The Power Gap

We are in the gap between two pilgrimages. The first pilgrimage, with Ananda Palo Alto, finished on Sunday evening with heartfelt reminiscences of highlights of our two weeks together in the Holy Land.

At the top of everyone's list, it seemed, was being able to spend time together at many, many holy sites. Time together. That was the highlight for me, too.

Time with dear friends, most of whom we've known for 20 something years, growing alongside each other in our spiritual lives, enjoying being together in prayer, meditation, song, laughter; it's been a magical two weeks.

Listening to Asha, Shanti, and Rami, our Israeli guide, orient us to what we're seeing, where we're going, what we'll be doing. Rami gave us each a Whisper receiver, so Shanti or Asha or Rami could be talking softly in our ears as we stood and gazed or wandered around each lovely destination.

Heaven on earth.

By the time we arrived at our final gathering on Sunday night, we had many, many stories to retell, laughter to reshare, and insights to reveal.

And then we sang, just as we had sung everywhere we went. Practically the entire group was part of the Palo Alto choir, so wherever we went, we sang, and it was glorious. Tandava played the guitar, Dambara played a small keyboard, the rest of us sang. In courtyards, under trees, in churches, in caves, we sang, and we sang.

Asha hugging Rami.

As a going away gift for Rami, we had been practicing two Hebrew songs, on our own for the last several weeks, and then together a couple of times. At the end of our farewell gathering, we stood and sang the Israeli national anthem, in Hebrew, for Rami. Then we sang a popular song,

Shalom Lach Eretz Nehederet, Hello You Beautiful Country, which uses the same melody as City of New Orleans. Steven sang the first verse, we all sang the chorus; Dambara sang the second verse, we all sang the chorus; and Tandava sang the final verse, and then we all sang the chorus, several times, clapping, stomping, laughing.

We also sang one of Swami Kriyananda songs, A New Tomorrow, which is actually a hora, so we circled up, back-stepped, kicked, kicked, back-stepped, kicked, around the circle, our amateur rendition of the traditional Jewish dance. What might have been a sad last gathering was instead a rousing, joyful celebration.

People trickled away over the next few days, traveling home, WhatsApp-ing each other across the globe, transitioning back to everyday lives, holding the glow of pilgrimage in their hearts.

Everyone trickled away except Asha, Dambara, and me. Asha is staying because a new pilgrimage has started to trickle into Jerusalem from India, and she will be leading these Indian pilgrims through the same holy sites that we just completed, along with four Ananda leaders from India.

Dambara is staying to bring music into this second pilgrimage. The choir has trickled home, and only a few in the second pilgrimage know the music, so Dambara will anchor the music in a way none of the rest of us can. Singing was an integral part of the inspiration for the first pilgrimage. Of course we wanted to include song in this second one.

The second pilgrimage has its first gathering tonight, just before dinner. Everyone has been traveling all day long, and even though there is only a three-hour difference between Israel and all of India, it is a long journey, and people will be quite tired, ready to rest. We'll gather briefly, have dinner, and then people can go rest.

Tomorrow morning, the journey begins.

So, we've had this four-day gap between pilgrimages. It's been a restful time, a regrouping time, but surprisingly, it's also been a power-gap time.

Forty-some world leaders have been traveling, making their way to Jerusalem, alongside our pilgrims, for a remembrance of the liberation of Auschwitz, 75 years ago today. This meeting will help bring into focus the rising incidences of antisemitism we've seen over the last couple of years, and hopefully acknowledge the worldwide need for constructive action.

The King David hotel on the far left, Old Jerusalem in the background, taken from our balcony at the King Solomon Hotel.

The power meeting happens to be taking place at the King David Hotel, which is across the street from the King Solomon Hotel, where we're staying. We've watched the security ramp up as we thread our way along barricaded sidewalks toward the Old City, visiting the same sites where we've spent time during our pilgrimage, and which are now being visited by world leaders. We go in groups of 2 or 4; they go in triple-digit groups.

But it all works! We're free to come and go as we please; they jostle through politely, ambitiously, and it all just works.

I'm finding that a power gap is much better than a soft gap between these two pilgrimages. There's a definitive change in the atmosphere, so that we can move beyond the energy of the first pilgrimage and have a clean slate into which the second pilgrimage can step. The sadness of missing our trickled-away friends has been overshadowed by the power that motorcades past our dining room windows or below our balcony.

The timing is perfect. Our pilgrims are trickling into the King Solomon Hotel just as the world powers are trickling away from the King David Hotel. Tomorrow, the refreshed pilgrims can step into a refreshed Jerusalem, led by a refreshed Asha, singing with a refreshed Dambara.

It's heaven on earth.