I went to Haifa today to visit my family. I took the train from Tel Aviv to Central Haifa. Mara and Aaron picked me up and we went to see Moti who is my 2nd cousin or something like that... let's see, Moti's late wife Mila, was my mom's cousin, so that makes me their ?? anyone? Anyway, Moti is a doctor and he lives in a beautiful villa in one of the more affluent areas in Haifa called Danya.
Moti's wife, Mila passed away only a couple of months ago on October 9th, 2008, so he is still very much grieving. Nonetheless, he was a great host. He even had a blended highland scotch on the table for us. After a few drinks he started telling me stories about his late wife and our family. He began by asking if I could guess who were the two women that he admired most in his life (and his mother was not one of them). I couldn't guess, and he said, my great aunt Tzila and my grandmother Sara (my mother's mom). He said they were the purest of souls that he had ever met. They were completely selfless, always helping everyone around them and did only good for others. He then began to tell us stories about our family. He recited one that I got on video, but it's in Russian, and it doesn't translate well to English, so I will put it up for all my Russian readers. The jist of the story is that in Riga, Latvia, my grandmother, Sara Spector, was shopping for chicken in the market and was approached by a man who seemed pleasant but had made a subtle anti-semitic comment to her. She went home and told the story to her family and it didn't even occur to her what this man had meant, as she always saw the best in people.
I get the sense that I'm here to learn about my roots, to help me understand better where it is that I come from. As I listen to stories being told about my own family, my father and now my grandmother, I feel so proud to have been influenced by such great people. These are two people (in addition to my mom) who have had a huge impact on who I am today. My grandmother passed away when I was 6 years old, but I remember spending a lot of time with her. She was my caregiver as both my parents worked. I remember her house clearly. I remember running around barefoot near her house in Hadera and getting my first bee sting on my big toe. I remember the small round woven pillows on her couch with a 70's yellow, orange and brown circular pattern. I remember her small and very warm dark brown eyes. I remember the moment when I learned that she had passed away - I was in daycare, I saw my mom come in and talk to my teacher, and I could see that something was wrong and then she left. I distinctly remember holding and looking at a card with a picture of a lion. The teacher took me aside and tried to explain what happens to people when they are done living and I remember not wanting to take my eyes off of the lion.
When I'm gone, if people talk about me in the same way they talk about my father and grandmother, I will have lived a rich and successful life!
This trip is becoming very much my journey back to my roots, I didn't realize how deep these roots were. I thought 22 years away is a long time and maybe I wouldn't feel as connected, but there were lifetimes before me that contributed to who I am today. My family here looks at me and sees a continuation of a lineage which automatically connects me to them. They remember me as a little girl and I too am a chapter in their life story.
Sam asked me the other day, where did I get this desire to help others as I do in my work, and today, I'm thinking that my grandmother could have been my first role model.
Friday Dec. 19, 2008
Today, Mara took me to the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa. The Baha'i faith is the newest of the world religions and Acre and Haifa are the spiritual centres. The Baha'i believe that there is only one God, one human race and that all the world's religions have been progressive stages in the revelation of God's will and purpose for humanity. They have some pretty cool principles, laws and institutions for a world civilization:
- Abandonment of all forms of prejudice ... that's right
- Full equality between the sexes... can you imagine?
- Recognition of the common source and essential oneness of the world's great religions... that's crazy talk!
- Elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth... slow down now
- Universal compulsory education... huh?
- Right and responsibility of each person to search independently for truth... hello!
- Establishment of a world religion federal system... way too progressive
- Recognition that faith must be consistent with reason and that science and religion should be in harmony... who are these people?
Can you imagine, if everyone believed in the Baha'i faith... we'd have nothing to create wars about and then how could we possibly have corruption, poverty, bombs, two-tier systems... a lot of people would be out of work. These baha'i believers have obviously not thought this through!
Just kidding of course :-) This place was really incredible, it's set on the hillsides of Haifa looking down at the city and sea, just stunning. Here are some photos
I got back to Tel Aviv on a mini bus. The cool thing about public transportation here is that the drivers are actually human! They have their set central stops but they don't mind dropping you off anywhere on their way, just ask. So virtually everyone got dropped off at a different spot. But they speed like crazy!
I was invited tonight to join the pagode trio again, I went and it was a blast!
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