Archive for April, 2009

One of the things that has echoed to me from my pilgrimage is the continuing cycle of pilgrims – that for most of the year, every two weeks on a Monday Baha’is are gathering for the first organized trip to the Shrine of the Bab – and so on. That at various times during the week Baha’is may be sitting in the prison, standing in mute honor where Midhi fell, or offering tears in various places.

Comment to a previous post on Baha’i Views by Steven

In an email, Robert writes, “After pilgrimage, one should share it, which ‘Abdu’l-Baha once said is an important part of the pilgrimage. One’s life is a ‘new beginning’ after pilgrimage,” and then notes the lyrices to the song “New Beginning” by Tracy Chapman.

  4:44 Tracy Chapman – New Beginning, 2 years ago, 1,015,992 views, Chapmanfan

We can break the cycle – we can break the chain
We can start all over – in the new beginning
We can learn, we can teach
We can share the myths, the dream, the prayer
The notion that we can do better
Change our lives and paths
Create a new world and

Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

Photo: Young pilgrim at the prison, uploaded on April 26, 2009 by Baha’i Views / Flitzy Phoebie on flickr, Creative Commons licensed

One of my last acts before leaving Israel after my Baha’i pilgrimage was to spend the last sheckels I had on music CDs at a store at the airport. What to buy? Everything was in … Hebrew. I didn’t want to buy CDs I could easily get in the states. I already had access to many of the Putumayo’s compilations which were part of the Tacoma Library collections (and therefore apart of “my” collection). But there was that one song by Idan Rachel that I liked so much on the Putumayo Israel CD. I’d look for him.

The young men running the shop knew exactly who I was looking for. That put all three of Idan’s CDs, his first from 2002, his second from 2005, and his third from 2008, under my arm, and then invited me to choose any CD as the 4th would be free. I gave them a blank look. They picked one for me, it’s cover entirely in, yup, Hebrew, trusting that if I liked Idan, I would like Micha Shitreet. More about him later.

Idan’s music is a fusion of sounds. The musicians who have performed with him live reflect a diversity that is in keeping with the spirit of the age in which we live, the Baha’i Era. May his music continue to be a catalyst for unity in the Middle East and the world. There is one God, after all, all religions are in essence one, and mankind one people. -gw

• Kabra Kasai is a singer of Ethiopian origin who was born in a refugee camp in Sudan during her parent’s journey to Israel. She grew up in an immigrant community in southern Israel, and met Idan when they were serving in the Israeli Army.
• Mira Anwar Awad who sings on the dramatic Arabic-language track “Azini,” is an Arab citizen of Israel who grew up in the northern city of Haifa. Awad is a well-known singer and actress who has participated in numerous musicals and theatrical productions in Israel.
• Sergio Braams sings on the dancehall inflected track “Brong Faya” (Burn Fire), immigrated to Israel from Suriname on the Caribbean coast of South America. Braams has been one of the key-infusers of the spirit of Caribbean music into the Tel Aviv scene, and was the leader of a reggae band for which Idan played keyboards. Braams is a cofounder of and performer in Mayumana, the Israeli equivalent of the percussion show Stomp.
• Shoshana Damari was an iconic Israeli singer of Yemenite origin. Damari died in 2006 at the age of 83, after making her last recordings as part of the Idan Raichel Project and participating in a number of live concerts with the group.
• Yihia Subara, 76, a Yemenite Jew with strong ties to Yemenite tradition, sings together with his son (Shalom Suberion) in “Im Tahpesa” (If Thou Wisheth), blending traditional music with modern electronic beats and mixes, and performing Westernized versions of lyrics from the Diwan, the traditional Yemenite prayer book.
• Bongani Xulu is a South African singer who performs on the last track of the project. Xulu attended a performance of the Project during a trip to Israel and came up to Idan after the show to compliment him. Idan invited him to participate in “Siyaishaya Ingoma” (Sing Out For Love), a song that symbolizes global cooperation and the Project’s underlying message.
• Din Din Aviv, an Israeli singer, famous for performing the song Im Telech.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idan_Raichel

John Donne
Meditation 17
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee…” 

http://www.poetry-online.org/donne_for_whom_the_bell_tolls.htm

The Baha’i Centre of Learning in Tasmania is

…

“ for the benefit of the people of Tasmania. Its facilities are available by the community and corporations, for functions, classes, seminars, conferences, workshops, or meetings” http://www.tasbcl.com.au/index.php).

This Baha’i-owned facility is the site for a ceremony on workplace safety.  -gw

Unions Tasmania has issued an invitation to a ceremony to join with union members across the world remembering those who died at work and to reaffirm the vow to fight for good occupational health and safety for all workers. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday April 28, 11am, main auditorium, Baha’i Centre of Learning, Hobart.

http://weeklytoll.blogspot.com/2009/04/workers-memorial-day-around-world.html

Bonita goes on Baha’i pilgrimage and has an encounter with her hat. Sounds like a metaphor for life. -gw

… (nobody wears visors), but it was essential for me, and so much a part of my daily attire that I forgot I had it on when I did my first prostration at the Shrine of Baha’u'llah. I laid my prayer book in front of me, bowed my head at the Holy Threshold, and dang, I banged my visor onto my prayerbook with a thud.

I also stubbed my toes on thresholds, and stumbled more times than I can count.

http://flitzyphoebie.blogspot.com/2009/04/bahai-pilgrimage.html

Bryan has just begun his pilgrimage and is managing to post about it from Haifa. He is staying at the same guesthouse we stayed at and is encountering the sounds of the nightlife on the street that Bonita has written about on her blog. -gw

Overnight I fought with the music from the club and my own jet lag, only getting a few hours of sleep. I ended up actually sleeping solidly from 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM. I went out and bought a few groceries so I could eat in my room and then went to get adventurous! I thought of trying to hoof it up the terraces but they seemed to be closed, so I followed signs to “Baha’i Center” and ended up getting lost. It was a health walk nonetheless …

http://igiveuponhate.blogspot.com/2009/04/pilgrimage-day-2.html

Dale of Planet Baha’i has just been signed up (by his wife) to go on pilgrimage. He also notes that there is a Ning site for Baha’is about going on pilgrimage. -gw

If you’ve been paying attention here, you’ll notice there was absolutely no consultation involved. She just decided it was a good time to sign up, so she did it. So sometime in the next two to three years or thereabouts, assuming our finances work out (which they never do exactly, but that’s never stopped us before), we’ll be headed for Haifa, Israel and the Baha’i World Center.

http://planetbahai.blogspot.com/2009/04/oddly-enough-almost-pilgrim.html

Pilgrimage is not sight-seeing. The purpose of pilgrimage, as was pointed out to us the first night by Counselor Penny Walker, is being to spend precious time in the Holy Shrines for personal prayer and reflection. To go on Baha’i pilgrimage is to actively seek personal transformation. Mitko writes of a moving moment in his pilgrimage a few years ago.-gw

One of the most memorable experiences from my 2007 pilgrimage to the Holy Day was from the first day, when our guide pointed to a grove of cyprus trees which indicated the exact place Baha’u’llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith, was standing while instructing His son and appointed Center of His Covenant, Abdu’l-Baha,  on where to build the Shrine of the Bab, His Predecessor. The historical significance hit me so powerfully that right there and then I started sobbing uncontrollably.

http://www.befriendedstranger.com/bahai-faith/2009/04/05/pilgrimage-to-dc/

Photos: “Bonita in Haifa with her hat” and “Bonita approaching the Shrine of Baha’u'llah,” on flickr, both Creative Commons licensed.

Apparently, there is no stopping the emancipation of women. That, of coure, is a basic Baha’i belief, as is … Nothing happens that does not further the Cause of Baha’u'llah. -gw

In the 1970s, British feminist scholars contended that almost all films were dominated by the “male gaze,” with camera angles calculated to “fetishize the female body.” Negar Mottahedeh, an assistant professor of literature who has studied the history of Iranian film, argues in a new book due out in November that the country’s post-1979 theocratic government unintentionally succeeded in turning that convention on its head. The government’s modesty laws required women to be veiled at all times in public—including in movies—thereby breaking the male gaze and, ironically, turning the national cinema into what she calls “a woman’s cinema.” She also notes that under the Ayatollah Khomeini’s rule, many men who had previously worked in the national film industry were forced out as part of a cultural “purification,” leaving spots open on film crews for women.

http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/091008/depfocus.html

 negaratduke Mission today: meet academic feminists @ Haifa Uni. Feeling very Borat My hebrew is as bad as his English Also as big a mess. 11:38 PM Apr 23rd from txt

 negaratduke Feminist meet done went to hear Mr Mohajer address consultation. Paradigm shift! Liking status as consultant here. 12:09 PM Apr 24th from txt

 negaratduke Glitter goes thrice as far in Haifa. Anyway ready now for the cyborg talk. about 3 hours ago from txt

negaratduke Done. And now 4 nights and 3 days of pure bliss. less than a minute ago from txt

What an historical feast accompanies a trip to Israel! The history of the Carmelite Monastary in Haifa incorporates the story lines of the caves of Elijah from Biblical times, the Crusaders of the 12th Century, and Napolean’s seige of Acca in the 19th Century. The history of Haifa and Acca is also united in the story of the Baha’i Faith, whose holy places are to be found in both localities.

There is a larger unity to be found in the Baha’i Faith, of course. The history of religion from the Biblical times to the present hour is brought together in one cohesive, intelligent narrative in its teachings. -gw

In the 12th century, during the Crusader occupation of the region, groups of religious hermits began to inhabit the caves of this area in imitation of Elijah the Prophet.

Within a century, these monastic hermits were organized into the Carmelite order and the Carmelite order spread throughout Europe.

While the Carmelite order’s flourished in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, its founders on Mount Carmel were exiled at the time of the Mamluk conquest in 1291 and did not return until the 18th century. Construction of the present monastery and basilica was begun in 1836.

An earlier monastery complex on this site served as a hospital for Napoleon’s soldiers during his unsuccessful siege of Acre (Akko) in 1799. Many abandoned French soldiers … were slaughtered by the Turks after Napoleon had retreated.

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/haifa-stella-maris-carmelite-monastery.htm

Click on sign photo left for readable text on Napolean in Acca.

Photos: Top and bottom left, uploaded on April 25, 2009 by Baha’i Views / Flitzy Phoebie. My photo of the Stella Maris Monastery was a drive-by taken from a moving bus of Baha’i pilgrims on our way to Acca. Photo right, uploaded on March 23, 2007 by vad_levin on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic.

I sit in the Newark Airport. The family behind me is speaking Spanish.  Bonita and I walked down a concourse with flights scheduled to leave for places like London Heathrow, Bonaire, and New Delhi.  We are scheduled to leave for Tel Aviv in 2 hours and ten minutes. Security is already up around our gate.

My laptop is plugged into a re-charging station close by. No free wi-fi here, though. But I’m connected to the world with a quick credit card purchase.

We’ve already said prayers for the Intensive Program of Growth in Tacoma now under way. We’ve said prayers for Baha’is back home with heath problems. I’ve said a prayer for a deeply depressed and disturbed grandmother in whose care is a four year-old boy who is a client of mine. So many of my clients have requested I bring back something for them from the Holy Land. This soul requested I bring back a postcard. I can do that.

Where we said our prayers here at the airport  is notable to me. It was a non-descript “Meditation Room.” There was a Catholic alter  with small cross in a corner of the room behind a curtain that was briefly pushed aside by two ladies speaking in Spanish, employees of the airport.

In another corner was a prayer rug  seemingly askance, but in fact aimed towards Mecca. There was a sign that shoes should be removed if entering that part of the room. When we walked in there was one man on his knees saying his prayers softly under his breath and fingering a string of beads. After he left another man entered the room for the same purpose, putting his forehead on that same prayer rug.  

I bought another money belt today, a fancier model than the one the Olsen’s kindly passed on to us. After she rang up my purchase, the woman at Hudson News said in a tired voice “Happy Easter.”  ”Happy Easter to you, too,” I answered. -gw

Video: “Newark Airport timelapse,” Uploaded on December 28, 2008 by brownpau on flickr, licensed uner Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Even in the Baha’i faith, it says worship is what you do at work while in service. Meaning? If you are a cop arresting a crook then you are respecting God; a Doctor doing surgery or a blogger writing an entry these are all considered means of acknowledging a Higher Power. Why do we object to reggae or calypso played here during Lent when we are not a Catholic country?

 http://bajanreporter.blogspot.com/2009/04/if-this-is-lent-what-was-borrowed-what.html

It’s Easter weekend. Bonita and I arrive in the Holy Land on a holy day to the Christians. What is holy? How should holy be demonstrated? Good questions. Probably already posed on Soul Pancake. -gw

The countdown to pilgrimage continues. The prior-to-departure to-do list absorbs my attention. The appointed hour will arrive soon for our Baha’i pilgrimage to begin. Today I was listening on my iPod to Laura Harley’s “Ninth Night.” (The YouTube video of the song with its images of the Shrine of the Bab is by Jarome Mathews.

Wonderful feast tonight. We got lots of last-minute advice from the friends who have already completed the journey. -gw