The following is a slightly abridged version of that article:
My time at the Conservative Yeshiva has been wonderful and I have learned a great deal as well as met people from all four corners of the earth. My learning involves three hours of Talmud in the morning, two hours of Bible in the afternoon and then alternating days of studying Job and Torah Reading. Interspersed are also special guest lectures from prominent Rabbis specifically for the Legacy Heritage Scholarship people, of which there are 35 of us.
In Talmud class I have really enjoyed learning tractate Yebamot and in particular all the laws concerning the injunction to be "fruitful and multiply". Apparently, it is not so simple as it seems, as there are many debates among the Rabbis as to what constitutes fulfillment of this mitzvah: two boys? A boy and a girl? Two boys and two girls? Each side brings scriptural evidence, but, as usual, it is Rabbi Hillel who wins out and I am happy to inform my wife that she is off the hook, as we have been blessed with the required minimum of one boy and one girl.
The afternoon Bible class is an in-depth reading of Scripture where we analyze the major themes in the Torah by looking at the lives of such giants as Joseph and Moses. For example, we learned about the ways in which Joseph and Moses are almost mirror images of each other. Joseph epitomizes the outsider who rose to be the Pharaoh's right hand man, while Moses was an insider who tied his destiny with the lowest of the low - Pharaoh's slaves. Joseph was a lover of order and hierarchy, whereas Moses had to be convinced by Aaron to set up a system of communication between the leadership and the tribes, etc.
Jerusalem as a city has changed a great deal since I lived there 14 years ago. Clearly the religious Jews have won the demographic argument and are flexing their political muscles accordingly. The mayor of the city (Uri Lupoliansky), is in fact from the Haredi community, and their needs are being directly addressed from the municipality. Other interesting changes have to do with the presence of Palestinians in the new city. Aside from those who worked for Israeli businesses, one certainly never saw young women from East Jerusalem just hanging out in the center or families doing their weekend shopping in Mahane Yehuda. It is a pleasant and welcome change that I hope augurs some more normalcy for this most cherished and contested of cities.
In general, summer in Israel is best spent outdoors and in the numerous festivals that are constantly going on in all quarters. Over the past week I have been to four films as part of the 26th annual Jerusalem Film Festival. On Tuesday night I went with a fellow scholarship recipient to see a stark and disturbing documentary on the genocide in Darfur called the The Devil Came on Horseback. The film describes the tireless efforts of Brian Steadtle - US citizen and former African Union monitor in Sudan - to bring to light the atrocities that have been going on in that corner of the world. Brian is the "whistle blower" who provided Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times the damning photographic evidence of what has been going on there for the past four years.
Amazingly, Brian was at the screening and we had the opportunity to meet with him to discuss the possibility of inviting him to screen this must-see film. At the same time, we were informed about the growing refugee crisis in Israel involving hundreds of Sudanese refugees who have entered Israel illegally from Egypt. To our dismay, we learned that the Beer Sheva municipality dumped 44 Sudanese refugees in front of the Knesset to highlight the fact that the central government has not come up with a solution to their plight and has not forwarded to the municipality funds that were promised for their upkeep. With nowhere to go, the group was camping out in the adjacent Wohl Rose Garden.
When we learned this, we decided to try and help these refugees in any way we could. The very next morning we collected over 1300 Shekels (over $300) from the students at the Yeshiva to purchase much-needed supplies such as diapers, baby formula, wipes, towels, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, shoes and underwear. With the help of Rabbi Gail Diamond, we contacted Rabbis for Human Rights and are doing our best to get these people tents so that they do not need to sleep outside in the cold Jerusalem nights. Also, since Wednesday, we have been there every day after classes to show our solidarity and to try our best to raise their spirits. While they are obviously worried about their future, they are also grateful that many Israelis have shown them kindness and treated them with respect.
It is not yet clear what the government will do to address this pressing issue, the rumor mill says that they will be forcibly evicted on Sunday and taken to Ketziot prison. The idea is to set up a refugee camp in the parking lot of this remote Negev prison and then separate out those from Darfur and those from Southern Sudan who are escaping a much older conflict. Those from Darfur will receive temporary residence permits and the others will probably be sent back to Egypt. Not surprisingly, the ad hoc group of students and citizens that is assisting these refugees is unhappy about this development because it means that they will be removed from the public eye and placed in a distant corner where access and transparency will be limited.
In the meantime, we are doing our best to make their stay as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. The city government reported with great fanfare that they were sending teams of social workers and doctors to asses the situation on the ground, but as of last night they have yet to arrive. Every day the situation in this camp becomes more perilous and only yesterday the Beer Sheva municipality sent up five more people including a woman who is half way through her eighth month of pregnancy. She and her family are now also sleeping in the Rose Garden under the Jerusalem stars.
To read a recent article on the plight of Sudanese refugees in Israel: Click here.
Sudanese refugee camp in the Wohl Rose garden - Jerusalem, July 2007.
