After breakfast we decided to walk off the calories we’ve been piling up while here eating all this great food.  While all the stores were closed for Shabbat, café’s and convenience stores remained open.  As we meandered down one of the main shopping streets I started laughing after we had traveled a good ½ mile.  Worldwide, women have the same fetish…shoes!  It seemed every 4^th store was a shoe store and they were all women’s shoes.  Thank goodness they were all closed or we would have not strolled very far and I would have been bored out of my mind.

As we continued our walk I was struck by the amount of Jewish fathers out alone with their children.  Often Dad was on a bike with one child riding in front of him and the other on the back.  As hard working as men are here and the long hours they put in, it was heartwarming to see Dad’s spending quality time with the children.  After heading south for a few miles we turned west and headed for the sea.  Once we got there it looked like the whole of Tel Aviv was out enjoying the sunshine and warm weather.  The seaside was a bustle of activity from young to very old.  The water was a bit cool so no one was swimming just sunning themselves on the fine sand.  I did see two crazy Africans out past the “No Swimming” sign bathing.  I think it was one of those “Lost in Translation” moments.  

As we headed back north towards the hotel from afar we thought we saw people line dancing.  As we got closer we realized that it was Jewish Folk dancing and it was happening outdoors right by the beach.  We stood there for quite awhile mesmerized by the music and jealous we didn’t know the dance steps so we could jump in.  Elizabeth commented that the music and dancing seemed to come from a place deep in their souls.  I enjoyed seeing the joy on people’s faces as they were totally into it!  The whole experience reminded me of the celebration scene in Otto Preminger’s movie “Exodus.”  We then decided to try an Israeli McDonalds for the experience.  This of course put back on all the calories we had just walked off. They had dinner meal choices of “The Big New York” or “The Big Texas” and trust me they were big!  I couldn’t believe the size of the burger.  One thing we did learn…must ask for cheese.

We arrived back at our hotel around 4PM and had not heard a peep from anyone at Elizabeth’s company.  I was bemoaning the fact we are leaving in a few days and my heart was pulling me back to Jerusalem.  OK, it was my camera calling.  When we were here last week it was with Elizabeth’s clients on a tour and the guide kept moving us along.  It was getting irritating as he needed to make sure we saw all the sites and I wanted to take pictures of the people and the culture. Elizabeth disappeared downstairs for awhile and came back asking “how would you like to go to Jerusalem?”  I love my wife!!!  We threw on fresh clothes, packed a small bag and headed out the door for Bus #4 next to the hotel.  After a Sharuot ride to Jerusalem, a train ride to the Damascus Gate and a walk to the Hashimi Hotel here we are.  In fact as I write this Elizabeth is asleep next to me.  I best sign off and get some shuteye as we have adventures in Jerusalem awaiting us in the morning.   

After lunch we strolled along the Yankon River out to the Mediterranean Sea and then south along the seashore on a boardwalk.  It was a lovely time as we walked arm in arm past the stores and restaurants filled with Israelis also out enjoying the 65 degree weather in the middle of winter.  We then came to an outside “kitchen market” filled with fresh produce straight off the farm; meat, fish, wines, cheeses etc.  People were busy purchasing food for Shabbat.  Had we a refrigerator in our room, we saw many things we would have loved to purchase.  As we eventually made it back to the hotel Elizabeth took a nap and I headed to the hotel lobby where the wireless signal is much better.  I’m trying to stay on top of writing, emails and Facebook and took advantage of the down time.

Soon hundreds of Jewish people dressed up for synagogue descended on the hotel.  They soon they were singing, clapping and reading from the Torah.  While I didn’t understand a word of it I enjoyed the whole experience.  After they finished, they filed past me up the stairs to the hotel dining room for a Shabbat meal.  Elizabeth met me in the lobby and we headed back to the coast for dinner.  These Jewish people know how to eat!  The variety is amazing.  Our table was soon filled with so many little dishes of various relishes, egg plant, tomatoes, fried cauliflower, fish and all this before our main dish arrived.  It was a long walk back to the hotel as we were stuffed!

Elizabeth and the company taxi arrived around 1 PM to pick me up and take us south towards Ashdod where the Masu’ot Yitzhak community is located.  Albaad, a wet wipes manufacturer, is located on the Moshav/Kibbutz.  A Mashov is slightly different from a Kibbutz in that it keeps the family unit together and allows for more individuality.  In the old kibbutz model, the children lived separate from their parents and the community owned everything.  The Masu’ot Yitzhak community has evolved into its own expression incorporating elements of each model.  I was excited about the opportunity not only to see behind the scenes of this Jewish community, but meet with Amnon Brodie, the Chairman of Albaad.  Amnon’s family was part of the original group who founded the communities back in 1945 first located in the Judean mountains.  The original families came from Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.  They divided themselves into 5 different kibbutz’s and during the 1948 war, one of the kibbutz’s (Kfar Etzion) was totally overrun and destroyed.  Everyone living on it was killed!  It was a story I knew all too well.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by various Albaad employees excited to see Elizabeth who hadn’t been there in over a year.  Amnon, Boaz (CEO) and others all welcomed us with big smiles.  Amnon had arranged a tour of the community and our guide was a middle aged gentleman named David who was born in London and of course spoke excellent English.  It was an amazing time of interaction as he drove us around and showed us the various aspects of the community.  Besides a wet wipes business, they have a dairy farm; cattle feed plant, chicken hatchery and various other enterprises. I have just completed reading “Start Up Nation” about the entrepreneurial spirit of the Jewish people. There right in front of me I could see it all in action.

As we drove through the various homes and living quarters, we came to a tall sculpture incorporating the base of an old railcar.  Surrounding it was white stone panels with names in Hebrew etched into them.  David explained this was a memorial to all the relatives of family members of the community who had been lost during the Holocaust.  As you might imagine it was sobering.  Soon we were at a second memorial and this one dedicated all the members of the community lost during their service in the IDF, the Israeli military.  As we stood and contemplated, I noticed a mother walking along the road with three young children two of which were in a push cart.  Their cute little faces were leaning over the side of the cart watching us intently.  I was struck by the paradoxes of life and death.  Here we were standing at a memorial for people who had died so these little children could have life!   

While Elizabeth met with the CEO, David and I took a tour of the plant and I witnessed how a wet wipe is produced from raw ingredients to packaged product.  I was intrigued by the whole process.  As we walked along we found ourselves into deep conversations on the evolution of the kibbutz model, what the motivation was to live on a kibbutz and how to keep the most productive from feeling like they are “carrying” the lesser productive.  David was up to the challenge and gave me great insight for future ideas I have which may work in Zimbabwe.

After the tour was complete, Amnon took us to his house to meet his wife Esther.  She is a lovely woman, quiet with understanding eyes. She also works for Albaad in the lab.  She had prepared some pre dinner snacks and over a cup of coffee we got acquainted.  The Brodie’s have 5 children (3 boys, 2 girls) and 8 grandchildren.  They are a blessed family.  Once we finished our coffee they took us to the next town over for dinner.  While I dined on salmon, we had a marvelous time of sharing stories and learning more about each other’s lives.  They were deeply moved by the story of The Community of Reconciliation and fascinated to know they there was a Zimbabwean tribe descended from Jewish priests!  As the evening wound down, I found my heart filled with a sense of gratitude for the kindness they showed us inviting us into their busy lives and sharing their culture with us.

Today was one of the more memorable days of my life!  In fact I need to remember that I’m writing a blog and not a book or this could get rather lengthy.  Elizabeth and I had breakfast together and while she headed north for meetings in Caesarea, I headed east for a meeting in Bethlehem with Sami Awad.  The town where Jesus was born is now located in Palestinian territory which lies behind a great wall which the Israeli’s built reportedly to protect themselves. 

I headed out on my journey from the hotel in a pouring rainstorm!  Fortunately the hotel was handing out free umbrellas though they were the cheap Chinese versions which easily turn inside out in the slightest breeze.  I made my way to Bus #16 heading to the Central Tel Aviv bus station.  I asked the driver to tell me when we were there as I had no idea what it looked like.  After about 20 minutes I heard an American voice call out “sir we are here!”  I was surprised to look up and see an older American gentleman talking to me.  As we departed the bus he asked me where I was headed and I said Bethlehem via Jerusalem.  He then asked how I was planning on getting there.  I told him I was going to catch a “sherut” which is an Israeli taxi van.  He had planned on taking the bus but decided to join me on the ride.  We walked around the station and inquired until we found a sherut bound for Jerusalem.  On the ride we swapped stories and I learned he was from Boston and lived in Israel 6 months out of the year while his wife taught at one of the universities here.

Once we got to Jerusalem he needed to catch another taxi to get to his destination and told me to jump in as he was going right past the Damascus gate where I needed to jump on Bus #21 to Bethlehem.  After a 5 minute ride we arrived and I tried to cover part of the fare but he refused to take my money saying it was the least he could do for a stranger.  Kindness is a wonderful attribute and he certainly set the tone for the rest on my day.  I located bus #21 and board it.  I soon found myself surrounded by Muslim women with their heads covered staring at me wondering what I was doing on “their” bus.  As the bus made its way to Bethlehem I was texting with Eilda who works at the Holy Land Trust and who has been my main point of contact to arrange this meeting.  I was fascinated listening to the ring tones on the Muslim women’s phones as we drove along in the driving rain.  Soon we were at the border and the bus stopped while Israeli soldiers boarded the bus. Guns hanging down in front of them, they checked our passports and documents.  After about 5 minutes they escorted 4 teenage boys off the bus and sent them back to Israel for some reason. 

Another 20 minutes later we were at the Bab Zqaq stop and I exited while looking around for Eilda’s car.  She was parked across the street in front of a roasted chicken restaurant.  After greeting each other we made our way over to the office of the Holy Land Trust, the organization Sami started on 1998.  Sami was there to greet me with a big smile on his face and we had a few laughs about the fact that while he had lived in Kansas City and still had family there, I had to come halfway around the world to meet him!  He then told me he wanted to make good use of our time and had asked some of his staff to join us while I shared my story.  For the next two hours we went on a deeply moving journey as we laughed and cried together sharing our painful and yet God directed experiences.  They then treated me to a Palestinian lunch and Sami and I headed out afterward for a tour of the city.

It was sad really.  I felt like I was in the movie “Escape from New York” were they walled off Manhattan and turned it into a giant penal colony.  As we drove along the tall grey concrete wall that separated the two lands my heart was saddened by the fact these precious brothers and sisters were imprisoned here.  Sami can’t even go to Jerusalem and he’s a US citizen!  We had a very candid conversation as we drove along.  What impressed me about Sami was not only his use of non-violence to make his point, but his object critique of the situation seeing the weakness, corruptness and arrogance on the part of both Palestinians and Israeli’s. He, like I do, believes the teachings of Jesus hold the key to peace and reconciliation in the region.  As we drove around we also stopped by the Bethlehem Bible College which was founded by his father Dr. Bishara Awad in 1979.  His uncle Alex, who is Dean of Students, greeted us and soon the four of us were sharing a cup of coffee.  I was deeply impressed by the stature and yet humility of these great men of God.  They are committed to raising up a generation of godly Palestinians committed to peace and the principles of the Kingdom of God.  I can see why some in the Messianic community are scared of them as the more people are made aware, the more the stereotype of all Palestinians being terrorists is broken.

I was sad to leave but needed to get back to the other side and get to Caesarea where I could reconnect with Elizabeth.  I jumped back on Bus #21 and headed back over the border, going through the same drill at the checkpoint and was dropped off at the Damascus gate.  As I walked around to the Jaffa gate the damp cold penetrated my bones and I stepped up my pace to keep warm.  Once I got to where I was going I couldn’t find a single sharut and revved up plan B.  I took a taxi to the train station and headed to Caesarea via Tel Aviv. For whatever reason I didn’t see a single person on the train all the way to Tel Aviv.  As I sat there in the silence I was overcome with emotion at all that had just transpired.  My heart was knit with these men.  I understood not only their plight but their journey.  They even invited me back in March for their “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference to share my story with other Evangelical leaders from around the world! “Oh God what are you up to, you have knit my heart with those who are often seen as on the “wrong” side of the equation.”  As the train meandered along, I found myself lost in thought for hours.  I finally arrived at the Caesarea train station to be met by the relieved eyes of the love of my life.  She gave me a big hug kiss and headed back to the hotel to catch up with each other’s lives. I felt as though I had lived a whole life one in one day!

Today I spent the morning and early afternoon catching up with my own life!  With all the travel and activity, it’s been challenging to stay on top of emails, Facebook, blogging and trying to get another container of medical supplies and books off to Zimbabwe.  I was thrilled to find out the import waivers have arrived!  This was the last hurdle to overcome before we could order the container.  Once I get home on Feb. 9^th I will finalize details and we look to start packing Feb 18^th and get the container on the road the 20^th.  I would love to be there in Zimbabwe when the children see all these reading books…over 16,000! Their little faces will just light up.

Who at Facebook decided I could only have 5000 friends?  Of course I had to reach this arbitrary limit while traveling and was scrambling today trying to figure out what to do with all the friend requests Facebook wouldn’t let me approve.  I ended up deciding to bring out of the mothballs the Compassionate Justice “organization” page I created a few years ago but never used as it seemed redundant at the time. Once I updated the CJI page I started redirecting people there.  While it’s all a bit time consuming, I suppose I need to be grateful for technology that allows us the ability to stay current with many people around the world at one time.

Once I was caught up, I headed out into the drizzling rain to an outdoor market just down the road from the hotel.  There’s something about markets that just fascinate me.  I love the variety of people, watching the interaction, the hassling over price and all the vendors hustling to make a living.  From there I headed over to the offices of Dugit (which means ‘little fishing boat’) to meet my friend Avi Mizrachi.  Avi is what many call a “Messianic Jew.”  These Jews in contrast to most Jews living in Israel believe that Jesus was in fact the long awaited Messiah the Jewish people had been looking for over many centuries. They are an interesting group; being Jewish they don’t fit neatly in the traditional European Protestant or Catholic world that has so heavily influenced American church culture.  They also don’t fit easily here in Israel as many traditional Jews consider them traitors to their religious traditions.

Avi and I had a wonderful time catching up.  The last time I saw him was 2008 in Kansas City.  Then we were discussing the concept of reconciliation and his experiences with the Palestinian community.  I recounted one of the stories he told me in my book Saving Zimbabwe. If Jews and Palestinians can reconcile certainly also can the Shona and Ndebele people of Zimbabwe.  As I’m writing I’m reminded of a comment I heard years ago…the ground is level at the foot of the cross!

While eating, I decided to see how far it was to the Adonai Roi Congregation from the hotel. It turned out to be just 1.5k so we decided to walk off breakfast and head over and see if we could catch the last part of the service.  I had met Pastor Avi Mizrachi in Kansas City in 2008 before I wrote Saving Zimbabwe.  He had told me a profound story of how his congregation had joined together with a Palestinian congregation from the Galilee area for a day of fellowship and worship.  With the message of reconciliation so strong in my heart, I was greatly impressed with the fact that mortal historic enemies could forgive and actually love one another here in this war torn land.  Avi had not seen the book and so I gave him a copy and we talked about meeting sometime this week.

After returning to the hotel, Elizabeth decided to continue to unpack which seems to be a rather lengthy exercise for women.  She calls it “nesting.”  While she nested, I caught up on correspondence and then decided to go for a walk along the sea.  As I made my way across the road toward the water I was surprised to see dozens of wild cats along the shoreline. They were everywhere and staring at me.  It was quite creepy and for a moment I felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie or a Stephen King book.  You find yourself looking over your shoulder wondering if they are following you!

As one looks back towards the Tel Aviv skyline you cant help but be struck by the history of this place.  There are cranes dotting the horizon as modern high rise buildings are being erected. These Goliath’s dwarf the single level ancient stone buildings that have hundreds of years of history etched into their exteriors.  The ancient past meets the modern world here.