Not long after we had boarded the panoramic coach of the inter-city that was to take us from Zurich to Innsbruck, the call of nature came a-knocking. After making sure my son and my nephew were comfortably tucked in their seats, I hurried to respond to the task on hand.
On my way back, I sauntered over to the dining car, where with a steamy cup of coffee in hand, I took in the breathtaking scenery and silently marveled over the Almighty’s natural bounties.
Fifteen minutes later, as I was making my way back to our coach, I noticed my seat and several surrounding ones had been taken over by a group of rabbis. As I approached my seat, the rabbi occupying my seat was deeply involved in a sermon to a group of teenage rabbis, all dressed up in their orthodox outfits, including black hats and hair-locks running down their temples.
Noticing me standing there, he inquired in English if I was the seat owner. When I nodded, he made a move to get up but I asked him to continue with his sermon while I walked around some more. Eventually he took over the seat across the aisle, and when I seated myself, I inquired if he was going to Innsbruck. He was off to Vienna with his family, he replied, and asked me where I was from.
“Saudi Arabia” was my reply. In the relative quiet of the coach, my voice must have carried beyond his ears. For a moment frozen in time and memory, I noticed from the corner of my eye the teenage rabbis backing away, and his wife quickly herding her children around her.
I also noticed my son and nephew fidgeting nervously in their seats. Were all these people anticipating something I was unaware off. But the ice was broken between the rabbi and me and soon we were engaged in a discussion of the differences between our religions, and how we both attributed our beginnings to Abraham.
“Rabbi, you say your name is Yosep?” I inquired. “Yes, like the Christians have Joseph,” he responded “Ah, like we have Yusuf among the Muslims. The same name except perhaps interpreted differently. Much like we all have the same God. So you are a religious man, a man of the cloth so to speak, and whom we address to as Sheikh in our country.”
As he nodded, I turned over to my son and said, “Hazem, come over and say hello to Sheikh Yusuf. And he’s not going to bite.” My son, with a look that implied that his father had too much of a whiff of the mountain air came over grudgingly. But in a matter of time, I had him and my nephew walk over to the Rabbi’s family seated several seats away, and kids being kids the children were soon involved in their own discussions. The mother, perhaps satisfied that our intents were not evil began to let her guard down.
The rabbi told me he was from Israel, but had moved to Vienna with his family two years ago. He has been vacationing in Switzerland, and was now on his way back to the city of his forefathers. He was an orthodox man and was not very happy with the religious movement in Israel. The laws of God were being violated and it was not the proper atmosphere to raise his children. The Sabbath was not held as sacredly as he would have liked.
“Rabbi Yosep, you also have to contend with the violence that the Israeli government has perpetuated against the Palestinians. How does that fit into the morality of your beliefs?”
“It is not a good thing. Not only for the Palestinians but also for the Jews. My people can sense a slow rising of sentiments against us not just in the Muslim world but also throughout Europe and if Mr. Sharon continues this way, it will continue to fester. It is some cause for alarm.”
“The Americans don’t seem to think so. Mr. Bush is continually referring to Sharon as a man of peace,” I countered.
“Forget the Americans,” was his emphatic reply. “The majority of Jews in Israel trace their roots to Europe and not to the Americas. It is here one day that they may return. And when they do, I pray they do not find themselves unwelcome.”
“Sheikh Yusuf, let us then pray together that this madness will cease. Your people being victims of persecution a few decades ago will perhaps understand it better than the rogues running the policies today in Israel.”
