The Nazareth Diaries

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Fourth Week: 29 September - 5 October 2003

Monday 29 September

Two things changing this week. First of all the weather really is cooler. There must be an area of low pressure passing over, as it was quite cloudy for much of the day, and even in the afternoon it didn't feel too hot. I actually felt the need for socks! Secondly, I'm entering the next phase of my work for the hospital. Having talked with many different people, I feel I've got as good a picture as I'm going to get, and now it's time to start compiling the report.

In the evening, one of the staff invited me and others to dinner with her family. Everyone was there! Her elderly mother, husband, son and his wife, 3 daughters and a fiancé. The story the daughter-in-law told is really sad. She is from Bethlehem (Beit Zahour to be exact), and with her Palestinian ID and passport, she is regarded as an illegal immigrant under a new law. They didn't explain how she got out of the West Bank, and I thought it best not to ask. Their marriage is not recognised by the state, Michel has been unemployed for the last seven months (though obviously very bright) and the girl's parents have been unable to obtain a permit to come to Nazareth and visit their new grandson, despite several attempts.

The baby had a heart defect when born just a few weeks ago, has had to have surgery, and they are thankful to God for the good health he now has. She of course can hardly go to see her parents, as she would probably not get out again. While it's very sad, it would at the same time be hard to find a family who are more devout gentle, forgiving and quietly hopeful. I find that people here are much more ready to express their spirituality than in Scotland.

During the meal Derek described how an elderly man from Jenin (which is not far away, but is part of the West Bank) had been to the hospital for treatment for his daughter. He is a porter in the local market, and could not afford to pay. The hospital provided all that was necessary, and now he comes with a Jewish friend, whom he had met as a fellow-patient, every few weeks and hands over some shekels. His friend brings him from the check-point by car to the hospital.

Tuesday 30 September

At noon, I had an appointment with the Mother Superior, Sister Felicité, at the French Hospital. Good practice of my French (though she is Spanish). There are about 8 Sisters of Charity who are there to look after the spiritual welfare of the place and the people who come as patients. Apart however, from a weekly service, and visits at festival times from Christian people in the community, it doesn't sound as though there is much vie spirituelle.

Most of the staff, as at NH, are Muslim. The young Sister who translated a bit for me is from Bethlehem, and told me that she - unlike so many others - has a permit to travel back and forward from here to home, thanks to the influence of the Vatican! We parted with a request from Sister Felicité, "Priez pour nous". Please reciprocate, Sister!

Wednesday 2 October

Began the day with a visit to Azer Ajaj, pastor of the Local Baptist Church, and Bible Society in Israel Galilee (i.e. Arab) representative. I asked about various matters, and gained some interesting information

1. The Bible Society in Israel is a fairly small operation, with a main office in Jerusalem. Azer gave me sample Bible reading material to show to someone at the hospital who was interested. Could distribution be one way of using Bike Ride money? He finds the historic churches are a bit suspicious of BSI, but is making progress with supplying Bibles and selections for missions, and also quizzes to schools
2. He agreed with my hunch that Christian people are stronger and more confident than I remember from 25 years ago, but says the great need (I suppose he means in the Arab sector) is for mature leadership. There is a real generation gap, with an older generation of leaders now in their 70s. They didn't train a new generation, and now most (evangelical) church leaders are under 40. Colleges like the Bethlehem Bible College (who have started running courses in Nazareth) have a vital role.

Oh, it rained today! First time since May, and you could see how pleased people were. Not particularly heavy, but I guess Upper Galilee and Mt Hermon got a good soaking.

Friday 3 October

It rained again during the night, though the forecast is for warmer, dry weather over the next few days. Not that today felt at all cool. I gave to Tom, as promised, a day's labour in the hospital grounds, the majority of which we spent putting rings of stones round trees and shrubs in the approach to the main entrance of the hospital. It actually looks quite good!

Saturday 4 October

Cycled over to Nazareth Illit with young Michael this morning to attend a Messianic Jewish congregation. The people meet in dilapidated premises in an industrial park, but Michael explained afterwards that the reason for this is that their previous meeting place in an a house was attacked by fellow-Jews, and the landlord cancelled their lease. At least here it was very quiet, being the Sabbath. The service was led for the most part by Yaakov, who works at the Nazareth Village. One of the leading elders I spoke to is originally from England, and his wife from Edinburgh! The service began with the blowing of a shofar (trumpet) as a reminder of the approach of Yom Kippur, with a stress on how although the Jews might hope that God might just about forgive their sins, we have assurance of pardon through the blood of Christ. Most of the service was in a mixture of 3 languages - Hebrew, English and Russian - my guess is that about half the congregation are Russian Jews, an example of the impact that massive Russian immigration has had. In general, the folk were very friendly, less suspicious of a stranger than I had half-expected.

It's Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) on Monday, the holiest day of the Jewish year, and the weekend newspaper is in reflective mood, especially with this being the 30th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. There are articles in Ha'aretz about Golda Meir's role what is still regarded as a disastrous war (she was PM at the time, and apparently considered suicide), another article about the experience of a young soldier captured by the Syrians on Mt Hermon, and several opinion columns critical of current government policy on the route of the security fence. Ha'aretz seems to favour building it along the Green Line, but the current plan will mean that many West Bank settlements will be on the "Israeli" side of the line, annexing more and more Palestinian territory and making a viable state a practical impossibility.

The radio is on and I've just heard of a suicide bombing in Haifa. 18 people killed, 50 injured. So much for security. The government spokesman is mouthing the usual mantra about it all being the fault of the Palestinian leadership. It seems like the Jewish authorities have no capacity at all for self-criticism. For some reason I'm recalling a remark someone made to me: that it's impossible for a non-Jew to understand the profound and irrevocable impact of the Holocaust on the collective Jewish psyche.

Sunday 5 October

Went to the Maronite Church this morning, and it was nice to be greeted by people I knew from the Alpha Course. Elias and Christine were supposed to be meeting me, but there was no sign of them, and I discovered later that Elias had forgotten, while Christine had a cold and was maybe too ill to remind him! Never mind, I got a good sense of the liturgy, and Elias later lent me the English version of the service book. In brief, it was not really like the Greek Orthodox, as I'd expected; it felt much more like an RC service and in fact they are officially a branch of Catholicism. The liturgy could not have been very ancient. The congregation must have numbered over 200, with a good mix of ages, and lots of children. Nazareth is of course a young community, with an average age of 20, but at least the children, teenagers and young adults were actually present in church, and I recognised and was greeted by a number of those from the Alpha Course.

One interesting feature during the service: two young lads had their hands blessed by the Cross in the priest's hand, then came round the congregation sharing the peace, i.e. people at the end of pews opened their hands and then drew them along the fingers of the boys' hands, placed together in a kind of prayer position; they then passed the peace to others in he same pew. A nice symbolic gesture.

On checking the history of the Maronites, I was reminded that they began in the 3rd century when Marun was chucked out of the Jerusalem church and went north to Syria/Lebanon. Eventually in the 16th century the Maronites were in fact admitted into the RC church, but obviously retain much of their own identity though it also explains the RC feel of the service. Some key parts of the liturgy were chanted in Syriac.

Speaker at the evening chapel service at the hospital was George Khalil, and we had a chat afterwards, which ended with an invitation to his house. He runs Bible correspondence courses in Arabic, and though he started off just within Israel, the internet especially has widened his ministry remarkably, and he has people from as far away as Morocco doing courses. He and his wife Rose (from Middlesex) have just had their first contact from Armenia. George says this way of learning the Bible and about Christianity is ideal for Muslims, and even some from historic church backgrounds, who may be discouraged from reading the Bible for themselves. At any one time they have hundreds of people doing courses - both children and adults. Interestingly, their oldest son is in Glasgow, studying digital imaging at the James Watt University. He is looking for a career in the media.

The sucide bombing in Haifa is casting a heavy shadow. Fareed Shehadeh, who translated for me a few weeks ago at the House of Light, had planned to be at the chapel service, but is related to some of the bomb victims, and is attending funerals. A relative of George's was on his way to the restaurant that was blown up, but changed his mind and visited family in Shefa'amr instead. The owner of the restaurant is (was?) an Arab, and several dead and injured are also Arab. So what's the point? The suicide bomber was from Jenin, and apparently members of her family had been assassinated by the Israelis some months ago. Quite what the connection is between that and Israel's retaliatory strike on Syrian positions, is completely beyond me. Rose Khalil suggested that the government knows it can't do any more about security, and Syria is just next on the list.

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