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Home › Diaries › Heather › August 7, 2000

Heather's Diary Entries

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August 7, 2000

I have been pretty busy, as you can well imagine. On Sunday afternoon, my dad and I visited the Old City just for fun.We entered through Damascus gate and walked to the Christian quarter.

We decided to visit a little shop that is owned by an Armenian family who befriended my dad several years ago. He has talked to me about them often, and it was good to finally meet them. Since their own dad died years ago, they treat my dad with the same respect as their father, and they even call him "Abu George." (Abu means Father in Arabic, and George is the name of the firstborn son, who is their oldest brother. In this culture, the men are acknowledged by the name of their first son.) I was able to meet Jackie but his brother Joseph was in the U.S. at the time of my visit, so I have not met him yet.

Unfortunately Jackie and Joseph’s family has suffered great tragedy. About two years ago, the family was visiting a beach here in Israel, but none of them really knew how to swim well. As most of you know, sometimes the tide at the beaches can be very strong, and can even carry a person too far away from the shore. Even for a good swimmer this can sometimes be scary.

Well, they were wading in the water, about to their chest, when Joseph and Jimmy, their youngest brother got caught in the undertow. Not knowing how to swim, they both began to drown. Fortunately, someone on shore realized that they were in trouble and began to rescue them. Joseph was saved in time, but Jimmy died. The fortunate recalls an out-of-body experience which he shared with my dad after this took place. Joseph said that as his body was being dragged out of the water and onto the beach, he saw himself from above, being resuscitated. He looked around and saw that all of his family and many strangers had gathered around their bodies, anxiously awaiting. As he looks at each person in the crowd, he begins recognizing friends or neighbors, that he did not know were at the beach at the same time as they. Later, after surviving the ordeal, he called some of these friends that he had recognized in the crowd, and asked them if they had been there. Each told him that they had.

This family has dealt with a great deal of pain after losing their beloved brother. My dad, brother and sister all attended Jimmy’s funeral, and have been there through this time of mourning, for the brothers and their family. I am very grateful for that.

My dad tells me about a day when he was in Jackie’s shop. There were two other men in there that were either Jackie’s cousins, or uncles. He can't remember which. My dad told me that the conversation, which was taking place in Arabic, began to get very heated. Well, naturally he felt uncomfortable and began to leave, but Jackie and Joseph told him that he must stay. So he did. After the men left the shop, Joseph told my dad that they were arguing with them about the fact that they never showed up at any of the memorial services for their brother, Jimmy, which happen once a year, and they were angry with them. The reason they asked my dad to stay was because they were telling these men that my dad had been there at the funeral, and at each memorial service that was held for the lost brother, and they were explaining that he isn't even blood-related! My dad was very touched by this, but saddened nevertheless, to learn that some of their family won't even take the time to mourn with them.

We went to my parent’s church on Sunday and I guess I surprised my friend, Jamie. He had no idea I was coming to Israel! That was fun ... I made plans with some of them go into town that evening to have coffee. Since I had to go home before going out with my friends my dad and I decided to go speed walking beforehand. I found out that he had started doing this at the same time that I had begun doing it at home. So, we walked down to the Promenade, which is a long, beautiful walkway on a hill that looks out onto the Old City of Jerusalem. It’s such a wonderful sight. Unfortunately, I am not in as good of shape as my dad is and had a hard time keeping up with him, but it was great exercise for me.

On our way back we stopped in at a construction site where one of his Palestinian friends works as a night watchman. My dad told me that the watchman calls himself "King Hussein" which was pretty funny. When we got there we decided to ask him what his real name was. He told us that it was Abdallah Hussein, which is the name of the King of Jordan. We aren't really sure if this is true or not. Anyway, we stayed for tea and talked with him. He seemed pleased to have company, as he has the loneliest job in the land. Since he didn't speak English, we spoke to him in a mix of Hebrew and Arabic. We found out that he is 58 and has eight kids! It was fun to talk to him.

Photo: My Dad, Jackie, and his cousin, Jacob, on the left, in their Antiquities shop.
Photo: Me sitting on an old olive press, inside the Old City.



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