I was having dinner in Bethlehem with a Greek Orthodox Palestinian family and two older German women who were retired Lutheran pastors. The Muslim call to prayer interrupted our conversation. We went out on the third-floor balcony to hear the confused cacophony of sounds coming from minarets on all sides.
My Greek Orthodox friends said the volume for the call to prayer in Bethlehem is particularly loud — it’s a kind of resistance to annoy the Israelis. They said about the man who sings the call to prayer: “It feels like this man lives with us. Five times a day he wails. Even God wants to sleep, but there’s nowhere to hide. In the summer, we must keep the door open, and it’s like he’s right here in our house. Early in the morning, the man who sings the call to prayer changes the words and adds, ‘It’s better to pray than to sleep.’ But we think God can wait for us. We Christians wake God only on Sunday.”
When the call to prayer finished, we continued our conversation about living on the wrong side of a “separation wall.” The German women reminisced about 1989 and the fall of “their” wall. One pastor recalled watching West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl cry for joy and thought, “Oh, how silly.” Then, when what had just happened sank in, she found herself crying too…she said that she fell to the carpet and cried all night for joy. These women come to Palestine every year and — 24 years later — the “wall tears” they now shed are of sadness.
The mosque of Omar (the tower on the right in your picture) was built in 1860 on land donated to the Muslims by the Greek Orthodox Christians in Bethlehem. It is named after Caliph Omar, who after conquering Jerusalem, went to Bethlehem in 637 to guaranteed the safety of Christians and the Nativity Church. The Caliph is reported to have prayed at the location of the mosque. Christians and Muslims in Bethlehem have a history of working together in peace. The tower on the left is the Syrian Orthodox Church, and the central steeple is that of Christmas Lutheran Church.
Interesting comparisons made by your friends. This exchange and the insights provided is yet another testament to the fact that so many new perspectives mix and emerge when travel brings diverse cultures and ideas together. One of the things I like about your travel experiences is that they always include a healthy dose of mixing with locals and other tourists. Here we see the immense benefits that come from such mixings. Thanks, Rick.