Tis the Season

not that season!  it was recently ramadan – that’s commonly known as the month of fasting in islam.  it’s a lot of other things too.  for muslims, the month commemorates the beginning of the time when the qur’an was revealed to muhammad in a cave near mecca about the year 610. and there is a very significant purpose to the dawn-to-sundown fasting.  during the fast, muslims seek god for forgiveness, trying to purify themselves through good deeds and self-discipline.

some of my somali friends at the iftar

another important part of ramadan is iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast at sundown.  this meal is often like a community celebration and my friend S and i had the chance to organize an iftar for our muslim friends who live in our neighborhood.  we wanted to show them that we love and honor them as our neighbors.

iftar begins with the ritual eating of a date and drinking milk, followed by the maghrib (sunset) prayer.  after that, we shared an expansive and wonderful meal of kebab, rice, fatoush, biryani, piaju, pagunia, hummus and fresh baked bread – more food than we knew what to do with.  my friend O made the best somali tea ever.  oh and did i mention that i cooked three somali desserts: qumbe, aana baraawe and sabayah.  i’ve been learning to cook somali food because many of my muslim friends are from somalia.  our friends at the iftar were from bangladesh, south africa, india, ethiopia, algeria, somalia and maybe a few other places as well – a totally fun international event.

if you’re not muslim, it seems like you might have to get a little outside of yourself to even know about things like ramadan and iftar (personally the muslim holidays are the ones i have on the calendar in my iphone but i’m a little weird like that).  relationships with people who are not like us probably take a lot of intentionality….and hopefully some really good food too.

Come See for Yourself

i recently spent the weekend in new jersey – morris plains to be exact. it’s about an hour west of new york city and about an hour south of the new jersey/new york border (and just to be clear, nowhere near the jersey shore).  and in case you are unclear of the distinction, new jersey is not part of new england – these distinctions are very important for people who live in or are from new england.  i’ve lived in boston for almost 10 years but had never been south (or west-ish) of new york city before so this was my first time to new jersey.

i think it’s important to learn about places that you are travelling to, so i’ve learned a bit about new jersey…besides the fact that is the home of jon bon jovi and shaquille o’neal, which for some is all they need to know.  it is the most densely populated of the States, the second wealthiest and the home of more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world – wow!  who would have thought?  it also has the second largest muslim population (by percentage) of any other state (after michigan).  but if you don’t believe it, the state slogan is: come and see for yourself.

i headed to new jersey, perhaps not coincidentally, to meet some muslims who live in morris plains and participate in a “love your neighbor” dinner.  i was really excited about this opportunity because i spend a lot of time thinking about how to love my neighbors and friends here in boston – a lot of whom are muslims. it seems like crossing cultural, class and religious boundaries don’t come natural to many people and to consider the extra step of loving those who are not like us can be really scary.  but that’s what this weekend was all about.

seems like new jersey might be on to something. relationships that cross culture, class and religious boundaries have a lot to offer – come see for yourself!

The Little Things

in some ways it seems like my trip was filled with a bunch of random experiences that were tied together only by the fact that i happened to be experiencing them all.  it seemed like every couple of days i was in a new place with new people and i was moving at a crazy fast pace so i could hardly keep up with myself.  yet there were these moments, someone where, something there, that stand out in my mind as the formative memories of the trip.

tel-arad on the hill in the background

i had the chance to briefly visit my favorite historical place in israel, arad.  if you look a little bit into the history and archaeology of the site, you will find that what has been discovered there makes it one of the most (if not the most) significant site for the development and understanding of ancient israelite religion.  the first time i visited there i was completely fascinated and just loved it, so i was so excited to go back and to meet some people who live in the city.  so we met E.  what was so fun about meeting him was that he did his phd in the same thing that i’m currently doing mine so when we walked into his house i was like, oh, look i have those books, and those books and those books…….we had so much in common, including our love for the middle east and our love for the ancient languages of the region – a rare and well, let’s just say it, borderline insane combination.  i met him and felt like, wow, there is someone else in the world like me – that is so cool and so, so scary!! he told some fun stories about his experiences that i’d love to tell in a more private setting than my blog, but hanging out with him for just a short time was one of those moments that felt like a “click” in my brain.  and we didn’t actually make to the top of tel arad because of the limited time of our visit (i was sad about that) but yet the time there was totally worth it.

visiting the dome of the rock

in jerusalem we visited the dome of the rock mosque.  the dome of the rock was completed in 691 and it is the oldest islamic structure in the world – wow!  it is considered the third holiest site in islam (after mecca and medina).  it is so revered because of the rock in the middle of the mosque where it is believed that muhammad ascended to heaven.  the first time i visited i was allowed to go inside and it is absolutely amazing but several years ago both the dome of the rock and al-aqsa mosque were closed to non-muslims.  it is very sad because they are breathtaking inside and out.  but we visited the site of the mosques and were able to take pictures outside during the brief non-muslim visiting hours and even during that time i was struck not just by the beauty of the mosque but by the holiness of it.  even though i am not muslim, if you know me, you know i believe in god and am doing my best of follow him.  and i found that god was unmistakable in this place.  maybe some people can go there are be amazed only by the architecture and gold but i couldn’t help but sense something much bigger right in the beauty of the place.  really an unforgettable moment.

i think i pointed out before that some times during the trip were a bit tense because of the intifadah.  one of the places i really enjoy visiting in jerusalem is the muslim quarter, it is one of my favorite parts of the old city.  so i was walking around the outside of the city wall with two of my friends and we noticed a huge (!) crowd outside damascus gate and we wondered, should we just go away given the tensions or should we check it out.  well, if you know me, the answer is obviously check it out!!  so we wandered over and it was a protest – a women’s protest.  how unusual in place like this to see a women’s protest.  and of course it was a protest on behalf of the women and children being killed in gaza.  they were singing, chanting, holding up dolls and posters and being interviewed by lots of media officials.  it was so striking and shocking and amazing.  the gate area was heavily guarded by the israeli police so we just took a seat  off to the side and N took some very discrete pictures so as not to draw attention to us and we observed the rare scene.  i felt like it was an honor to observe the womens’ outcry on behalf of those who could not cry out for themselves and even to silently stand in solidarity with the women and children of gaza.  it was an overwhelmingly emotional scene for me.

the little things that meant the most keep rushing back to me.  i think of some more and write about them later.

New Friends, New Perspectives

i have just returned from spending almost two weeks in the middle east. i traveled with five of my friends from the boston area and we visited some of my friends who live in jordan, then did some additional traveling in the region.  we left just a couple of days after the latest intifadah between israel and palestine started.  it was particularly interesting to spend time in jordan, israel and the west bank while such unrest was going on.  there was a dynamic about the situation that was both sad and interesting.  people i talked to in the states were so concerned for my safety because of all that the media reported but things there were perfectly safe, even normal.  i briefly watched what al jazira reported but mostly just observed myself. 

i was in jordan for new year’s and normally there are lots of parties but all of them were cancelled in solidarity with gaza.  there was a heavy feeling on people’s hearts throughout jordan as they were very concerned with the situation to the west, but overall, unless you talked to actual people you would never know the intifadah was happening.  life just goes on.  i made some great new friends in jordan.  Z, M and R are all Palestinian and their insights about the intifadah were very helpful, especially given that i make an effort not to watch the news (especially the ulta-biased western news).  my new friends helped me and my other friends see things from a new, different and helpful perspective.

the wall being built around the west bank

after a few days we traveled to the west bank and israel.  we first visited bethlehem and saw one of the most disturbing things on the trip.  israel is building a 30 foot high wall around the west bank.  it would take far too long for me to explain all about it and i won’t even pretend that i understand all of the issues but the wall looks like the wall around a prison (and i have visited prisons to see those).  the wall is almost completed and once it is, the palestinian residents of the west bank will be held captive inside the wall by israel.  there are a lot of issues and, again, i don’t want to pretend that understand them all but i was really disturbed by this.

the brightest part of this segment of the trip was also in bethlehem.  it was a man named sami.  sami leads an organization/movement that is committed to the principles of nonviolence.  They

seeks to develop spiritual, pragmatic, and strategic approaches that will empower the Palestinian community to resist all forms of oppression, and engage this same community in making the Holy Land become a global model and pillar of understanding, respect, justice, equality, and peaceful coexistence.

wow! you can read about sami on his blog at http://samiawad.wordpress.com/.  it’s definitely worth the read. i could have spent a week just listening to him talk.  he is so fascinating.  sami sees and understands the reality of the situation between israel and palestine in ways i will never understand and he is filled with hope that there is a solution.  he recently wrote on his blog

Violence will never lead to any peaceful solution to any conflict. All violence must stop and all negotiations must stop as well. The only success for achieving real results is found in the re-establishment of the grassroots nonviolence resistance movement in Palestine. This will not be easy and will not be welcomed by the enemies of peace, but we believe is the only way.

that’s just the beginning of the trip.  there’s a lot more.  give me a few days to recover from the jet lag and and the cold i got from someone.

One Horse Open Sleigh

i am sad to report that there are no reindeer in jackson.  but nontheless, i went on my sleigh ride yesterday outside of jackson, wyoming.  it was at the national elk reserve.  the sleigh holds 18 people (though i think that you would be really squished with  18 people) but our group was only my family of 8 and a couple from denver.  it was pulled by a pair of horses called lady and the tramp.  as it has been every day except the day before yesterday, it was snowing and a toasty 2 or 3 degrees.  the ride was about an hour and with a wind chill of 10-15 degrees, well, let’s just say 18 people might have been nice for the body warmth.  i was actually surprised that they provided a few blankets but, with all of the snow and wind, there was no point.  it was cold and there was nothing you could do about it but deal.

when my brother and i went in to buy the tickets one of the drivers said that the cows were getting a little close to the path that the sleigh takes.  i said (out loud), there are cows?  everyone behind the counter looked at me like i had three heads.  then they quickly realized that i was not from around here (and apparently stupid) and said (very condescendingly), the females are called cows and the males are called bulls.  oh right, everyone knows that!  not those kind of cows, but cows.  well, the path that the sleight takes does not go near the cows, it only goes near the elk because they are the ones with the big antlers and apparently everyone wants to see those, plus the baby ones are with the mamas and they don’t like company because they are still skitish. 

i learned something on our little sleigh ride.  elk (and who knows perhaps other deer like animals too) shed their antlers every fall.  apparently they just fall off.  i don’t understand it but they said it happens.  and then they start growing back at the rate of an inch a day! and by the middle of winter they are huge again so that by spring when hunting season starts they are prime for the taking and then in the fall, they shed them again.  who would have thought?  then it’s a tradition for people to go out and collect the shed antlers (yuk), but apparently it’s a big thing around here for people to go out and collect them and at the elk reserve they collect thousands of pounds of them and sell them.  the boy scounts go out and collect them as a fundraiser and they raise thousands of dollars for themselves and the rest of the money goes to the reserve.  what a strange tradition.  but i stand corrected about the whole animals dying for the antler decoration thing – but i hold my position on the weird and creepiness of it.

anyway, the elk have just started migrating to the reserve for the winter.  but in late january or early february there will be thousands of them.  the sleigh pulls up about 20 feet away from them and they have been doing this for so long that the elk are not the least bit frightened of the sleigh.  it was actually kind of cool.  then we drove around to the other side of jackson to look at a flock of big horned sheep that have also migrated to the reserve.  they are a lot more skitish, but still pretty cool.  all in all, another very interesting adventure.