Reflections on the Holy Desert

During my classes I learned a lot and here just a few of the lessons I took away from the essentials program.

I have learned about truth, for the past 4 years I have tried to always be the most honest person that I can in every situation no matter the circumstance. But recently I learned something about truth, that it is not a point but it is a circle that sometimes there is a greater truth that is at stake, which might not be the point but lies within the circle of the greater truth. This concept calls for a person to think and debate and struggle in there head with what is the correct thing to do. The big picture must be looked at and not just the easy way out of just telling the blatant, direct, truth at that one point in time.

I have also learned about the different strengths of every human being, that each person is given certain strengths and weaknesses and it is our job to hone our skills and improve our weaknesses. That we have natural tendencies and sometimes in life we are going to have to make choices that go against our natural tendencies and we are going to have to step up to the plate, “take on the hands of Easu”, even though we may be scared and face our fears to do the right thing.

I have learned about love. The golden rule to love others as you love yourself, but in order to love others you must first love yourself only once you have love for yourself and are happy with who you are. You can then find true love from someone else because it is not just the other person making you feel good about yourself and the sense of comfort, but the love focuses on the virtues of who that person actually is and how the love allows both people to become better people together then apart.

In the classroom I learned a lot but a lot of it took place outside as well, The day after I got there I went for a run and I didn’t really know where I was going but the City of David sounded fine especially since I had learned about David that day in class, I figured it was safe enough, but as I was running I started to go down a hill and further down, and further down. I started to doubt if I made the right decision, I also stopped seeing kappa’s, which I was a little weary about. Then as I was running I ran past some Muslim Kids probably about 13, they said something to me, but I couldn’t understand them. Then “whack” a nice sized rock came out of nowhere and hit the wall next to me. I didn’t know where it came from but I figured it was the kids. My mind started racing, did I run into a really bad neighborhood. I started running faster. Was someone going to chase me down for running in there territory? I finally stopped descending and started exiting the valley. Was a car going to pull up with guns drawn and I be kidnapped and I would never be seen again. Well none of that happened and I finally made it safely out of the valley. It was all very exaggerated in my mind, but at the time it felt like I was running for my life out of the gates of hell (come later to find out the place I ran out of is actually called the gates of hell).

Anyway after I was safely back in my dorm room I tried to figure out why all of it happened to me, I had heard about all of the problems in the middle east with Jewish people and Arabic People but it was only until I experienced a small taste of the problem did it become realistic. As my trip went on and I learned more I often thought about what I could do to try and help the problem, but knew that tackling such a problem would take a lot of time and effort, which currently both are going in a different direction now.

A couple of days later I did an interview with Rabbi Yom Tov Glasser. As you know he is an avid surfer and we were able to go surfing once while I was there which I thoroughly enjoyed. I then did an interview with him because I am making a film entitled “Going Pro” which I think I told you about. And he said some very interesting things about Localism in surfing and related it to the problems that are being faced between the Jewish people and Muslim people, what he said was very interesting and I hope to be able to use it to teach people about both problems and hopefully help the problem in what little way that I can.

As my trip went on, I continued to exercise and work out and on the 2nd to last day I was there I was working out near this children’s playground. There were two Muslim girls there and two little Muslim boys as well. Then I saw 4 Jewish boys come down the pathway. I continued to do sit-ups when all of a sudden, I heard screaming and yelling, rocks being thrown from both sides, a Jewish boy took a can of pepper spray and sprayed the girl in the face. I ran over and yelled, “stop”. The boys retreated and ran away and the girls were very distraught and crying I tried to calm them down and apologize for what had happened. I tried to take their anger away, to comfort them and I did a little but they were pretty upset. They asked me “who are you?” I told them “my name is Andre Oziol.” They asked “are you Jewish”? I said “yes.” I tried to talk to them a bit more to calm them down and pretty soon there hearts started to beat a little slower and I told them if they needed anything I would not be far. I continued my workout and again pondered, “Why have these events happened?” Sure this was just a small fight between children, but as I thought about it more, it ‘s much bigger then that because as those memories grow older and the anger strengthens, those rocks will turn into bullets and bombs and then it will really be a big problem.

These events all really made me think and I definitely want to have a segment in the film that speaks about these events hopefully to create more awareness. Also one day I would like to really try to make an impact on the situation. I am not sure how or when but it is something that truly affected my life and I would like to be a part of the change.

#Vacation