An Easter Message from Israel

Dear Friends, While we, the Saturday People, celebrate Passover, you, the Sunday People, are celebrating Easter. At sunset, as Easter Sunday ends, the last day of our Passover holiday this year begins.

I still want to believe that for many in this great country of ours, Easter is more than just the hunt and the brunch (family values). As Europe closed for the long weekend holiday (and there Easter definitely has a true meaning of a religious holiday), I talked with some business contacts who asked, with some trepidation, what is my religious affiliation. Allow me to copy and paste one of my replies and to invite you to join me on this pictorial journey to the Holy Land. ... Lastly, I have been saying all day long "HAPPY EASTER!" We are celebrating Passover, which means we are the basis for your religion (the Judeo-Christian belief is one and the same - for our Bible is your Old Testament and Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi).

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I do not know if you had the opportunity to visit Israel. There is a relatively new trail called In Jesus' Footsteps. You get to visit, for instance, the remains of a synagogue at the shores of the Sea of Galilee where he taught, ascending to one side are the mountains where the Sermon on the Mount was given (on the other side are the magnificent mountains of the Golan Heights, where once the Syrians, once a day, every day as the sun was at a zenith, would start shooting at the Jewish dwellings down below). Across the field from that synagogue and the house where Saint Peter lived is the Russian Orthodox Church. Just up the hill the Catholic Church has a magnificent center. And that is just to start. Jerusalem. Bethlehem. Nazareth. An amazing country, and an amazing shared history. Here are some pix from one or two of my visits there, for which I am particularly indebted to a very close friend - a Druze - Mendi Safadi. Whenever you plan to go to Israel, be in contact with Mendi (copied herein). It will be a trip of a lifetime!

Churches in Jerusalem, the Christian Quarter:

Overlooking the Sea of Galilee:

Now, let us get closer to the water:

Let us step into the Russian Orthodox Church (amidst vines and peacocks roaming free outside):

We can actually touch the water, immerse ourselves in it, walk on water:

Approaching the House of Saint Peter:

And this is me, wishing you a Happy and Meaningful Easter! If you are out of breath, if your body aches, it all makes sense. There is something unique in Israel, the place where the Almighty has chosen to reside. I am not sure we are worth and deserving, but we must try, and try harder. How blessed we are to call each other friends, to stand strong side-by-side, for this friendship runs deep, as it is said in Psalms 1:3: ג וְהָיָה-- כְּעֵץ, שָׁתוּל עַל-פַּלְגֵי-מָיִם: אֲשֶׁר פִּרְיוֹ, יִתֵּן בְּעִתּוֹ--וְעָלֵהוּ לֹא-יִבּוֹל; וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר-יַעֲשֶׂה יַצְלִיחַ. And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, {N} that bringeth forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf doth not wither; and in whatsoever he doeth he shall prosper.