A tall Jewish man to the Rescue

Wary, worn, beaten.
Shivering I stood
Wrists twisted by cuffs that chilled the air’s heat
And then I saw him.

Along the road he walked,
Past the scraggly growth which attempted to hide the ugliness of the cemented beast.
The10-meter high stonewall seemed to mock his tall, thin figure.

Each step he took
Pressing down, bare footed with shredded blisters
Inviting the dust of the earth into his blood stream.
Beads of sweat clung to his dirty face
Refusing to let go of his sun-worn skin.

The man-made configured stones in the wall mocked him over and over,
“Who are you?! You have no power against this fortress of hate! You cannot break us!”
But as they shouted and roared, the ancient stones around the foot of the path cried out
"A tall, Jewish man is coming to the rescue! We are not worthy for you to even step on us.”

His head was down.
Posture firm.
His body slowly turned as he climbed up the winding path,
The ravenous road jutted back and forth like Legion’s crazed herd of pigs running for the water.

Looming Wall. Conquering Wall, Swallowing all life through your strangling presence, Dimming hope through gray justification. Turning children’s playgrounds into children’s graveyards. Separation wall. Wall of Goliath or Tower of David. Wall against your enemies Wall making more enemies. Occupation Wailing Wall. Tower of Security promising prosperity, Revealing our lovely Misstrust Promiscuity. In the name of comfort and security We denied the man, dropped the cross, And smashed our Lady Peace. Falsified vision Undoing real circumcision. Let ‘s save ourselves from them. Who cares what the expense? Divided by fortresses too entrenched for us to break. Banging heads again and again Against the cemented beast. We built it. He said to feed our enemies And so we did. We fed them bread to do our dirty work. Feeding our fears instead Hiring our enemies to make it for us. Conscripted whores by day, And so-called terrorists by night, Forced to return to the other side of the barrier at dusk. So that at supper our dishes were still clean on the outside. Higher it went up Until it stood Immovable Impenetrable In all our eyes. Protection of the privileged Separation of people Men from women, Palestinian from Israeli, Palestinian from Palestinian. Exploited laborers and free workers.

As I took it in, the chains began to numb all feeling,
And I stood paralyzed by the oppressive sight.

But He still walked on.
Continuing up the path.
Absorbing their words like the fleece soaked up the dew.
Fiercely they rang out their insults
While the hum of the prophetic stones sent out a quiet vibration,
Like the rumblings before the earth split

Still chained, I watched, and couldn’t believe what my eyes were about to see.

The wall began to spit on him.
Chunks of concrete and barbed wire-rockets shot out
Ripping his back and piercing his side
Stripes and pools of blood stained his sweaty shirt.
Cemented shrapnel tore at skinless flesh.

He dropped to the ground, being forced to kneel.
Yet he still trudged forward on hands and knees.
Crawling like the crippled man at Damascus Gate.
He remembered the previous day.
Almost didn’t catch the sight.
Holy Site from the Olive Mount,
Old city walls of Jerusalem standing proud in front
And the new Wailing Wall erected on the other side…
“ Oh Jerusalem, if you only knew this day what would bring peace!
How I have desired to hold you against my cheek like a newborn babe!”
He wept. “Oh Wailing Wall!”

Then the sound rounds of gunfire came,
Shooting from the wall’s spittage.
Bullets buried themselves penetrating his bones.
Entered him, twisted him, broke him.
Stripped him as the Wall began to fall,
Crushing Him
Smashing Him.
Pushing Him Down.
Down, Down, Down
Below the rubble
Into the belly of the earth he plunged
Bloody. Bruised. Beaten. Broken.
Scattering empty Bullet shells
Clashing, clanging against the tumbling rocks.
Taking on all hate and lust.
Ancient Wrath of Humanity.
The ancient stones hushed in disbelief.

Our resistance to evil Our resistance to terror Our wall blocked the subject of hate from view But then objectified our hate instead. We failed to see our own reflection in the wall Our own Fear, hate and violence. Searing pain caused by our thirst for power, Dominance, and control, Our right to judge as we see fit. Broken and destroyed relationships, Lying washed up on the deserted beaches of our hearts.

Until that day.
The earth split and He went down
Barrier included.
Forgiveness was his act of truth
Crumbling the beast.
From yellow dust to red dust it returned.
Atonement for apartheid.

And then we saw each other with new eyes
Beyond the unfurled, fleeing shadows of the Wall.
Peering through a misty curtain, a torn streak
Made our vision a new reality.
We saw that we were not enemies
But brothers and sisters.

Amid the dusty rubble The laid out form began to move Unclenching itself from its own hard grasp Breathing slow it brushed the dust off its shirt As it began to stand. It rose. Son of Man, Son of God. Emerging from the depths below Opening his arms so we could be One with Him And One with each other. My chains fell to the ground.

jo french (April 2005)

 

The title/poem was partly inspired after a meeting with Arik Asherman (Rabbis for Human Rights in Jerusalem). Asherman told us the story of confronting soldiers who had unduly arrested a young Palestinian boy. While protesting and contesting the incident, Arik was arrested and dragged away by soldiers. However, the boy was released and when asked what happened, the boy stated, “A tall Jewish man in a kippa came to my rescue.”