Burning books.
It’s
never been a good thing in my opinion.
Usually it is a political or social statement about the text. That was certainly part of the book burning
that happened last week at the Jerusalem Hand in Hand school.
Many of you are aware that this has been a difficult week
for the Hand in Hand family. Last
Saturday night, a fire was set using Arabic/Hebrew text books in the center of
a first grade classroom, destroying that room and badly damaging a second. Racist, violent graffiti was written, not for
the first time on the walls, but this time, the rhetoric was amped up, as if
calling for death to anyone wasn't disturbing enough.
The immediate
response, was, NO! not here, and the week that followed has been a testament to
the commitment of not only the Hand In Hand community in Jerusalem and Israel,
but the extended family in the local neighborhoods and indeed the world.
There was no hesitation.
On the night of the arson, parents and staff rallied to prepare
classrooms for the 1st graders and assure the rest of the students
would find, as much as possible, business as usual when they came to school the
next day. This is a choice people make
every day. A cross that they pick up if you will. But at the end of the day, differences and
all, this is family, and family sticks together.
While the web site home page is currently scrolling photos
of the destruction, the media page is filled with articles of outrage and
support, for the children and their families, for the path of co-existence
between Jews and Arabs, for the dream of Hand In Hand,
from a world who sees
this school, as the model for the future.
On Thursday while I was at the school working with the
English class, hundreds of local students walked by on the path below the
campus cheering and chanting for the students here. On Friday, we walked in Solidarity on that
same path. Students came from all over Israel
to stand with the students at the school.
Parents, students, staff, family, alumni, community members all walked
side by side, all carrying the motto, in Arabic, Hebrew and English, “We’re All
Hand In Hand”!
I walked among these pioneers, proud and humbled to be a
small part of the work that will continue here, because, it is the right thing
to do. Hate is wrong, violence is wrong,
racism is wrong. We’re sick and tired of
it all.
For those of you who have not liked the Hand in Hand
Facebook page, may I ask that if you are
on Facebook that you not only like us, but share the page by inviting all of
our friends to like us as well.
For access to the international media response visit our
website, HandinHandk12.org
Down the road from the Ben-Gurion sites, is another way the
desert will prosper, through the Lone Farmers, or at least that is the
hope. Lone Farms are little, self-sufficient outposts
in the Negev, dotting the landscape in a variety of form and function. From vineyards and ranches to wheat and
barley fields, with government approval,
these little ‘cottage industries’ are more than just an interesting way to
spend a day, they are a life changing, future altering endeavor. 
We drove past a variety of farms before we stopped at the
Naot Farm. Leah and Gadi Nahimov moved
from the big city, where they owned and operated a popular chain of successful
steak restaurants, followed their dream with their six children to live on a
farm and in their case, raise goats and make cheese. In October 2003 they set out to see if they
could do it and today, they are doing it quite well. Still challenged by the desert and its many
inhabitants, government bureaucracy, and the day to day issues surrounding
livestock, cheese production, retail sales, operating a restaurant, and hosting
overnight guests, the family is as sure today as they were when the set out
that this is the life they want. 
Just south of the Kibbutz is Ben-Gurion village an academic
and residential village and the University that bears his name where world
class research is done focusing on ecology and reclaiming the desert. With plenty of room for growth (at this point about
8% of the 8.2 million population of Israel lives in the Negev) whole towns are
popping up around specific industries like I.T., manufacturing concerns like
SodaStream, University towns filled with students and staff, the military has a
large and increasing presence in the desert in training facilities, and lets not
to forget the lone farms.
As we know, this is an area that plays a prominent role
several times in scripture, including passages in the book of Numbers
describing the 40 years the people wandered in the desert. From my vantage point, just paces from
Ben-Gurion’s grave, and driving through the desert, I can appreciate the challenges the Children
of Israel faced, and am left with and a stunning reminder to trust God always,
even when there are giants involved. 
I was walking through a market in Tel Aviv recently
shaking my head once again at the differences I find here. This time it is in the way food is sold,
especially in the open markets. We have
some markets like these, but they are the exception, usually have a connection
to organic something or other, and sell food items that we would wash anyway
when we get them home. 
Even in the grocery store, fresh bread products are in
open bins. Now this could be ok from an,
“I’m from the United States and we have local Health Departments and copious
local, state and federal regulations about the selling of food, kind of way, if
there were like, grabber tong thingies to pick up the bread” but no, not so
much. I haven’t seen tongs. Not yet. 
Back on the street, just about anything that can be
sold, may be sold, and without the precise inspections and protections our
faithful health department inspectors require.
Fruit, and meat, olives of every kind, bread and other baked delicacies,
cheese and meat, all out there without even a sneeze guard. 
