My parent’s friends invited us on Friday to celebrate the Sabbath with them. Jan collected us from Mt. Herzl – the Holocaust Memorial a bit outside from the city.

 

He explained us, what Sabbath means for Jews and I read some interesting stuff in a modern interpretation on the Torah (the Bible for Jews.. in Fact this Religion was the first of the monotheist ones, where people believe in ONE big creator of everything). Lots of this sounds reasonable for me. As they spoke about two souls inside a human being.

The good and the bad… the animal and the god… the fast and the slow…every human has the possibility to become great or nuts… depends on what he wants… and I read about responsibility of every human being to take care of others… we have to sacrifie before we can get something… you give. you get. you take. you are thankful.

  

Actually it is very simple. Doesn’t matter in what God you believe.

Don’t hurt. Be peaceful in mind. That’s why it is very important to make breaks. To reflect who you are, where you come from. To say thank you and share some time with loved ones. In our modern society there is nor space anymore. Unless you really fight for this and have selfdiscipline. Our businesses wants us to work always. Our brains are never calm. We always buy, eat, use phones or tv. No breaks to think who we are. That causes a lot of pain, after a while.

Anyway… I learned a lot and was very thankful getting the chance to be part of some religios rituals. Even I felt very strange during this praying time. They sing… actually.

Sabbath means that orthodox Jews aren’t allowed to work. They havd 37 acticities they aren’t allowed to do. That means using no machines, as well. It starts Friday 17:08 and ends Saturday 17:08. Round about sunset. This time you can compare with the christians sunday. If Jews aren’t that religious it’s something like a restday where shops and public transport are closed. More religious people like our friends start the Sabbath with a ceremony. They lite two candles, pray, and eat. Then pray again and go to bed. It’s even not allowed to turn on or off lights that’s why they have timer for it. Just the bathroom light is left on over night.

I was thankful that they shared these moments with us. I felt welcomed and calm. I really like this strict break. No phones, no tv, no shopping, no no no. Just rest and relax. And eating great vegan food. Hummus, eggplant with tahin, salad, pumpkin, rice, mushrooms, wine. We had really good conversations about politics, our crazy world, raising childs, tolerance and peace. And about our parents. I had so many good memories coming to my mind.

Saturday was a great day again. We chilled and relaxed until two p.m then had another great meal. Praying before, washing hands, praying, eating some bread, having a sip of wine. Around five p.m we tramped back to Jerusalem. Waited for 10 Minutes maybe, then some people tooks us to Gan Sacher park/ Jerusalem.

 

The suburb itself was a bit too steril and boring. All the houses looked the same and one only comes inside the wall with a permittion, that means they lived inside a golden cave. Maybe because of the palestine region near by. Lots of Israelis are really afraid of islamic terror. …

But we don’t care. We are used to live in Danger. You can die every second. And most people die in their houses.