Sunrise, Sunset--closing days in Bethlehem

October 25, 2014

We're spending the last three days in Bethlehem mostly wrapping things up.  Thursday night we were delighted to attend a dance concert at Dar Annadwa (the International Center of Bethlehem complex connected to Christmas Lutheran Church)  that was part of the Diyar Theatre Week. 

Christmas Lutheran Church on Madbasseh Square--part of the International Center of Bethlehem complex

 The 12 member Diyar Dance Theatre troupe was wonderful.  Our friend, Diyar Communications Director and CSP grad Angie Sabaa served as emcee:

Diyar Dance Theatre troupe October 23 to open Diyar Theatre Week

 Friday, October 24, we spend most of the day being ahead--not realizing that Palestine/Israel moved their clocks back to end DST.   David got a couple more pictures from the neighborhood:

George's Supermarket (down the hill from our apartment)

Sesame breakfast rolls hot out of the oven (100 feet from our apartment).

On his last day of teaching, David got photos of his music colleagues at Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts:

David with Dr. Mutasem Adileh, chair of the department and teacher of theory, history and Oriental instrumental music, outside the music department rooms.

Hassan, David's colleague for voice lessons and music ensemble--a great keyboardist and composer in the "Colorado Room" where we met for lessons and ensemble.

David with Prof. Najwa Raheb, piano professor and interpreter for David's Music Appreciation classes, along with one of the Dar al-Kalima music students who wanted to be in the picture :)  in the hallway of the music area.

Goodbyes were shared, with disappointment expressed on both sides over the shortness of our visit.  We are hopeful to stay in touch with these new friends who have enriched our lives.

On a last minute lark, we decided to follow up on a lead that David's Concordia St. Paul colleague, Dr. Debra Beilke, had shared with us (she had also taught here a couple of years ago on her sabbatical).   We went on (another) 4 x 4 trip into the desert.  Our guide was Hijazi Eid, who, with his wife Raouda, served as our hosts to see the sunset over the Dead Sea , have supper with a Bedouin family, and see the stars from the dark of the desert.  Hijazi is warm, engaging, and keenly articulate about the history and politics of the region.  (He is also really good at changing tires.)  We felt privileged to add him to our list of friends on this adventure.

Hijazi and our Bedouin driver fixing a flat tire (a common experience on the desert "road" we were on.)

A Bedouin with his herd of goats in the desert southeast of Bethlehem.

Raouda and Kathy at the Dead Sea overlook ( the Jordanian mountains are reflected in the opposite side of the Dead Sea)

In the Bedouin tent after supper with our driver, his father--the tribe's sheik--and Hijazi.

The Bedouin family's herd of sheep safe in their pen for the evening (reminded us of an Archbook story of the Lost Sheep).

 Hijazi is a devout Muslim who was a classmate of Dr. Nuha Khoury's at Bethlehem University, earned an MBA, and has travelled widely.  He has had a travel business for over thirty years, specializing in getting people connected with people (rather than just looking at sites).  He was delighted that we knew Debra Beilke and remembered her fondly.  Our conversations with him deepened our understanding of the issues here.  He pointed out the many Israeli settlements that have been established in this area--always introduced first by setting up an army outpost. (I note that there are about 440 of these settlements in the West Bank--all of them illegal under the international law that the US has agreed to uphold).   He shared keen insights on how the conflicts throughout the region have impacted the lifestyle of the Bedouin--nomadic tribal herders who at one time roamed the entire Middle East, irrespective of borders, but now must keep their tents and lives in one place and keep their animals from crossing security boundaries (or lose them in the courts).   The parallel with the US forcing Native Americans onto reservations is striking.

The remarkable thing in our conversation was that Hijazi feels hopeful for the future.  He sees many changes throughout the world--the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of apartheid in South Africa, even the election of an African-American president in a US that continues to confront racial issues--as hopeful signs that the world is moving ahead.  He believes the long term military occupation here will have to end eventually for the sake of both the Palestinians and the Israelis. 

The evening gave us a chance to rest, reflect, and gaze at the stars--while also seeing how close the lights in the distance of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Amman were.  Perhaps the hearts of those places can become similarly close in the future through the many we have met here who are lights shining in the darkness. 

Sunset in the Dead Sea desert--a suitable bookend to the sunrise we saw over the Dead Sea a month ago at Masada at the start of our adventure here.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood--part 2--daily life

October 23

We have been blessed to live in a quiet, pleasant neighborhood on Star Street, surrounded by friendly neighbors and with resources for all of our basic necessities close at hand.  Again, the longer we have been here, the more people have welcomed us.  It has been wonderful to be here long enough for that to start to happen.

It has also been interesting for David to compare what he remembers of Bethlehem when he was here in 1980 to the present.  Back then, it seemed that Bethlehem had Manger Square, and not much else--a very small, undeveloped town.   With the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, there has been the opportunity to build, to dream, to develop the city.  We see much entrepreneurship in the Palestinians--the most highly educated people in the Arab world--coupled with foreign investment. The result is many new buildings and continual growth to making this an attractive small city.

Here are a few more pictures of our neighborhood--more in the proximity of our living space:

The meat and produce market where we bought our fresh food (the manager was giving us freebies by the time we left).

Our favorite pita bread place--drive thru bread to pick up on the street.

Tagrid gave me a great haircut (and coffee and a visit after).  Yusef is in the background.

A pleasant afternoon at a local Olive Wood factory  (David earned a "dumb quack" that day when he looked at the wood and said, "Oh, is this cedar?"  Much laughter resulted, continuing over tea later).

Paul VI street, looking down towards Manger Square

Paul VI Street, looking up towards the International Center of Bethlehem (Annadwa) and Christmas Lutheran Church.

The Grand Park Hotel (who let us use their Wifi when we arrived)

The  two trees sculpture in the King David/Star Street roundabout 1/2 block from our apartment.

Looking down Star Street at night (our apartment is on the right across from the first light;  a mosque tower of Manger square is visible in the distance.)

A Beautiful Day(s) in the Neighborhood--part 1--Dar al-Kalima

October 22-23 (and previous days)

It has been a joy to live in our Bethlehem neighborhood--which we take to include all of our experiences in Bethlehem.  The people have been gracious and welcoming, and we have found that the longer we are here, the more they see us as neighbors and treat us as their own.  We are grateful for these people and their support.  Below are some of the people and places that have made us part of this neighborhood of Bethlehem.  Here are a few more pictures of people and art at Dar al-Kalima, our place of work.

The Music Appreciation class I taught at Dar al-Kalima --they brought insights and ideas to the presentations--particularly on the power of music to help transform people.  Prof. Najwa Raheb is on the right;  she teaches piano, translated my lectures, is the Finance Officer at another institution, and provides continual support to her husband, Pastor Mitri Raheb

David with Dr. Nuha Khoury, Academic Dean at Dar al-Kalima who set up our teaching here and housing in Bethlehem.

student art work at Dar al-Kalima (on the floor of the music department):  Crucifixion

student art work:  Jesus Baptism, with the animals of Noah's Ark

A Tale of Two Cities

October 20-21, 2014

We set out early Monday morning for Jerusalem, enroute to Tel Aviv to get our entry visa at the Jordanian embassy, then to connect with two Israeli choir directors David had met at the World Symposium on Choral Music in Korea this past August.  Many frustrations in the first part of the day, including a very slow time getting the rental car, put us behind the rest of the day.   We also got shaken down for twice the money we should have paid for the visa, and it took longer than it should have to get it, so we unfortunately couldn't do the lunch with one of the directors.  We just ended up using the time to stroll around and eat some pita and fruit we packed, next to this sculpture:

Sculpture of a scholar reading scripture in Tel Aviv.

After we got the visa, we drove on to the village of Bet Yitzahk north of Tel Aviv (near Netanya on the coast.)  The evening was as wonderful and rewarding as the morning/afternoon had been frustrating and disappointing.   Naomi Faran founded the Moran choir in this small village in the 1980's, and the group has become one of the premier choral organizations in Israel (with four ensembles) and has performed throughout the world.  David did his workshop with them, and they were very receptive and open;  the work he did with them was largely reinforcing things they already were doing, and his work with their music was fine-tuning.  The singers all have private training and musical background, and the environment they live in is stable and thriving.

David leading a choral clinic with the Moran Choir

Naomi is a highly skilled and impassioned conductor who has worked to have collaborations with Palestinian choirs in the past;  the current climate has made that impossible, but she hopes for peace, and publicly advocates for a two-state solution and religious tolerance among the three Abrahamic faiths.  She was a most gracious host, taking us out to dinner with her daughter and husband, then put us up overnight in their home, took us to breakfast with some of her friends (all of whom live on nearby kibbutzes), and brought us to the coast for a walk and swim (for David).

breakfast with Naomi Faran and one of the breakfast club "Parliament of Men"

Kathy and Naomi on the Mediterranean coast

This was our only contact with a Jewish Israeli choral program on our trip.  It is clear that the desires of this group and the Palestinian groups we met with are the same--peaceful co-existence.  It is also a tale of Two Cities (or, more accurately, two countries) who have completely different perspectives on the issue, and are in completely different positions of power.   Each side has a majority that want peace, with extreme minorities that keep them apart.  Besides that, however, most of the people on either side have no real conception of what the other thinks and feels (and why they think and feel that way).   The longer the two sides are separate, the less they see each other as human beings.  They only see the other who is different from them.  (The same holds true anywhere in the world, where our tendency is to line up on opposite sides and assume what others think and feel, rather than doing the hard work of seeking truth and understanding.)

We've seen musicians and artists on each side working to bridge the gap, and there is evidence that the medical communities cooperate, particularly in emergencies.  These activities can be a helpful start, but what is needed is real dialogue between the peoples on individual levels--so that they can see the other as a fellow human being, not an abstraction.  It's the changing of hearts and minds through culture AND dialogue  that may help the situation.  Micah Hendler with the YMCA Youth Chorus is taking this tack, and the individuals in his chorus are changing and opening their minds.  The great challenge to this change is the toxic atmosphere that has developed, where extremists (on both sides) are given free rein to speak and act out on their violent approach.

The hopeful thing we see is that there are voices on each side that want peace together.  We believe the work that the Diyar Consortium is doing--raising up culture and education to offer hope and opportunity--can help this process.  We are grateful to have been a part of their work, and hope that the connections we have made and are sharing with Diyar can be of help

A Marvelous weekend of music

October 18-19 in Bethlehem and Jerusalem

Saturday, October 18 began with a full schedule of teaching private lessons and music ensemble.  David started the day with an extra lesson with a young Muslim singer, Ichsan.  She has a remarkable voice--can sing in the Arabic style marvelously, but also has a lovely voice for Western classical--and a huge range!  She sang with color to a low G and up to a high F (think Mozart Queen of the Night).   She hadn't explored that range before--she asked David to teach her how to do "whistle register" and we explored and found these high notes that were easy and beautiful.  We also did some physical motions that helped her move from low to high register without a break.  She is one of the students who has asked about coming to Concordia to study.

Ichsan in our lesson (photo of Dar al Kalima musicians in background) and singing a traditional Arabic song in the video below:

 After a few more voice lessons that day, we finished up with Ensemble.  Today Hassan took just the instrumentalists, and David took the singers, building on the last two weeks of teaching SATB harmony, and adding a canon, "Now I Walk in Beauty."  The class was visited by a delegation from the German state church, including their bishop and a camera crew.  David had them all sing with the class--they said they would rather stay and keep singing than move on with their business :)

Some of the singers in the Dar al-Kalima Ensemble in four part harmony

 Hassan, the professor of the Ensemble and voice teacher, then took us with him on a shorter route to Jerusalem, which included going through a major security checkpoint, but was quicker in the long run.  We had a light picnic supper outside the Old City before going on to the evening clinic with the Magnificat Institute choir.

Jerusalem at sunset looking past Jaffa Gate outside the Old City Walls.

 We were delighted to rejoin our friends at the Magnificat Institute, who, after we visited last Monday, invited us back to lead a choral clinic with their adult choir (one of four choirs in their program.)

Hania Soudah-Sabbara (conductor/leader of the Magnificat Institute), Kathy, David, and Father Armando Pierucci (founder of the Magnificat Institute and lead organist at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) 

 We got to hear the end of one of their children's choirs in rehearsal--delightful--and then David did and extended warm-up and worked with the Adult choir on a few of their pieces.  Once again, the conversation continued with several singers after the rehearsal.

The Magnificat Choir with David in rehearsal

 Hania and Father Armando proved to be wonderful hosts;  tea and chocolate after the rehearsal provided us with a pleasant conversation about the joys and frustrations of church music--with the added complications of politics in the Holy Land.  Hania shuttled us back to the checkpoint, and another member of the choir from Bethlehem drove us back to Star Street.

Sunday morning was a special service for us at Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem.  We again joined their choir, led by Ewa and Boulos, and there were guest groups from Germany, the UK, and two from the US.  

part of the choir of Christmas Lutheran Church (Adel Nasser, tenor and calligraphic artist,  Boulus and daughter with his music director wife Ewa,  Christy from the US, Kathy and David)

The organist played Vaughan Williams "O How Amiable" as a procession, and the congregation once again sang up a storm.

the organ at Christmas Lutheran Church

The German group sang an American Christian contemporary song with guitars in German and Arabic, and Kathy and David performed Schutz for a prelude and a spiritual, "Religion is a Fortune" towards the end of the service, which went over really big  (Pastor Raheb thanked us for our contributions, with a note the next day that the music was"special").  We finished by singing a hymn to the melody of Beethoven's Ode to Joy--a marvelous eclectic mix for a traditional worship service.

The congregation singing up a storm (choir in the front)

Chancel at Christmas Lutheran Church (Pastor Mitri Raheb on the right)

 After the service, the coffee hour was packed, with lots of visiting and connecting.  It was a wonderful weekend of music making and building relationships in worship and art.

Circle of Life

October 17, 2014

We began today with another trip to Jerusalem--this time to work with the Jerusalem YMCA Youth Chorus (mentioned in yesterday's blog).  It was another "back to the future" moment for David--he had sung in the adult Jerusalem YMCA Chorus when he lived here as a college sophomore on the St. Olaf program (see manhole cover below) and now was back as a conductor working with their Youth Chorus.

St. Olaf Lion (actually Jerusalem Lion) in the middle of an Old City manhole cover

David made the connection with the Youth Chorus when he met the director's mother at the October 1 Canadian Thanksgiving celebration at the Mt. of Olives home of Mark and Susanne Brown.  She sent David an email with her son, Micah's contact info.  Micah, a recent music/international studies grad from Yale, founded this chorus a couple of years ago.  He graciously welcome David's email with an invitation to come and work with the choir.  We had a great time with the Youth Chorus. It helped that it was a small group and David was able to learn their names.  He was able to do his vocal foundations spiel with them, then gave them some feedback on music they are working on, with audible improvements that they and their director heard and were excited about.

Jerusalem YMCA Youth Chorus warming up with David

Jerusalem YMCA Youth Chorus singing

We hopped back on a bus for Bethlehem (fortunately catching it at just the right time and place) and got back to Bethlehem.   It was voice lessons and voice studio class today.  It's remarkable how open the students are to trying new things.

Voice studio class at Dar al-Kalima  (the professor, Hassan, is at the piano;  students are using their cellphones for the song lyrics)

At the end of the day, David ran into Angie Sabo (who got her masters' degree at Concordia University, St. Paul and attended Bethlehem Lutheran a few years ago, and now is director of communications for the Diyar Consortium that oversees Dar al-Kalima).  She was ably and engagingly leading a US group touring the facility;  she communicates the tremendous challenges the people face here, but also the great hope that the Diyar programs give to people--sharing her own experience and those of past and current students. 

Angie and David at Dar al-Kalima

Vocal student Ichsan (sp?) singing at the table in the student cafe, accompanied by another student on guitar while Achmed and a US visitor (back to camera) listen

This is the remarkable thing about this place--people are daily faced with injustice, closed opportunities, petty and great obstacles, and even personal pain, yet they still work with a positive spirit and live in hope.  They live out David's confirmation verse:  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope."  (Romans 15:13)   May we all live in that hope!

P.S. We arrived in Jerusalem a bit early for the YMCA chorus clinic, so we stopped in at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in hopes of missing the huge crowds.  We were successful in that the place was nearly empty--but the shrine of the empty tomb was closed for cleaning--not the usual picture one thinks of for one of the major holy places of Christendom, but a rather nice reminder that the Church does exist in this world, and continually needs cleaning out--literally and spiritually!

Shop-vacuuming the Holy Sepulchre

Sweeping yesterday away from the Sepulchre shrine

The Walls come a tumblin down--the Power of Music to break down boundaries

October 16, 2014

We've written a lot about places we've been and things we've seen, but the most significant experiences we've had have truly been the people we've connected with.  Teaching at Dar al-Kalima is obviously the center of that.    Here are a couple of pictures of the school (and, yes, we've been lacking in good people shots thus far, which we'll be correcting soon--it seems that all the times we could take people pictures, we are in the midst of working with the students :)

The entrance to Dar Al Kalima--one of my Music Appreciation students coming down the hill

Dar al-Kalima students hanging out in the cafe (functions just like Pearson Commons at CSP)

Seniors in the high school at Dar al-Kalima letting off steam in the new fieldhouse (There placement exams are coming up very soon--major pressure for them)

The main classroom building at Dar al-Kalima (David usually teaches one floor up)

The basic teaching schedule has been:

Wednesdays--teach a general education Music Appreciation class--translated with the able and insightful help of Najwa Raheb, piano faculty member and spouse of Pastor Mitri Raheb.  So far Kathy and I have led a survey of Western solo vocal music over the past milennium,  a version of the Poehler lecture, and next week a survey of African American Spirituals (tying those into other music that also became part of social protest movements, such as the Baltic Singing Revolution and South African Freedom Songs).

Fridays--co-teach voice lessons and a voice studio class with Hassan, a fine musician and young faculty member

Saturdays--co-teach more voice lessons and the music ensemble with Hassan

The students have been delightful to work with, and very responsive.  Voice students are open to trying new things, and they all have improved.  I'll leave names out right now, as I haven't asked their permission to talk about them.  Snapshots--one is a very hard worker, and taps into online programs to help her learn how to play the piano and read music.  Another is a passionate singer with a big voice--he was a winner in the school's version of "Palestinian Idol"  a couple of years ago.  Another young woman is a skilled performer who is singing in concerts on her own already.  Another is quiet and shy at first, but has blossomed into a bigger voice that is revealing color.  Another is a young Muslim girl with a colorful voice that has approached me to get some extra lessons--and I hear her singing on her own as she walks between classes.  They are all eager and look to the future with hope--several have asked me about coming to the US to study with us at Concordia--would be delightful to have them.

The ensemble is very interesting.  The students possess skills in Arabic music that I could never hope to match, but need work on reading and--something not part of their culture--singing in harmony.  We've started learning a spiritual ("Keep Your Lamps"),  an African song (Uya i mose)  and a canon ("Now I walk in Beauty").  They are eager to learn and love the progress they are making.

The Music Appreciation class is very interesting.  The language barrier is even bigger in this subject, but they are attentive, ask good questions, and raise interesting insights.  Yesterday in the lecture I gave on church music and the impact music can have on society, they latched onto the story I shared of the Baltic Singing Revolution--the enormous singing festivals of hundreds of thousands, and the Baltic Chain of 1-2 million people in 1989 of people holding hands across all three Baltic countries in one long chain as a protest.  Prof. Raheb related with them her experience in Germany and seeing the Berlin Wall, and the students immediately related to the wall in the Occupied Territories.   They were deeply moved by this, and I'm going to pursue this area more in next week's talk (my last with them.)

After class, another student who obviously has a deep heart approached me with his best English and talked about how music can touch the heart and change people--and how most people there want to love each other and live together, regardless of religion or race--and saw hope in how music can help bring that about.  I let him and other students know about a choir I'll be working with in Jerusalem tomorrow morning--the YMCA Youth Chorus that brings high school aged Palestinians, Arab Israelis, and Jewish Israelis together in one chorus (here is a Huffington Post that includes a Youtube link to a project they just did:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/ymca-jerusalem-youth-chorus_n_5968274.html

The Dar al-Kalima students were thrilled to hear about this and wanted to know much more.  Right now, it would be impossible for most of them to go the six miles to Jerusalem to participate in this chorus, but maybe someday it will be possible--hopefully music can help to bring down the walls--even if it is simply the walls in our hearts.