WholeHogBlog.com

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or add your name and email to my blog announcement list. Thanks for visiting!

Had lunch with my friend David on Friday. We went to his favorite restaurant, named for and owned by his best friend, Samir, in Ramle, not to be confused with Ramalla. The latter is in the West Bank and the former is in Israel proper and is one of the few integrated cities in which Jews and Arabs live together.

Samir’s had some of the best hummus we have ever eaten and the atmosphere is awesome as you sit next to the walls built by the crusaders several centuries ago. They discovered the original walls when they renovated a few years ago. Unfortunately we did not get to meet Samir as he was visiting one of his sons in Egypt.

I’d say that David was on the opposite side of the political spectrum to my friends in Efrat, but that would be understating the issue. He told me that when my friends were ready to make aliya to Israel from Efrat that he would welcome them home.  Yes, this is what passes for what is left in Israel.

Although he is a little out there when it comes to politics, he is a good man who does good work. He also created the first real baseball field in Israel that now serves as home to the Israel Professional Baseball League’s Gesher Lions and his son played for the champion Beit Shemesh Blue Sox. I can’t wait to return home with the IBL inaugural year poster and the signed ball he gave me to present to my kids.

David is not only a great guy, but a great Jewish educator as well. His educational park, Pinat Shorshim at Kibbutz Gezer, “turns text into texture” as visitors create sculptures depicting different verses and stories from the Tanakh. Once each month he also works with prisoners in a rehabilitation program.

David may be on the left politically, but he understands the challenges. He noted that there are two types of people, politically. Those whose views are guided by fear and those who are guided by hope. And he goes on to note that those whose views are guided by fear, always have the data on their side. Wow. Read that again.

So that’s why Democrats think Republicans are evil and Republicans think that Democrats are stupid! Tose who base thier views on hope (the left), don’t believe in data, don’t believe in polls, and don’t believe that the past has any bearing on the future. They base their views on hope and the belief that all people are good or that they can be. And David notes that he believes this is a very Jewish view of the world.

My friend Sarah in Efrat, on the other hand, notes that in Israel, while those on the left hope that those on the Right are wrong, those on the Right hope that those on Left are right. Ultimately the Right wants to be wrong. But history and current events keeps proving them right. They want hope to win out, but reality keeps getting in the way. The Arabs just won’t cooperate.

And so the debates go on and those doing “peace work” continue to little things they know won’t have much of an impact. But they do know that when they stop, it will mean they have given up hope. And while they might be willing to give up Jerusalem, they will never agree to give up hope.

Please Share With Bookmarks to: