•• • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Art Glass & Pottery • Bakelite • China • Compacts • Crystal • Depression Glass • • • Halevi is not without skepticism and anxiety when he travels, but actively suspends his doubts and tries to squelch the fear. He notes that the Sufis he met are very much on the periphery of Islamic society. In all settings, Halevi asks great questions, and he learns to wait for answers. He says that he set out with a reporter's long list of queries in various categories but soon abandoned them. "Something unplanned took over, cer- tainly with Islam. I went in blind — you have to go in blind and trust in Providence. There's no other way into Islam for an outsider, let alone a Jew, let alone an Israeli Jew." The author presents an Israeli land- scape of minarets, cloisters, prayer halls in unusual places, religious sites of shared importance. He connects deeply with many people of dignity and humil- ity, including a nun who had been silent for 20 years and a Holland-born monas- tic known as both Yaakov and Yakub, who built a church in a grotto he dug out by himself, in the Galilee. In one scene, Halevi goes to a zawiyeh, a Sufi mosque, in Gaza, not far from a square where he had been hit by a stone as a soldier, he's accompanied by an eclectic Jewish seeker and an Orthodox rabbi from a settlement known for his interfaith efforts. On a second visit there, they join in a Sufi ceremony known as zikr, recollec- tion of God, and get caught up in the ecstatic dancing. There, as in other places he visits, Halevi feels powerfully the one- ness of God. His own faith has deepened as a result of his encounters. From Islam, he says, he learned a sense of fearlessness, of facing mortali- ty directly, understanding the tempo- rary nature of this life; he points out, though, that the dark side of this insight about the continuity of life is the suicide bomber. From Christians, he learned most powerfully about silence, a spiritual practice that Jews once knew and have misplaced. "We need to go to others to learn what we've forgotten," he says. Halevi, 48, who grew up in Brooklyn's Borough Park, describes his religious outlook as post-Orthodox and his politics as radical centrist. "What I learned from Orthodoxy is a perma- nent part of MN' identity," he notes. With a nod to Mordecai Kaplan's well-known line about Reconstructionism, he states, "I no longer give the Shulchan Aruch (the Code of Jewish Law compiled by Rabbi Joseph Caro in the 1 6th centu- ry) a veto — it has a vote." He speaks of belonging to a new Israeli Judaism that's just beginning to take shape, one that is full of spiritual self-confidence. "Zionism brought the Jewish people out of the ghetto. Bringing Judaism out of the ghetto is the next stage." The new Judaism he envisions includes a feeling of kinship with Muslims and Christians. "We're in the same spiritual space. We can't avoid them," he says. About politics, he adds, "Usually a centrist has mild opinions. I'm mili- tantly against the occupation as if I was on the left. I'm militantly against the fraud of Oslo as though I were on the right." He insists on the right to hold conflicting truths. "For 30 years in Israel, one-dimen- sional Jews dominated the debate. Each side knew its truth." He adds: "Our situation is full of paradox. There are no simplistic answers." As he was writing this book, he was also reporting on politics for the New Republic. That was writing from his head, while writing about religion is from his heart. "When I'm writing as a religious per- son, I have hope," he says. "When I'm writing as a political journalist, there is no hope. Similarly, he points out, his book reflects a debate between head and heart. "It is a struggle between knowing that realistically our allies among the Muslims are an embattled, suppressed minority. But the heart says that if there's even one sheik on the other side willing to speak on the side of love in Islam, then as a believing Jew I have to stand with him." In the epilogue, written after the book was completed, he writes: "At difficult moments — when I am overwhelmed with fear for my chil- dren's safety and rage at the Palestinian leadership for rejecting compromise and despair at the Middle East for turning the Jewish homecoming into another form of exile — I try to recall what I learned from my teachers, the monastics and sheiks of the Holy Land. He mentions one of the nun's warn- ings "against building barriers in the heart and excluding even one person from our love" and Father Yaakoy's insistence on relating to human beings as evolving souls destined for perfection." He continues, "When I become too immersed in the political work of a jour- nalist, i sometimes hear the admonition of Sheik Ibrahim: 'There are enough politicians in the land of the prophets. But where are the prophets?'" • • • Fiestaware Flow Blue 4 vitkiace4 71t a40 Furniture ,7 Handbags 30 dealers offering a variety of quality antiques & collectibles, estate and vintage jewelry, unique gifts and bridal registry Ironstone Costume, Fine, Vintage & Sterling • Jewelry • Lighting • Linens • • Sterling Silver • Toys Are you interested in selling some of your treasures? We accept consignments, purchase outright and conduct estate sales! 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