I have often benefited from the work of RHR to understand more about the “other,” breaking down barriers of fear, prejudice, and preconceived notions. Several years ago I visited the cave dwellers in the South Hebron hills and wrote an article about it for this journal. As a result I was contacted by the Protestant parish in Bergisch Gladbach-Bensberg, near Cologne in Germany, who asked to visit with me at my synagogue, Kehilat Birkat Shalom at Gezer. One of the participants, Dr. Annelise Butterweck is active in dialogue for peace between Israel and Palestine and asked if I would be interested in visiting their parish in Germany and speak in the church on the anniversary of Kristallnacht. I replied that I would be honored. It seemed very easy to say those words, although I had never been in Germany before, and in fact had actively avoided it, perhaps as a protest to the tragic horrors experienced by my people at the hands of the Nazis. During my thirty-two years in Israel, I had met and befriended the German volunteers on my kibbutz, Gezer, and my participation in RHR helped me practice what I preach – that all humans are created in the image of God and deserve to be judged fairly.

 

Preparing for the trip, I noticed that the weekly Torah portion preceeding my trip was Lech Lecha, in which Avraham leaves his home and family to venture on a new journey. I realized that I too was leaving my father’s house, and journeying to a new place of mind and soul, in going to Germany to meet like-minded people who work tirelessly for peace in our region and around the world. I was astounded by the collective responsibility for the events of the Shoah felt by the members of the church, under the leadership of their pastor, Wolfgang Graf. This sense of involvement, even if not actual, has lead their community towards “tikkun olam” in every way possible.

 

In addition to speaking at the church, I was given the opportunity to speak to high school students, and was taken to visit sites in Cologne where once there was an active Jewish community. One of these visits lead me back to an Israeli, orginally from Cologne, who during Kristallnacht was saved by the warning of a German policeman who told him to stay off the streets. Years later, as a Border Police commander during the Kafr Qassem^* massacres, he disobeyed orders and forbade his men to shoot at those villagers who were on their way home after curfew.

 

This trip gave me renewed hope that human beings can overcome the odds of history and politics and make significant strides towards peace, understanding, reconciliation, and a better life for all.

 

^*On October 29, 1956, at 4:45 p.m., Israeli Border Police informed the elders of Kafr Qassem, an Arab village close to what is today Rosh Ha’ayin-- that there would be a curfew that same day, from 5 pm until 6 am next morning. The Mukhtar protested that there were about 400 villagers working outside the town who could not be notified of the curfew in time. The Border Police killed forty-three residents of Kafr Qassem as they returned from work.