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the cats of jerusalem

The cats of Jerusalem can be found in the old city and in the new. They wander the streets like ghosts. Who feeds them? Perhaps the orthodox Jews who work only on the Torah. They don’t have day jobs Sunday through Friday. But they get fed. Not cat meat, of course. I did not see anybody fillet a cat in Israel or Palestine. Everyone here seems to agree that cat is an unclean meat—unlike the flanks of meat found in the Muslim quarter of the old city, which are cut and killed Halal by Palestinian men. They divide the flesh into pieces their unorthodox Hebrew brothers and sisters can eat. And some Muslims also eat the Kosher meat that their Jewish brothers cut and bleed out. Of course nobody eats cat, not even the evangelical Christians who dwell therein, as far as I can tell. 

The smell of ceremonially prepared meat fades as you pass through the walls of Old City Jerusalem via the eastern facing Golden Gate.  As we head down into the Kidron Valley, the Mount of Olives appears at the top of a winding ascent. At sunset the calls to prayer begin. At first you hear the Arabic moan and wail peeling out over acres of limestone graves as Jewish descendants hover and bob in recitation above the tombs of their ancestors at dusk, joined thereafter by a cacophony of Christian bells that intensify the dissonance—and the names of God spin out into the night sky as darkness descends. 

Back in the old city the night vigils are underway. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Slavic women light candles and kneel at the pink granite slab where Christ’s body was lain. Two-thousand years later, and the human flesh still aching for the chosen one. The women sob in reverence and devotion. How can we argue with that? There is a truth here that 1000 vacuum sealed science books cannot contain. It’s not the fault of science, that’s not its job. Perhaps its job is to ask a series of questions: Why does the Ethiopian Jew wail at the wall? Where does the brainwave trough lie within the Dervish whirl? What exactly is it about the ghost body of Christ that moves the Russian women to tears? And why does a relocated secular, progressive American Jew think President Donald Trump was the cat’s meow?

In 2017 I traveled to Israel/Palestine to create a music video for a song I wrote called “Jerusalem.” This land holds the most powerful stories of my youth. And for reasons I can’t fully explain, the sounds, smell and landscape here feel like a lost brother. The food tastes familiar in my mouth. You see, we didn’t have a TV growing up. And we didn’t go to the theater. Rather, we experienced stories from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. And even if we write new holy books, the stories of our childhood haunt the bloodstream. These stories, like the city of Jerusalem, are embedded with faith and contradiction. 

At a gallery within the Old City, I met an educated man who told me about the ancient symbols and the profound history of the people he called his own. He spoke about the ubiquitous origins of the Hamsa, a symbolic hand with an eye embedded in the palm. He was considerate in his interpretation of the Kabbalahistic Tree of Life. His wife is an atheist physician. And he is an arbiter of spiritual and cultural knowledge and beauty and seemed to be able to hold many contrary ideas in his mind simultaneously, giving each of them thoughtful consideration. Just before I traveled to Israel and Palestine, the President of the United States had just confirmed Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and this gentleman called the president a strong leader. He went on to elaborate on the President’s many qualities without offering an alternative viewpoint. Substantial criticism of President Trump was certainly available among various media outlets (At least in the US). So naturally, I was shocked. This American Jewish gentleman’s ability to approach religion and mysticism with broad and just sensibilities did not seem to transfer to a nuanced political perspective. 

Most of us are walking contradictions: Playing the victim while being the perpetrator. Playing the active pacifist. Everything we say is lost in our birth and all the death we may experience along the way:

I’m a Palestinian-Jewish guard. I left my body in the chambers in 1941. My second death began on May 14, 1948 when the Israeli army took my farm. My Jewish daughter was killed in 2004 by a suicide bomb strapped to my eldest son’s body 90 minutes after he said his 2nd prayer after passing through 7 Israeli checkpoints in the back seat of Holy Mary’s American made taxi, driven by our father Abraham. Just last month, my Palestinian grandson was shot at a peaceful protest in Gaza. I watched him bleed back into the ground. We are slowly being eradicated from our home by a series of checkpoints, policies and laws. And all of us Palestinian Jews are losing our religion because it seems as though man shall not live by bread alone. 

On December 25th I ate maqluba with a Palestinian family in Hebron. The father was a tailor and lost function of his hand because an Israeli soldier forced him to remove a Palestinian flag from the electric razor wire. He can no longer work as a tailor. The family is suffering in various ways under the Israeli government, which is gradually extending Jewish Settlements in Hebron as it is throughout Palestine. A two state solution now seems like a radical idea. I was brought into this Muslim home by a Jewish man originally from Cleveland, who now abides in Tel Aviv as an Israeli citizen. He has befriended the family and is trying to help them out as best he can, in what is left of Palestinian Hebron.

There are hundreds of stories that fill the Holy Land. Stories about history and who has a right to live where. Stories of Israelis who have died at the hand of Palestinian suicide bombers. Stories of Palestinians in Gaza who have no clean water to give their children. These stories are spun and re-spun by the time they reach the world’s consciousness and particularly the American mind. Just try to do a fair Google search. 

Here’s some news: 

According to USAID Data Services as of March 2020, in constant 2018 U.S. dollars (inflation-adjusted), total U.S. aid to Israel obligated from 1946-2018 is $236 billion.

Thats billion—with a B, and counting. Are you curious about how your money is spent? Where do you get your news? 

A few years back I was finger picking a D minor chord over and over in the studio late at night. And for some reason the word Jerusalem suddenly left my mouth. Over and over. And over time a song was born. Since then a curiosity about the city grew into an exploration of the region and a desire to know more. Through the years I have been blessed by the friendship and mentorship of many Jewish and Arab Americans. These cultures have influenced me in important ways and continue to have an impact in my life. And yes, I am continually astonished by the nuanced and often contrary ideas that reside inside each of us, simultaneously.

For instance, near the end of my pilgrimage, I met a friendly Jewish Florist just outside the Wailing Wall who told me: “Its OK if other people live in the land that God gave my people, as long as they are nice.”  What a strange god. The florist used to live in California. I wonder which god gave him Carlsbad when he lived there. And earlier in my journey, I also met a couple of friendly Palestinian young men who were selling t-shirts and toy guns, and referred to their Hebrew brothers as "dog meat.” I wonder if these young men pray 5 times a day? Sadly, I never did strike up a conversation with any of the stray cats who quietly wander through Jerusalem’s mosques and synagogues. 

There are many reasons to travel beyond our borders. Beyond the stories and news sources we commonly tread. And as we move about on foreign soil, perhaps we will discover our self in the other. And suddenly, you are no longer who you were. You have found a mirror in the temple. And she smells a lot like you. I initially went to Jerusalem to play the role of a long haired apostle for a group of kids who still live inside the wall, and whisper the old stories in my ear. We sometimes argue and fight in this theatre of the absurd, trying to makes sense of a golden rule (*).

(*) “The Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situation as these writers see it. But the challenge behind this message is anything but one of despair. It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence… The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief.” - Absurd Drama, Martin Esslin

(c) JD Rudometkin 2021

In order to fully experience the conversation above, you are encouraged to watch the video “Jerusalem” at the bottom of this category.

Step Jayne is JD Rudometkin's music project. Over the past 5 years, he has released the album SILVER BULLET SUICIDE, one track at a time with an accompanying video. For the first 10 months of 2021, each track and relevant (and at times irrelevant) thematic content will be explored in interviews with various co-hosts including: Psychiatrists, Artists/Musicians, Professors, the Salt of the Earth, and Art Curators.

In this issue, yoga teacher and humanitarian James Marks  and JD discuss personal experiences within Israel and Palestine and the album's fourth track, "Jerusalem." We recommend watching this music video (BELOW) in preparation for the conversation (ABOVE). It is also recommended that you do your own research on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here are a few links that may stimulate your own research into the region:

An Introduction: History of the Jews

Abbreviated history Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Brief History

News Source Middle East Monitor

Palestinians and Israelis in Conversation: Can Israelis and Palestinians See Eye to Eye?

Activist Abby Martin: Abby’s Martin’s Views on Israel Watch the Movie: Gaza Fights for Freedom

Author/Neuroscientist Sam Harris: Why I Don’t Criticize Israel

United States Funding Israel since 1948: $236 Billion Congressional Research Service

Suffering in Gaza: Food Insecurity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

“As someone who believes absolutely and unequivocally in Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, who as a young man lived in Israel for a number of months, as someone who is deeply concerned about the global rise of antisemitism, we must say loudly and clearly that to oppose the reactionary policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu does not make anyone anti-Israel.” - Bernie Sanders, US Senator

This track is a gift to you. It is paired with this months painting, which is also titled: The Last Sentinel Departs for the New Jerusalem. Consider listening to the track first, and then absorb the painting. Finally, combine the two for a full experience.

Composition: JD Rudometkin
Produced by JD Rudometkin
Mix and Mastering: JD Rudometkin
Poetry in English and Arabic by the sufi master, Hafiz. Readings taken from The Book of Psalms. Calls to prayer in both Arabic and Hebrew recorded in Jerusalem.

The Last Sentinel - oil on canvass 30"x48" (76.2 x 121.92cm) $900 US + shipping (c) JD Rudometkin 2021. Contact artist regarding this piece, or for commissioned artwork.

Contact / Purchase

eat slowly

We consume food in order to live. This is a basic function of animal life. And yet, eating can take on the quality of artful activities like sitting quietly with a painting, inhaling the desert rose or making love. Have you ever contemplated the beauty of a papaya, or the rather common fuji apple? Notice the color and texture of the fruit. The way it feels in your hands, and the sound it makes when the knife separates it into halves. How does it feel resting inside your mouth?  Have you considered all the necessary people and events surrounding the way this slice of papaya found its way into your home? In much of the world, the pace of life seems to offer us less time to contemplate such things. Our friends might even consider us a bit odd for doing so. And the same friends might applaud us for laboring 60 hours a week and getting a raise at work. It may be worth asking, “Who’s the odd one here anyhow?”

For the April ritual, we are going to sit quietly with our first piece of food for the day. Set the phone in the other room. Turn down the noise, and create a few minutes to really appreciate what you are doing. Eat the piece of food slowly; be it an apple, an egg or slice of yesterday’s quiche. Our body will thank us for this gentle care. And as a result of taking time with our first meal, we may also begin to naturally contemplate how and why we consume any number of other things in a given day.

I I I

We can learn to trust ourselves again and adjust our course as needed, by keeping simple, consistent rituals. In former times, we have looked outside ourselves, blamed others, and sought truth, externally. Today, we reclaim our way. We sit in quiet communion and reset our minds.

Why?

• To create a sense of stability in what appears to be an unstable world.

• To shift thought/behavior patterns.

• To enter communion (let's do this ritual together). In communion we find meaning.
  
  * If you wish to share your experience with this ritual for the benefit of our community, please do so at anytime in the comment section at the bottom of this page.

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