Heavenly Jerusalem: Impressions from Jerusalem Day with SiriOm at Ein Haniya
Wednesday the 16th of May was celebrated in West Jerusalem as “Jerusalem Day” the day the city had been united 40 years ago.
We at the All Nations Cafe have chosen to have our weekly gathering on this day, with our Palestinian-Israeli family and a special guest friend from New Jersey, SiriOm Singh.
Our open cafe in Ein Haniya is right on the border between Israel and Palestine, a place that has remained a frontier even 40 years after the city had supposedly been united.
The people who come to us are as diverse as can be: Palestinian refugees, Israeli settlers and soldiers, families from both countries, international guests and volunteers and people from many nations, cultures and religions.
SiriOm introduced the Sikh faith to our circle, and took us on a trip to the magical chants of India, and then on an inward trip to the wonderful rhythms of our body. Considering that for some of the people present it was the first experience of any kind of meditation or awareness exercise, we reached a surprisingly high level of group consciousness.
Miriam from Zurich in Switzerland has brought her ancient South American clay flutes and let different people play them in harmony to enhance the quietness that surrounded us.
In that enchanting atmosphere you could not imagine that we are sitting in a militarized zone between to enemy countries in a state of active war, that only a few minutes walk up the road there is an army checkpoint and all around us armed soldiers are patrolling by jeep and by foot.
If one of this soldiers would step into the All Nations Cafe, as it sometime happens, he or she would probably be overwhelmed by what their senses would show them: A quiet meditative circle of Palestinians from the West Bank and Israelis from Jerusalem and from Jewish settlements, together with a couple of Americans and a European, rhythmically breathing and drumming on their bodies..
