My Conversation With An Orthodox Jew

MY CONVERSATION WITH AN ORTHODOX JEW
As I walked through the main center atrium at UVA Hospital I saw an elderly Orthodox Jewish man sitting at a table by himself with a book open and headphones plugged into his ears. I walked a few feet, reluctant to approach before i called upon myself to turn around and find a way to talk to this man. I sat there at first awaiting for him to sense my presence thereby looking up at me to make eye-contact. He didn’t do that for the first 5 minutes, so I sat patiently, just relaxing a bit. As it turned out, he was on the phone hearing another(s) on the other end speaking to him, following in the book. He looked up to me, I nodded with a smile, he reciprocated, and then about 3 minutes later he said bye to those on the phone-line. I approached and asked him if I could conversate with him for a moment. He said, yes, “but only for a moment as I have to go back up to see my son in the hospital room.” So i went and joined him at his table, and began with the rhetorical affirmation: “so you’re Orthodox Jewish correct?” "yes”.. And then I asked him if he had ever been to Israel before? And he said yes, he was there a couple of months back. And then i asked him what his thoughts were on the Israel-Palestine conflict. He said, various people have various perspectives on the issue. He began describing how there are liberal orthodox Jews and conservative orthodox Jews, and that the Messiah will land in Israel. I interjected and said, but first the state of Israel must be established, and he agreed. He then went on to say how Christians and Jews have a lot in common in their beliefs. He spoke about there being Jews for Zionism, and Jews for a state of Israel “but they’re not Zionists”. I asked him, “but isn’t the essence of Zionism the establishment of a state of Israel?” And he concurred, yet said not all Jews consider themselves Zionists who may still agree/support a state of Israel existing. He spoke on how certain sects supported Donald Trump based upon their religious values. He thought I was Christian. I told him i am actually an American Muslim born to Palestinian immigrant parents. He then went on to say how Palestinians, many of whom are employed by Israel, enjoy much freedom, prosperity, and peace in Jerusalem, a city where Muslims and Christians and Jews live well together. He noted how in fact many Palestinians are at peace living and working with Jews in Jerusalem and Israel. I noted to him that in fact there is a lack of relations between Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. He noted that in the Gaza Strip, “the government there, which only constitutes about less than 1% of the Palestinians, is Hamas”, and as a result tensions and frictions rise. <<<I invite all to read Khaled Hroub’s “Hamas: A Beginner’s Guide”. This work was written in the perspective of what Hamas is: a political and armed group of refugees resisting a most brutal and illegal occupation. It is designed to provide an understanding of Hamas’s identity, their origins and their aims. It is also not without its criticisms.>>> Soon thereafter we got up from the table and began walking toward the elevators some 40 yards away. He also stated that, “but the media shows a different story, that Palestinians don’t like Jews at all.” I wanted to ask him why he thought the media does this, especially if the media is in favor of the Zionist agenda. I would have loved to hear his genuine opinion on that point, however the topic of conversation moved right along. He asked me what the population of Charlottesville was, and I told him about 40 thousand, maybe now 50 thousand, and he thought it was 90+ thousand; I wasn’t sure so i concurred saying perhaps it’s grown very fast over the past few years. He noted there not being many Jews in the area; and for Muslims, I noted there is a mosque down the road and that quite a few refugees have landed in Charlottesville the past few years.

My take from the dialogue was that this elder was pro-Israel establishment. And that many Palestinians, as he stated, are also OK with having Israel existing in “Palestine”, except for the Hamas government. Another question I wanted his opinion on was the lack of relations between Palestinians and Israeli’s, between those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with the rest of the Israel populace. For security reasons Israel establishes pre-cautions against those in Gaza Strip (governed by Hamas ideology) from having access to Israel and Israeli’s - a state which is now established and has first-world programs in the sciences, technology, and other fields while Gaza Strip remains in the stone ages whilst under the constriction of occupation and an anti-Israeli ideology founded upon by Hamas.

Interestingly enough, the Jews have come and established a system for the Palestinians to work in, all the while profiting upon the infrastructure they have set up (as well as enjoining upon the land they have taken for their own sovereignty). They are like owners who preside authority and also work, and have others work under them, under their system of workings; the Jews are intelligent in that they organize and establish and create foundation in a place that benefits them first, and then the other may benefit if they buy into the system and “play their position” therein, with the opportunity to rise (if so cautiously aware as to not “bite the hand that feeds”). This is just like in America, as it reminds me of Obama’s rise to power as an inherent ‘other’ - and hence “the First” of the demographic he “represented”. Obama established himself via Harvard accreditation. His volunteering in the streets benefited him two-fold: it helped him develop as a social leader and thus as a political character, and it gave him respect/accreditation by his own black people via his grassroots reputation. For many politicians this has come through the form of serving in the Military, for Obama it came through the form of closely establishing himself with the disenfranchised part of the city of the Chicago. The system is established based upon interests. Interests with sovereign influence. The benefit of the one is to play the game, for then the whole may find a way to prosper, and once integrated, may establish a means of locomotion. The Jews however, will maintain sovereign authority in a way that somehow-someway undermines Palestinians - an establishment blacks have found themselves entangled within here in America.

Will Palestinians turn against Palestinians in a way similar as to what has happened to the black and urban communities in America, particularly during the Reaganomics and crack epidemic era; an impact that is present to this day?

Palestinians may very well have a greater chance of survival in Israel than what the blacks and other minority groups have been dealt here in America. By sheer geographical factors such as colloquial “Palestine” being such a small piece of land; you will not see homelessness, for it will not be in the benefit of the Jews ruling in Israel to create a place in their home-state of homelessness for the Palestinian “other”.. If so, they know what Palestinians are even capable of; and that is the reminiscent reminder that their land was stolen and taken, thus making a Palestinian that much quicker counter the unjust system with an uprising spirit. Thus it is in the interest of Israel to ensure peace abides and prosperity encompasses for the greater good of the populace, by ensuring some sort of position to be played by each person, whether a second class Palestinian citizen, or a “first class” Zionist-Jew citizen. Whence the Palestinians integrate themselves therein (away from a “wipe Israel of the map” perspective), they will have abilities and opportunities. I think we may very well see Israel begin to make friends with Palestinians in places where settlements will begin to be built, perhaps by sheer default of Jews and Palestinians working together in close concerted quarters - this in itself establishes a sense of human brotherhood/sisterhood among the populace.

Who causes the division of the Palestinians in west bank and those in Gaza Strip, from not being in relations with the Jews in Israel? Perhaps it is both the Palestinian’s old-way of thought, and the Jews’ abiding preservation of self ofttimes executed through practices of apartheid. For in my mind, when this is solved, hatred and fear done by ignorance will subside…