Love & Israel

A close friend of mine, Ilana Lipski is co-producing a monologue show called "Love & Israel" with Sissy Block, who has the coolest energy I have met in a long time. (You can write them at loveandisrael@yahoo.com if you want more info.)

I offered to help out, and was to facilitate the Q&A after the reading, though people just wanted to mingle after the performance and so there was no Q&A in the end. But that's ok. The show was really cool and they chose a nice mix of monologues some more serious, some lighthearted, and all about the writer's relationship with Israel - as if it were a romantic relationship. How did you meet? Fall in love? fall out of love? etc.

I submitted a monologue that they asked me to revise, and then I was unable to because of my fractured wrist - but I am posting it here, because I think its a nice statement about MY relationship with Israel. Bear in mind, though, that it is a work in progess and needs some fleshing out.

Here goes:

I watch the misty morning fog hang in the deepest pockets of the Wadi. Nebulous yet substantial, it drifts around the craggy rocks until the sun shoos it away, tantalizing me with half formed images and fleeting glimpses of things my eyes could not be seeing, but my brain wants to know are there.

Dawn breaks in Jerusalem. The air is still moist and sweet with dew and early morning blossoms. That quiet, tranquil period before the city truly wakes to its bustling self is shattered by a long, loud, piercing bellow. One voice, soon joined by myriad calls and wails, bellows and screeches from different throats. Each calling out to be heard, protesting their abrupt waking or broadcasting their hunger. The day has begun at the Biblical Zoo.

This is where my love affair with Israel began. In the juxtaposition of rugged beauty; a crucible of a climate; and a volatile political environment. And the simple pleasures of life; the appreciation of nature and the love of the Land. Standing in a pile of animal poop, the smell of manure mingling with muddy, Turkish coffee – I fell in love. Idyllic, no?

Working in the Biblical Zoo was almost like entering a bubble every day, a time warp, where Arabs and Jews co-existed in harmony, working together or visiting together. No matter what was going on in the outside world, we in the zoo kept up a pace of our own. Our concerns were the births, deaths and illnesses of our animals. Violence came to us in the form of one animal challenging another’s authority within the social grouping. Such conflicts were often solved without any major damage to either animal; perhaps some posturing, threatening gestures or calls, and a head butt or two, and the whole incident was over.

We existed outside of time, politics and The Situation. We left our worries about the state of the State outside the gates, and picked them up on our way out after work. We didn’t discuss, argue or protest The Matzav. Our visitors peacefully browsed through our facility, mingling with each other regardless of race, religion or creed. And the outside touched us not at all.

I am not saying that my love affair with Israel began and ended with the gates of the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem, but the zoo was that first glance, the delicate flirting that sets your pulse quickening and makes you start to wonder things. Through my work in the zoo I was introduced to other ruggedly beautiful parts of the country; the Golan where we release captive-bred Griffon Vultures into the wild; The Negev where we repatriate Arabian Oryx back into the wild; The Hula where we track migration routes of numerous species of birds. And as the country revealed more of her secret and startling natural beauty, I was captivated. I wanted to see more, to explore her, to learn everything about her. To understand the co-existence of the lush and fertile with the barren and harsh.

I dated Israel. Weekends would see me exploring some new nook I found, whether it was the stunning stalactites and stalagmites of the Cave of Soreq or the enchantment of the Banyas River. I was intoxicated by the beauty, compelling, expansive and sometimes harsh, and I couldn’t get enough. Like an infatuated lover I would read, explore and learn all I can about the new relationship in my life.

In the process I learned about myself. I learned what makes me feel happy, feel touched, feel….Home.

And as I stood knee-deep in animal poop every morning, my heart felt full. I was in love. And I felt that Israel requited my love.