Living in the West Bank

Author: Fan Yuchen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: "The Israeli people are a great people, the Chinese people are a great people, and the Arab people are a great people!" I cleared my throat and began my speech in Hebrew. Due to nervousness, my voice trembled slightly. But I was confident that I could continue without stammering, as I had practiced it over ten times beforehand. The more than 500 men in the audience listened intently, their eyes wide with great interest—or rather, curiosity. The women upstairs quickly lifted the semi-transparent curtain that blocked their view, watching me intently, eager to see what this Chinese person from the distant East looked like.
This was a Saturday morning in April 1995, inside a church in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank of the Jordan River. According to the settlement's rules, anyone wishing to move in had to publicly present themselves and give a speech before all residents, followed by a community vote to decide whether to accept them. If approved, there was a probationary period, after which they could become full members. In Israel, many settlements (Isrual), kibbutzim (communal farms), and moshavim (local villages) have similar requirements. Israel is an extremely diverse society, with significant differences in lifestyles, cultural backgrounds, ideologies, and moral norms among different groups, sometimes even completely opposite. The groups are varied. For example, in the northern part of Israel, there is a kibbutz called Haruv. The people there reject all modern science and technology, refusing to use machines or electricity. They work from sunrise to sunset, with men farming and women weaving. There are no electric lights, no televisions, no radios. They live a medieval-style pastoral life in leisure. Almost every settlement in Israel has its own unique characteristics. Therefore, moving in is a very serious matter, and people naturally hope to live with like-minded individuals, unwilling to have outsiders mix in." Birds of a feather flock together," as the saying goes, and this is perhaps a universal law of human society. The settlement I was moving into was particularly religious. Those who believed had to follow all Jewish commandments. Prayer was an important activity for the religious community, with the Saturday morning prayer being especially significant. The morning prayer lasted two and a half hours. The church was segregated, with men downstairs and women upstairs. A half-transparent curtain separated the women's section, which remained tightly drawn throughout the prayer. The Saturday morning prayer was an important weekly gathering for the entire village. After the prayer, there were often activities, and my speech was one of the most important ones. The news had been announced two weeks earlier in the settlement's weekly newsletter. The church leader said that many people had come today, probably all wanting to see the "alien." They asked, "Why is this Chinese family moving in? Can they conscientiously follow all Jewish commandments?"
The settlement was very close to Jerusalem, a car ride of just over 30 minutes. However, since it was outside the Green Line, the housing cost only a quarter of what it would be in the city (traditionally, Israelis refer to the occupied territories as "outside the Green Line" to avoid using the term "occupied territories"). Housing outside the Green Line is very affordable. But among the settlements on the West Bank, those closer to Jerusalem are religious, while those farther away are not. For someone like me, who worked in Jerusalem and had limited finances, choosing a place close to the city but outside the Green Line was an unavoidable option.
To ensure my speech was approved, I had to say some politically correct things. I called all three ethnic groups "great." I had hesitated for a long time before saying this—it was a common diplomatic phrase in Chinese. I worried that the audience would find it too cliché. But to my surprise, as soon as I finished speaking, a round of applause erupted. It turned out that this wasn't a typical Israeli phrase. During my speech, I had to announce that I would follow all Jewish commandments. There are over 600 commandments in Judaism, but three are particularly difficult to observe: (1) strictly observing the Sabbath, (2) maintaining ritual purity between spouses, and (3) not eating food that does not meet Jewish standards. These three are often seen as the test of one's commitment to Jewish commandments. If someone can follow these three, it can be trusted that they will follow all of them. Among these, observing the Sabbath is the hardest. The Sabbath begins 20 minutes before sunset on Friday and ends 15 minutes after sunset on Saturday. During this time, all work is strictly forbidden. There are 39 categories of forbidden activities, each with many subcategories, resulting in hundreds of prohibited actions during the Sabbath (see Appendix 3). For example, the prohibition against starting a fire extends to the use of electricity. Therefore, turning on lights, making phone calls, listening to the radio, watching television, riding elevators, or driving cars are all violations. For non-believers, observing these commandments is truly difficult, even painful. But for believers, it is a source of happiness and sanctity. For me, what was it? It was unavoidable.
P1-3