Most Blatant Contrasts: Between the Beautiful Torah School in the Judean Hills and the Brutal Reality of East Jerusalem – Part II

Without having deliberately planned it that way, Norina immerses herself in two mutually exclusive realities of life in and around Jerusalem on a single day in October 2024. She spends the morning among young Jewish women who are happily studying, and in the afternoon a Muslim friend from East Jerusalem pours her heart out to her about the conditions and circumstances in her community.

Learning about Torah, Talmud and Jewish dating

At the Beit Midrash, even a year after completing their program there, practicing Jewish young women voluntarily return for the month before Yom Kippur to continue learning (because there is always more to explore in the Jewish faith, more books to read, more verses of the Torah and Talmud to understand and debate), to pray, to live in community and to prepare for the New Year and the Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur. The site invites you to pray with gratitude, offers beautiful vantage points and a modern and comfortable prayer house. After morning prayers and breakfast, independent study in pairs or threes is the order of the day. The teacher of a small group hands out a sheet on the Torah verse of the day and luckily Liele’s fellow students also have an American background, which means we can all converse in English.

We have actually managed to learn a little (that means first reading and trying to understand the Torah verse, then the relevant section in the Talmud and then various commentaries by rabbis). Most of the time, however, we talk about completely different things. First I am asked about my background and my studies in Jerusalem. Then the girls want to know about similarities and differences in the Christian faith, especially about my stay in a monastery in France before I moved to Israel, which I was strongly reminded of there. And finally, we have a lively exchange about Jewish dating – the pros and cons of the system. I immediately feel at home in this school and am warmly welcomed by Liele’s friends.

Blessed into the new year

Unfortunately, I can’t actively participate in the subsequent class because it is held in Hebrew. However, this has significantly increased my motivation to continue learning the language. Maybe I’ll be able to understand more next year! At least I can see the lovely atmosphere in which people learn here. One girl is painting with watercolors, another is embroidering a work of art on her denim jacket and Liele is busily taking notes in beautiful handwriting.

The young women are here because they want to be! They want to understand the Jewish scriptures, traditions and the Bible better and are therefore happy to take part in the class discussion. It is about the instruction in Leviticus 23:40 to tie a bundle of date palm leaves, willows and myrtle together with a lemon-like fruit on the first day of Sukkot so that the new year can be welcomed with blessing.

During the lunch break that follows, Liele explains to me that the whole month of lessons was about Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the question of whether the hut to be built should represent the Temple or one’s own home. Depending on the understanding, the meaning of the individual mitzvot, the commandments, also changes in connection with the festival. The time in the Midrasha passes far too quickly and after lunch I have to make my way home again. Dina, one of Liele’s friends, has invited me back straight away.

From light-heartedness to life’s hardships

Back in Jerusalem, I meet up with my Palestinian friend, whom I’ll call Shirin at this point, in a café in the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. She doesn’t want me to mention her name here. You’ll understand why. Because after asking me about my family, my brother (whom she also met once during his visit to Jerusalem), our trip to Jordan and my nephew Noam, she pours her heart out to me about the tense situation.

The Iranian missile attack has caused her indescribable fear because there is no shelter in her house or in her neighborhood. With tears in her eyes, she tells me that everyone should have a right to live in peace and protection. She has US citizenship, but she would need her father’s permission to emigrate and she can’t get it. As a 30-year-old teacher at an Arab school, she is also not allowed to move out of her parents’ house.

Helpless in the face of challenges and pressure coming from the in- and outside

She feels very unfree in Jerusalem. She is not allowed to talk to her students about the current conflict, although she would like to raise awareness for the different perspectives. Since October 7, 2023, she has stopped following certain Facebook pages because Israeli soldiers randomly take Arabs’ cell phones and check their social media activities and photos on their devices. She is not allowed to post comments or even put a like. October 7 this year was particularly difficult for her because she feels that only the Israeli side was highlighted, but there was no space to address the suffering of the Arabs affected throughout the country. She feels powerless and voiceless.

Then Shirin tells me about her students, for whom she has to be teacher, therapist, mother and sister, because these young people are deeply hurt, in Shirin’s eyes on the one hand because of the conflict, but also because of the culture in which they are growing up. My friend lists many points in which her culture and religion must change so that people can live in freedom and peace. And she wants so much to be able to sow a positive seed in the hearts of her students that will sprout in its own time and bear good fruit. She confides in me that femicides are regularly committed in her culture for a variety of reasons. Men boast that they have killed their sister or wife because she has misbehaved. One of Shirin’s students expressed the goal of getting married and being killed by her husband. When she mentions that another student is being sexually abused by her father, it breaks my heart. I have heard similar stories before, but now they are so close and tangible.

Where is God? And WHO is He?

My friend is a committed and passionate Muslim. God means everything to her. This is another reason why we can build such a close relationship: our faith in a loving and sovereign God unites us. When we talk about how we came to know God, who He is to us and how we interact with Him, we understand each other very well. Shirin has a loving and soft heart. And she is hones.

She tells me that Islam teaches that the Bible is a holy book, but it has been changed by monks over the centuries. Then she asks me if that is true. I explain to her that Jews and Christians have the same Bible, at least as far as the Old Testament is concerned. If monks had falsified the Bible, the Jews would certainly not use it.

Looking into the Bible with a Muslim woman

I tell her about my own relationship with the Bible, with God’s Word. I believe that God introduces Himself to people in the Bible in order to build a relationship with them, either through laws or prophecies or stories in which He interacts with people. All of this is to illustrate God’s character. I don’t normally walk around with my Bible in my pocket. But today, of all days, I have it with me. I take it out and let Shirin take a look at my treasure.

We talk some more about the Bible, God’s character, hope through Jesus and King David. At two points, my friend expresses how important it is not only to learn things about other people, but to have direct conversations with those people. Today she learned a lot of new things from me about the Christian faith. I can only respond to that the same way: she gives me an insight into the Muslim world. She also takes me into her way of thinking, her faith and her culture.

Once again, time flies by, even though I’m pretty exhausted after such an intense conversation. In the end, I am allowed to pray for Shirin and bless her. She loves it when I spontaneously pray out loud. We take the bus home together. I greet the bus driver in a friendly manner; she then tells me that Arab women are not allowed to speak to bus drivers.

Where does peace come from in the midst of the storm?

When I get home, the TV greets me with news, first about October 7 again and then about the monster hurricane heading for the USA. My news apps on my cell phone also give me no peace. I’m tired and just want to sleep. Everything feels too heavy and overwhelming right now. But I have an appointment to call my friend Annemarie. She has been living and working in Tanzania for 2.5 weeks. Thank goodness we really do make time to talk. Annemarie helps me to process my day and bring my thoughts and concerns to God at the end.

Yes, I believe that God is in control. I trust in His faithfulness and have experienced His blessings in my life. I know that He is good. I know He has a good plan. I have seen how He can bring forth new life in the midst of chaos. I firmly believe that the love of God that created the world and conquered death in Jesus’ death on the cross is the most powerful force in the universe. And yet there are so many things I don’t understand. I am deeply grateful for the blessings I was allowed to grow up in. I am grateful for the joy and peace that Jesus has brought into my life. But sometimes my heart feels very heavy when I realize how many people don’t have the very things that make my life so rich. Lord, take my life and use it to bring good things to others and lead them to the source of life, to you.