AR Journey Blog, 2022: Yad Vashem & Ein Karem
June, 2022
By Mohamad Jamous
I am writing this blog to you with great happiness and longing.
I will tell you a story full of adventure, hope and love between people of different religions, cultures and societies. They came together in the Holy Land to sow seeds of hope in the hearts of many who believe and trust in the peacemakers of Palestine and Israel, and all over the world.
The story began when a group from the Abrahamic Reunion in North America decided to visit the Holy Land in late May of 2022. They wanted to feel the holiness and spirituality of this land in a concrete way that makes everyone who puts his hand in the circles of the earth fill with positive energy and great love.
In the Holy Land, we all prepared for this beautiful visit, and coordinated logistical matters that would keep the group’s path and plan going in the right way.
The group arrived in Israel, and in fact, I was very happy to be on the other side, in Palestine. I felt great strength and energy upon knowing the group’s arrival in the country. Their presence here supports us morally and makes us stronger and increases our hope so we can work with greater energy.
In preparation to meet the Tour, I coordinated the presence of the group in Palestine, and arranged their place of residence (Saint Gabriel) and their visits with Palestinian peace activists Sami Awad and Father Issa Thaljieh among others.
I was working hard to get an entry permit to Israel for my wife Nelly. I wanted her to meet my second family, people who devote their lives to humanity, to planting hope, to achieving peace in the whole world.
I wanted her to meet people who spread love, happiness and great energy in her husband’s mind and body. Those who help him to complete his path, defying all challenges, and God willing achieving freedom, peace and stability in the Holy Land.
In fact, I tried a lot to have this permit issued, but all my attempts were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, I did not despair. I called on part of my Abrahamic Reunion family, Rabbi Leora Ezrahi, who has great connections, and asked her to help me secure an entry permit to Israel for my wife. Indeed, we succeeded! We managed to have the entry permit issued just one day before the group was in Jerusalem. I could not wait to meet the group the next day. In talking to some of them by phone, I expressed my longing for them and my happiness to meet them.
The next morning my wife and I left our home in Ramallah (West Bank) and headed to the Israeli Qalandia Crossing checkpoint to cross towards Jerusalem. We did the necessary security checks and left the checkpoint safely. We took a taxi from the crossing to the Gloria Hotel in the Old City of Jerusalem to meet the group.
Upon entering the hotel, the moment of happiness began when I saw Sheikh Ghassan Manasra, Shahabuddin, Hafiz, Yona, Annie, Abed Alsalam Manasra and many members of the group, and I introduced my wife to them for the first time. We sat and talked, and I got to know the rest of the group who came to see the truth and feel the holiness of this land.
In fact, I was a little sad, as I was hoping to see many of my second family whom I miss like Hermione, Tim, Chris and Anna and many brothers and sisters from past trips.
My colleague, brother and partner Abed al-Salam and I sat down to talk about the program and arrangements for the day. Shortly, we left the hotel and headed to the International Documentary, Research and Educational Center for Holocaust Remembrance (Yad Vashem) in Jerusalem, where we met several of the AR Young Peacebuilders.
Yad Vashem was established in 1953 as a global documentation, research and educational center to commemorate the Holocaust. It has become an international meeting place for generations. Every year hundreds of thousands of visitors from all corners of the earth, belonging to all classes, origins, religions and beliefs, come to visit the sprawling Yad Vashem complex that includes museums, galleries, memorials, research and educational centers, archives and libraries.
As it reflects the constant dealing with the unfathomable gap created by the Holocaust, the Foundation is active in innovative research and education, as it represents tens of millions of pages of documentary texts, images, testimonials, books, records and lists of names stored in it, the largest repository of information about the Holocaust in the world.
In fact, my visit to this center full of aches and sadness for what happened with our Jewish partners and neighbors was very important. In general, I always feel the suffering of the other, but my presence in this center makes me feel deeply what my Jewish brothers have gone through. Too, it makes me feel the tragedy and suffering that I encounter daily during my stay in Palestine and seeing what my people are going through. We are all human and we all have feelings towards ourselves and towards others.
Pain can destroy a person and cause him to lose his strength and balance, becoming weak-willed, desperate and miserable. Here, instead we chose in our life and work another option and we have dedicated our energies to move towards change for the better in achieving peace through the programs that we carry out under the umbrella of the Abrahamic Reunion.
We wandered for a long time in that place and saw many tangible and photographic testimonies. We saw and felt the pain as if we were in the year 1933! As we toured Yad Vashem, I saw many people from different religions, cultures and societies. I saw them feel and suffer from seeing these terrible scenes that affected us all. Here I stood and prayed, “Oh God, if the whole world felt the amount of pain that people feel from the wars and conflicts that occur in the world. If only presidents and leaders took a minute to think about the amount of pain that people suffer from these wars!! Everyone would stop and raise their hands for peace.”
Not long after we were in Yad Vashem, we left this center that affected me greatly, heading to the Ein Karem area, specifically to Mary’s spring, this Holy spring which was the center around which the ancient village revolved. According to Christian tradition, virgin Mary stopped here to drink while visiting John the Baptist’s parents. The spring gave its name to the village – Ein (spring) of the Kerem (vineyard). Luke 1:39: “And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda”.
Mary’s spring is located in a valley on the south side of the village of Ein Kerem, west of Jerusalem (8KM from the center).
When we arrived at the place, the wonderful young man Malkon explained to the group about the importance and sanctity of this place. He then provided an overview and explanation of the Palestinian suffering lived daily in the territories of the Palestinian Authority, and the great and difficult challenges and instability that every Palestinian in Palestine faces.
We toured the area and took memorial photos in Ein Karem, pictures that show the world the unity and love of the members of the Abrahamic Reunion.
During a beautiful sunset, we left Ein Karem, returning to the Gloria Hotel in the old city. After a day full of joy, sadness, suffering, hope, memories and mixed feelings, we arrived at the hotel and took some rest before eating dinner.
In the late evening hours, I called and invited two Jewish friends of mine from Jerusalem to drink coffee in the hotel. Abed al-Salam and I sat with them discussing many things and proposed a joint work plan to together establish future projects for Jewish and Palestinian youth. We talked and planned until midnight, and we came up with new important ideas that will develop the course of our work in the Holy Land!
Part 1 of 2: The next day on the tour, in Bethlehem, will be written about in Mohamad’s next blog.
Mohamad Jamous is the Abrahamic Reunion Palestinian Programs Director, mohamad@abrahamicreunion.org
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