How far is our community? Is it our responsibility to take care of those who wish us harm or whom helping might put us at continued risk? Should we consider a one state solution that in the end would dictate Israel losing its basis as a Jewish state but might provide the most safety for the Palestinian people. Just where are those lines? And who chooses them?
I am a conservative, I feel that the first step is people standing up and helping themselves before the government runs in and saves them, I struggle every day when I turn on the news and hear more about bailouts and enabling bad behavior, both here in the US and around the world. But for as much as I would like to say the Palestinians need to figure it out and start building their own infrastructure, like the Israeli pioneers did, but it is hard to think about the cab driver’s mother who still lives in Palestine and can’t get to the doctors she needs because they are in Israel and not want to solve the problem.
I don’t know the answers, people smarter and greater than me don’t know the answers, but I have to think if more cab ride conversations could happen it would be the first step. It all seemed so easy inside that car. We were two human beings, who geography and history dictate should fear each other, who should have to take “sides”, but nothing was farther from the truth.
As we reached the airport I regretted the conversation would end, but it did. We said our good byes, we shook hands, thanked each other for how civil the discussion was (that surprised us both I think) and acknowledged that the greatest irony in the whole situation is that we (Jews and Palestinians) are the two most alike groups in the world. We are both people who the world has thrown away multiple times, who are just looking for somewhere to call home, to feel safe and to not live in fear of our own extinction. And maybe there in lies the solution we are all struggling so hard for. That the first step is just admitting that our fear of facing that what we most dislike in our “enemy” is how much like ourselves they truly are!!!
Shabbat Shalom.
PS… An update on my next trip to Israel, call it a miracle, fate, divine intervention or coincidence, but the meeting in June that I was struggling to make work, has been moved to October. So I am planning 10 days in Israel this fall. I can’t wait. My trip in February seems a million years ago. I need to recharge that flame again.
Although Israel may not be where my time is put these days, it is still seems to find me, often in the strangest ways and places…this was one of those weeks. I was on a business trip in Chicago and after finishing my last meeting I grabbed a cab for the airport. There was nothing special about this cab that made me select it….right time, right place, nothing more, one amongst millions, or so I thought.
Due to an injury to my leg this week, I opted to sit in the front seat of the cab, which increased the chance I would have to chat with the driver. I have to admit this is not usually something I enjoy, making small talk with a stranger. I have very little time alone and when I am in a cab or on a plane, I just like to decompress. So I wasn’t overly happy when he started talking.
The first thing I noticed was his wonderful accent, obviously middle eastern. He mentioned moving here from Kuwait during the first gulf war, I assumed his country of origin. But as the conversation developed it became clear that wasn’t the case, so I asked where he was born….Palestine.
The answer left me speechless for a moment. This is one response that I never know how to respond to. Whenever I learn someone is from Palestine I find myself torn. Do I discuss it? Do I dance around it? Do I mention being Jewish? Do I mention my trips to Israel? Do I change the topic completely?
I am not sure why I have such a weird reaction. It is definitely not a prejudice, I have friends from Palestine who I greatly value. I guess part of my reaction has to do with the fear of THEIR reaction. Will this become a hostile conversation? Will the situation become uncomfortable? Am I opening a can of worms I should keep closed?
But for some reason I decided to take the risk, this was obviously a well educated man, I later learned that he had a Masters Degree from Hebrew University, and I thought the conversation would be interesting. It was and more.
We spent our next 40 minutes dodging the Chicago traffic and discussing the problems with Hamas and Hezbollah, the problems with the Israeli Government, the last 70 years of conflict in the middle east, the role of the US in it all and so much more. We discussed each of our views for a solution, and our agreement that as sad as it is there may never be a true solution. It was one of the most enjoyable and stimulating conversations I have had about the middle east.
Out of all the topics, what surprised me most though, was his view that a one state solution was better than a two state solution. His point of view, which now makes sense, but had never crossed my mind, was the fear the Palestinian people have of being left alone under the control of the PLO or Hamas. That while their quality of life is poor now, that many of their services that are sustaining them would be lost to them if two states were created and that this scares them, many fear for their lives if two states are created. They do not trust that their own government will be there for them.
I have always known on an intellectual level that Israel was providing much of their services, and have always viewed that through my “why should Israel take care of these people, they want to be their own state, we started at zero and created a society from the ground up” lens, but had never gone to the next level of the void that might never be filled in people’s lives.
It is a horrible thought, people being left abandoned, but is that our problem??? As Jews we are taught we are responsible for each other, for our community, but where does that line of responsibility extend to. How far is our community? Is it our responsibility to take care of those who wish us harm or whom helping might put us at continued risk? Should we consider a one state solution that in the end would dictate Israel losing its basis as a Jewish state but might provide the most safety for the Palestinian people. Just where are those lines? And who chooses them?
I am a conservative, I feel that the first step is people standing up and helping themselves before the government runs in and saves them, I struggle every day when I turn on the news and hear more about bailouts and enabling bad behavior, both here in the US and around the world. But for as much as I would like to say the Palestinians need to figure it out and start building their own infrastructure, like the Israeli pioneers did, but it is hard to think about the cab driver’s mother who still lives in Palestine and can’t get to the doctors she needs because they are in Israel and not want to solve the problem.
I don’t know the answers, people smarter and greater than me don’t know the answers, but I have to think if more cab ride conversations could happen it would be the first step. It all seemed so easy inside that car. We were two human beings, who geography and history dictate should fear each other, who should have to take “sides”, but nothing was farther from the truth.
As we reached the airport I regretted the conversation would end, but it did. We said our good byes, we shook hands, thanked each other for how civil the discussion was (that surprised us both I think) and acknowledged that the greatest irony in the whole situation is that we (Jews and Palestinians) are the two most alike groups in the world. We are both people who the world has thrown away multiple times, who are just looking for somewhere to call home, to feel safe and to not live in fear of our own extinction. And maybe there in lies the solution we are all struggling so hard for. That the first step is just admitting that our fear of facing that what we most dislike in our “enemy” is how much like ourselves they truly are!!!
Shabbat Shalom.
PS… An update on my next trip to Israel, call it a miracle, fate, divine intervention or coincidence, but the meeting in June that I was struggling to make work, has been moved to October. So I am planning 10 days in Israel this fall. I can’t wait. My trip in February seems a million years ago. I need to recharge that flame again.
