Shabbat dinner & meeting Anna Baltzer

Friday night my husband and I were invited to a Shabbat dinner, a first for both of us. Our hostess Sandy Green refers to herself as a Jewish Quaker. She and Ken serve together on the Middle-East Working Group of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Sandy prepared numerous delicious dishes for us to savor and enjoy. Being a Jewish Quaker with a small apartment she hosted Shabbat at Haverford Friends Meeting.

I've always thought Judaism's inclusion of the home as a designated place for worship with specific ceremonies and traditions as being very, very special...truth be told, I've envied this practice. Being raise raised an Episcopalian we said grace before dinner and had festive meals on religious holidays but worship took place in church. At some point, when I was a teen, an Advent wreath appeared on our dining room table with candles being lit on the four Sundays before Christmas...I never figured out where the tradition originated or why.

Adding to the excitement of this Friday evening was special guest, Anna Baltzer, an advocate for Palestinian rights. She's young, American, Jewish, articulate, energetic, very bright, quick, open, honest, intuitive, personable, a facilitator, a listener, delightful and on top of all that, she's beautiful. If you missed her recent appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart you can view it on her website www.annainthemiddleeast.com.

Anna's impressive! She was as interested in us as we were of her....unusual for someone so well know.
The table was filled with delicious foods....all prepared by Sandy. As we settled down; Anna asked that we take turns saying a bit about ourselves and our connection with Palestine. I'm writing this in January...it's difficult to remember what each person contributed, however we "each brought something different to the table."
I was the only person who'd been to Gaza....I relayed my story of being snatched off the streets of New York and taken to the West Bank in 2004. Of the amazing experience with the Women of a Certain Age...how we've remained more than just "in touch" we continue to be friends, a group!
As I began relaying my experience in Gaza, I found myself being overcome with emotion ...trying to describe the devastation, the rubble, destroyed buildings, flattened houses is not an easy task; basically no matter what you say, what picture you paint...it's hundreds of times worse. The dust alone is difficult to imagine; gray concrete dust, always in the air. I began talking about the children, the people, amazing people being suffering; they just want to live...that's what we heard over and over again. I felt tears slowly trickling their way down my cheeks. It's almost impossible to describe Gaza without tears!
Anna explained the workshops she's designed. I share her belief; talking about Gaza when you return is as important as the experience itself. She has developed a plan for presenting your experience before the public. Everyone should tell their own story. Often we don't believe our experience is as important or meaningful as someone else's; that isn't the case.
As she pointed out, thousands of people go to Palestine every year ...... if they all spoke about their experience; their Palestine....many more people would become familiar with the view of Palestine and I add a view not through the eyes of Israel.