: :theCalling: :

aGent rey - special report from mountain top.

Act I - the chorus of fighting cats and chickens up way early (or
waaay late) made way for Act II - howling dogs and ravens (who don't
sleep). polite applause provided by volleys of small arms fire close
to the east. i lay and fed the local mosquitos; they paid me with
their soft humming, lulling me back from sleep all night. this, my
first night in jeruslem.
a jesuit priest in london had suggested i pay a visit to cardinal
martini at his residence at the biblicum. with a flimsy pretext and
the requisite pilgrim attire (emphasis on the grim), i duly landed on
the doorstep, somewhat humbled by his reputation as The Man Who Would
Be Pope... if the german hadn't snagged it first. ah, politics. though
he be in rome, the Entourage kindly invited me back for lunch, so i
could gorge myself on the fish (excellent) and stuff myself with piety
(less digestible).
my plan to skateboard from tel aviv to jerusalem thankfully was
thwarted by a train. a train i caught. my desire for A Journey was
provided unexpectedly....the station is about 1000 vertical metres
below the old city. or so it felt, lugging a useless piece of
equipment uphill for nearly two (2) hours. of course, the arrival is
breathtaking (and this from a recently confirmed non-smoker)...the
atmosphere unlike any i have experienced. there is good reason why
three (3) significant religions lay claim to this, actually rather
small, city as their foundation. if i was a religion, i would too.
at a restaurant in the jewish quarter (the best food) i was bailed up
by the impressive rabbi avraham goldstein. must be the pilgrim attire
again. he said i had a jewish heart - i replied i had been told that
before - maybe a past life? which would mean a catholic lad discovers
his jewish roots through buddhism. very jerusalem. he invites me to
his yeshiva to have a talk. the next morning, outside the southern
wall of the city, i am doing my exercises (physical that is) and
noticed how appallingly neglected an archaeologically excavated (and
fenced) section of ground was. the yeshiva was not 100 metres away, at
the top of Mt Sion, in a holy shrine which housed both the tomb of
King David and the very room where the last supper took place. I had
my Calling. forget carrying crosses and tending lepers - i was on yard
duty.
for the next two days, in blazing sunshine, i removed a total of 22
garbage bags of detritus, and about 30 cardboard boxes of camel
excrement from a hillside not bigger than half a soccer pitch (the
international unit of measurement). i am sunburnt and dehydrated, but
deeply satisfied. el rey has his realm on mt zion! though rabbi
mordechai goldstein - dean of the yeshiva and avraham's father (and
even more impressive) - had me slated for repainting marble memorials
(the Art thing), i had my Calling and he respected that. the humblest
of humble for me.
shabat shalom! on my way to my second (2nd) friday night shabat
dinner, i quite literally walked a mile in their shoes. it was
required by rabbi that i wear a yanucha (sp), which i felt was
necessary to wear on my way there too, for sincerity. so, from my
lodgings in the arab quarter, off i go, shabat shalom! all the way,
the happiest catholic/buddist/jewish boy in all jerusalem. dinner
was... theatrical - an all-singing, table banging, torah-analysing,
story-telling affair. though i knew not the hebrew, the tunes were
catchy, and the rabbi deigned to sermonise in english - i like to
think for my benefit. i am invited back tomorrow. the dead sea can
wait another day.

more news as it comes to hand,

aGent rey, c/o the Promised Land