A LAND, A PEOPLE – A LOVE, A HOPE

A land which is known as holy

But covered with sinful folly

A land which claims to be monotheistic in religion

But totally chained in polytheistic regions

A land which is called to be the promised land

Seems to have always been barren and deserted

A land of wise and God fearing prophets

Who were butchered and rejected, unheard and silenced

A land once robbed and destroyed of its economic status,

Molested and raped of its cultural living,

Abused and accused by many foreigners for its riches

But also adorned, respected, privileged, blest,

loved, and testified to truth, to faith, to witness

A land historically defamed, psychologically tamed,

linguistically maimed, culturally shamed, spiritually un-named

Conquerors and invaders have marched on this land

Some corrupted, some civilized

What did they do?

They claimed, they blamed

They divided, they ruled

A land now corrupted with nuclear powers and energy

A land now indoctrinated in its teaching and education of the next generation

A land now populated with migrant workers and caregivers

A land once scattered and till the recent past lives a diaspora moment

A land which feels persecuted and despised

A land that seeks to revenge with war and anger and hatred

A land that avenges its fallen walls and tottering borders

A land which was a covenant made to a people

A people who might be living in radical error and an eclipsed reality

A people that sacrificed, prayed, listened, obeyed, followed the voice of…..

But now still stays with a blurred vision of the truth – partial truth

Now a people claim a land

Now a people unfortunately yet consciously

Blame their brothers and sisters

They seek to repeat the misfortunes and mistakes of old

So they relive an experience of no growth, no change, no love

A people speak and enact on behalf of the return

Is this a return or a turning away from the voice of….

Or a turning to the echo of the voice of….

The Ancient days and the modern times

Have known its past and seen its present

What can they make of the future

Lies only with the voice of…..

A land, a people which is in need of LOVE

A love which is unconditional, uncountable, unaccountable

Think and feel only of a love

A love with no division, no differences, no distinction

A love open for dialogical dialogue

A love to understand and recognize

the other as 'you', as human

A love in search of faithfulness and forgiveness

A love to live in faith and in truth

On the threshold a people await

In hope to listen to the voice of….

Let the challenges make of us a coexistence

Let the separation lead us to collaboration

the refusal become respect, condemnation to civilization

the labels of fatalism and the tags of terrorism

to peaceful realization and merciful aspirations

attitudes of contempt and despair to convictions and establishments of peace and bonds of togetherness

Do not think of this as a piece of satire

neither be a fool to think of it as farce

nor do I propose it for dissemination

or else one might think of me

as a champion of or against anti-semitism

while you read this p-o-e-m

did you think of me as a pessimist or an optimist

or else did you feel I was  being empathetic or motivating?

(To me it seems like wisdom is asleep and refuses to awake or maybe only pretends to be a sleep

or rather seems to have taken sleeping pills

Why do a people pledge in vain and slander each other for useless gain that leaves everyone only in tragic pain

I can imagine slaughtering of lives and bodies full of flies

Streets covered with smashed bones and pieces of bodies disposed, roads drenched with blood dried and awful stink)

This poem has taken shape after having read Rabbi Abhraham Heschel Israel: An Echo of Eternity (1967) & Irreconcilable Differences? (2001) edited by David Sandmel, Rosann Catalano, & Christopher Leighton. I would also suggest these books for your critical reading on the topics dealt with in the poem – Land, People, Love, Hope
I also take this opportunity to thank Fr David Neuhaus SJ (the Vicar of the Latin Patriarch, Israel) the professor at Studium Theologicum Salesianum - Jerusalem, Israel, who taught the course on Judaism, by his insightful classes and the sharing of his critical readings.