A little nutty

That’s what my editor said about the people I interviewed and wrote about today.
Now I’m pondering things.
Well, I’ve been pondering things since I attended a fireside on Sunday. There an American born Jew, who immigrated to Israel at the age of 12 talked about his belief that Israel has been foreordained as the Promised Land for his people.
True, there were plenty of edgy things discussed, even written in the story, the most inflammatory being:

“opponents of the Jewish homeland are also deeply spiritual, “but the
question is, what spirit are they connected to,” alluding to his belief that the
battle in the Middle East is a classic war between good and evil.

Okay, I can see where my editor might consider it a little thorny. It certainly is not politically correct.
My editor removed it from the story.
But I’m not sure these are outlandish statements:

“Peace has been hijacked by the media … It is not ignoring evil, it is the
light that overcomes the darkness, it is love of family, love of life.”
Or
“Peace is when your beliefs and actions are in step with each other.”
Without this unity of thought and action there is turmoil in your own soul that
has a ripple effect on your neighborhood, your community, your country and the
world.

As I wrote in my blog earlier this month, I appear to be out of touch. I don’t think the statement

“we have a responsibility to care for the Jewish people,”

is outrageous. Nor do I think it’s out of line to say

“It is not a political war. It is not a war of bullets and tanks; it is a war of
spirit.”

Let’s be clear. I don’t believe the followers of Mohamed are evil. Nor do I believe Jews are “pigs” and “dogs.”
Instead, I am under the impression that we are all children of the same God. I believe He has a plan for us, Christian, {even Mormons}, Jews and Muslims. We all can lay claim to Abraham as our ancestor.
I suppose this is the crux of the problem. Who is entitled to the Abrahamic covenant? Who can claim rights to Israel?

Yesterday DS-12 came home from school and said all sixth grade students were required to write a term paper about a country. When his name was called, asking him what country he would write about, he thought about saying Denmark, but instead asked to be assigned Israel.
I was blown away by the choice. It’s true, he may have selected Israel because I have been writing about the subject, but I don’t think I discussed it much in front of him other then telling him I was going to the fireside to listen to an Israeli soldier.
Anyway, when he came home I showed him the internet connections I had found with Israel National Radio, where the Jewish man I had just listened too co-hosts a daily program.
Last night I took him with me to interview the man. (I wanted to augment the fireside with some personal information from both him and his American host).

He sat with me as we discussed biblical prophesy, the Jewish belief that God is in everything we do and the common ground shared by Christian and Jews.
I don’t think I was wrong. But more than a few people think I was brainwashing my child.
Apparently that makes me a little nutty too.

On a lighter note: I have to inclued the interchange between myself and the photo editor of the paper about this shot.

Troy; Here is my attempt to photograph a couple of people afraid they might
accidently touch each other other while in a poorly lighted room. This goes with
the Jewish / Mormon story for today.
Aleen, do have any caption info for
these lovely folks who have done an exceptional job of maintaining their
personal space?