Sabbath

I've had the privilege of staying several days with Naomi's cousin, Moshe. One of the high points of this trip has been conversations with him, his explanations of the different philosophies of Judaism I've been encountering on this trip, the history of Israel and the different people here. Another highlight was having Shabbat dinner with his sister Lily and the family. Lily does all the cooking for this every week, and there are about twenty people there with her children and grandchildren. It's a warm and relaxed occasion with lots of conversation and good food. My Hebrew is not so good so at times I just listened and watched (and ate) and that was not bad!

Moshe lives in Modi'in, a residential town located just on the Israeli side of the Green Line, half way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The name Modi'in rang a distant bell in my mind. When I was pointed out a hill in the distance where the Maccabees are buried, I was able (after quite a bit of wondering) to make the connection to a mention in the Bible of the same place under a different spelling. So this place has been settled for a long, long time, over 2000 years. You wouldn't know it to look at it, it's a modern residential town with parks, lots of schools, mostly low-rise apartment buildings and an air-conditioned shopping center. But if you explore, you quickly run across some ancient caves and a stone water catchment system right next to the modern, much larger, steel water reservoir. (How old? Sometimes you get to guess. It could be 200 years or 2000. But it still has a great echo and you can have fun dropping a stone to see how long it takes to hit the bottom.)

One thing I didn't find was a church; I'll have to make that up when I arrive in Jerusalem in a couple of days. Meanwhile, traveling in Israel gives me a taste of what it's like to be a small religious minority, and what a difference it makes to have that be accepted and respected. Also, of course, I feel the importance that my church community has for me.