26 March

Now not only has the fast elapsed and Naw Ruz come and gone--to the joy of Baha'is all over the world--but as far as living in the Holy Land goes I have crossed the 18 month mark. I doubt I'll keep track of further so-many-month marks (as if I'm monitoring the growth of an infant) and just take note of the year markers (all one of them, in September) until my departure. Even without the banquet and fanfare of the Naw Ruz celebrations in Madison, I think Naw Ruz this year was the best I've ever experienced. I invited some ten people over to my house and cooked dinner for them. I was very nervous given the fact that I rarely cook for myself and almost never for others--and I had never cooked for so many people--but people by and large expressed their genuine contentment with my cooking and hospitality. I even handled dessert Persian style (sort of) and dished and handed it out to everyone present (rather than their serving themselves). After the food was eaten we had spontaneous storytelling (one of my favorite things) about episodes in the history of the Baha'i faith plus some present-day stories. I invited one friend with musical inclinations, and a guitar, and another who is going back home very soon. The musical one played and sang a bittersweet song about going home (actually, it was one of several songs he performed for us throughout the evening even though he had a cold) which moved the departing one to half-sad and half-happy tears. I hope that the whole thing was just one of many instances this year in which I'll take initiative to do something I'd never done before and wasn't sure I could do well.

As is generally known, the governments of many middle eastern governments are collapsing, and while the government of Israel does not appear to be meeting its downfall anytime soon, there has been some strife following the bombing in Jerusalem on Tuesday (killing one person and injuring about 30) and the rocket attack on Ashkelon (injuring no one but causing schools to shut down. From what I can tell by following the news, although the security threat reached just below the threshold of war this week, few are predicting Israel's entry into another war at this time. In the short time I've been here I've seen (you know, not literally) a fair amount of fundamentally petty tit-for-tat violence and so a feeling of war-wariness and war-weariness doesn't seem at all inappropriate, particularly given the fact that if war does erupt now the fruits of the last one will have only lasted some two years or so. Anyway, I feel cautious but generally safe because of Haifa's position in the far north of Israel, on the coast--relatively far from both the West Bank and Gaza--and Lebanon's lack of involvement.

I will be home in less than a month. Having learned from my experience making most preparations for my Spain trip at the last minute, I am pleased to report that I have already got the ball rolling in this regard, and I'm looking forward to it every minute now.

16 March 2011

On 2 March the Baha'i month of fasting began. The style of fasting is similar to Ramadan--that is, eating and drinking anything is OK between sunset and sunrise (to the relief of some of my Australian friends, who apparently fast for an hour or two longer in their native country than they do in Israel)--but not nearly so long. In effect, for 19 days healthy Baha'is not engaged in manual labor skip one meal (and snacks) a day to remember the poor and to focus on developing their spiritual selves. Somehow I'm having almost no trouble at all the days of the week when I'm busy working (I joke that on these days fasting is a lot like taking a late lunch, which isn't all that uncommon for me, anyway) but the weekends are hard. Though it's not written anywhere in the Baha'i writings, some people like to talk about the purported health benefits of fasting in this way--I don't think there are any; I think our fast is a minor sacrifice to remember the poor and exercise our muscles of detachment from the material world. I know several people who are doing or have done modified fasts in which they eat a small lunch, give up snacks, etc., and no one judges them. It's really nice. No one should or even can adequately judge the personal sacrifices anyone else makes. One really pleasant thing about this season is that a nice dinner (rather than a lunch) is prepared in the cafeteria each evening of the fast, and it creates a different atmosphere. I like things that mark the passage of time, and I think that is a natural human thing. Otherwise every day is the same and may have no meaning.

The fast concludes on the evening of 20 March and the next day--the first day of spring--is the Baha'i new year. Let me stress what a great deal of sense this makes to me. It's my favorite holy day. In Madison there would be a huge banguet every year followed by dancing and musical entertainment. I miss those. People have private celebrations here, but nothing large scale. I'll be going out to dinner with some friends at a favorite restaurant.

Then in almost exactly a year I'll be gone. Time really passes fast here. Parts of me can believe I've been here for a year and a half, and parts of me cannot.