Deityblog

Greetings, all who are reading this, if anyone. I arrived safely in Israel yesterday morning (after seeing a much-recommended movie on the plane--an Israeli film called "Walk on Water"--see it). After unwittingly getting into a *discussion* with a right-wing American Jew on the shuttle to Jerusalem, I arrived in Nachlaot, the beautiful Jerusalem neighborhood where I've spent so many good times--one of the epicenters of Jewish spiritual coolness in Israel. All is breathtaking, I walk down the streets with my arms outstretched, I dance for no reason with my head turned up toward the blue blue sky, and lots more corny things that sometimes end up in bumping into thousand-year-old stone walls. The house I'm staying in is huge and airy, my roommates are cool, all logistics are in order.
Went to a "Boogie" last night--an Israeli hippie dance party--imagine 200 hipped-out Middle-Easterners of all ages dancing to "American Pie" under disco lights--to meet Yoav, another organizer of the Sulha. This guy is so skinny he disappears from the side, and so full of love you never notice it. We talked about what I'll be doing--starting out making phone calls to various organizations about what they want their capacities to be in the Sulha and sending them info, so I'm already all over that.
I met Eliyahu this morning. Wow. If there's a chance for peace, this guy is gonna take us there. Just a great person--fun to hang out with and talk to, well-read, likes the color purple a whole lot (purple door, purple room, purple kipah....), not to mention the incredible work he does so fearlessly, without even thinking. If peace will ever be lasting, it has to start from inside, the consciousness must be built up to see it, to look at one another as godly beings. The Sulha is beyond politics, but bridges to a new reality in which politics is transcended, in which the variables change through connection on a level which is at once totally basic and human yet reaches into our deepest essence. Eliyahu and I had a good talk, and we're going to get cracking on Sunday, when hopefully we'll be having a peace event with the Green Sheikh, an awesome Sufi from London who's here for a wedding. This stuff is real, it's really happening, these people are doing it. I'm blown away on every level.
When people give me funny looks when I tell them what I'm doing here, I just say that if there's a chance to eke out light from so much darkness, I want to be involved in it. I want to work with people who have Moshiach-consciousness and are relating to the world in that way, bringing all of us there, Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, Palestinian, everything.
The very location of the Sulha, as it turns out, is going to be a microcosm of healing. It's Park Shuni, but reallyh park JABOTINSKY-Shuni. Jabotinsky was the Israeli leader responsible for the exile of hundreds of Arabs from their homes in the North in the 48-era. The park itselfwas a base camp for the Etzel--a group of Israeli "freedom fighters" who perpetrated violence against Arabs. So a lot of Arab Sulha organizers were pissed when they were told the location, even tghough it was given to us free and has great facilities and all. the Israelis understood their painand indignation at once, but are emphasizing the fact that this is a phenomenal chance to do tikkun--healing of the highest order, in that very spot.
Shabbat Shalom or good weekend to all, hope to hear from you soon.

Okay FYI--my phone number is 053-277-698. Hope to hear from you soon.
~dd

Hey, so if you're here it probably means that you're a close, personal friend who got my email and wants to stay in touch while I'm away this month. I'll be interning with the Sulha Peace Project at their annual gathering--check them out at www.metasulha.org.
It's the religious peace movement--Muslims and Jews using both religions as a forum for unity and peace, as opposed to the hatred and violence that has resulted from extremists corrupting both schools of worship from their essence. I'll be helping out with the 3-day gathering in the Galil, coordinating stuff and just generally getting my sheltered-little-girl-from-Baltimore eyes blown wide open. If there's a chance for love, I surrender to it.
In other news, Yaakov just got a job at www.bnaishalomofolney.org as their youth director, so he'll be moving to Baltimore soon, G-d willing. I'm still working hard at www.jewsforjudaism.org and www.sparkpfs.org and going to www.goucher.edu. This link stuff is fun.
I'll post my cell phone number in Israel as soon as I have it. I'll be headin' back to the old neighborhood in Nachlaot, 38 Gilboa, so if you're already there or planning on it, you best be stopping by for tea.
That's all for now, love you all and hope to be hearing from you soon. Have a meaningful fast.