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i-genius catches up with Jonah for the festive season

It’s that festive time of the year when many people’s attention turns to the Holy Land so i-genius interviewed devout Christian, Jonathan Herman about his trip to Israel and Palestine as part of an international group in September.

i-genius: Why did you go?

Jonathan: Palestine is the centre of the World. The 13,000 square mile strip of land is called “holy” by about 55% of the world’s people. It’s modern story resonates globally, an allegory from which no person or peoples is removed. I went as a “talmid” (disciple/student) to hear stories and share lives in the bleakest, but most promising situation. Surrounded by a 436 mile long, 8 meter high wall, oppression couldn’t be starker, but the heart warming humanity and hospitality inside the wall was enough to wreck the foundations of any concrete pride that I had. I think the choked voice of many Palestinians teach us a fundamental lesson that is hard to hear in more ways than one.

i-genius: What were the most striking things you saw or discovered about your trip?

Jonathan: Whilst the characterful people we met preferred to bulldoze rather than strike my English arrogance, and the corruption and greed of the Israeli authorities tore my heart, two things did strike me. To my relief it was neither IDF border guards or stone throwing Palestinian youths. The first was witnessing internal divides among the West Bank population itself; how the oppressed can easily become the oppressor. Secondly, it was the overwhelming generosity of our Israeli hosts, which didn’t undermine the injustice of the occupation (which I learnt the majority of Israelis disagree with), but ruined my neat prejudice and obscured my view of the ‘enemy’. I think we have to realise that enemies quite often hide behind human shields.

i-genius: How did the Palestinian and Israeli people react to you?

Jonathan: “You’re tall!”

i-genius: Did anything you experienced make you angry or want to cry?

Jonathan: I did cry! I wanted to cry lots- we were warned by a fellow hosteller on the first day that it would be an emotional roller-coaster. It was emotional hurricane. The tears finally welled on a rooftop in Jenin, watching a film called Heart of Jenin1, where we helped on a project to rebuild a community cinema and guest house. I guess in the immediate embrace of the merry German Guest House occupants, alongside the humble docu-film story- a local hero who donates his martyred son’s heart to a Jewish Israeli family- hope is rarely this tangible.

i-genius: Did it change your political or religious views in any way?

Jonathan: Argument is a well exercised tradition in hebrew culture, and it’s asserted that truth is not something a person can claim ownership of, but it is manifest in relationship. I love this idea. It means that whilst my views are important and must be well informed, they must not be the focus. Instead they should be used for, and exposed to argument for the sake of accountability. Nuclear weapons and money can make the relationship unbalanced at times. But the important thing is that justice and mercy is practiced as a result. I think I’ve more of an idea how to do this now.

i-genius: When you discover injustices in the world, does it make you angry towards God that he could allow such things to happen?

Jonathan: I think it’s important to view everything within a narrative, from imperfection to perfection and brokenness to completion. So within this worldview, bad things can be shocking, but never surprising, and I can be ever hopeful, having seen seemingly impossible circumstances regularly turn to good in my own small life. But I did want to break down that big wall a lot, and I was often confused and angry at how the actions of a few with money or rockets can have unfair implications on many innocent. I think God’s big enough to deal with my anger and embraces the interaction, although to be angry all the time isn’t very productive. I felt that God wanted me to listen more because his love is the only answer, the catalyst in this narrative when all else seems impossible, and he has a plan for my life in his story.

i-genius: What does 2010 have in store for Jonathan?

Jonathan: Apart from essays, and hopefully leading a small group out to Palestine, I’m really looking forward to the first ever joint Initiatives of Change2, Hope University3 Summer Academy, which I am humbly on the planning committee for. I’m passionate that students leave university with a real education- that they are competent in appreciating the good, challenging the corrupt and engaging with the needs in reality. Hope Uni calls it “education in the round” and is progressive in it; IofC have been leaders in practicing it for for 70 years which makes a compelling combo!