I recently started driving Uber at nights as a result of downsizing by the financial company that I was previously employed with. I encountered a late-night rider from Portland, Oregon and we had a discussion about his group’s plans to evangelize the parts of the world that had not had the chance to hear his testimony about Christianity. I found it interesting that we ended up having a discussion about the establishment of Israel as a state, and recent developments that I was unaware of with regard to its further organization and national recognition by President Donald Trump.
I had a friend in pre-school who was like a brother to me. He has since died in a car accident, but his family was Jewish and mine was Catholic. His father was also Catholic. His mother and father agreed that he would be raised Jewish, and so we had many discussions about the similarities and differences between our religious practices. At one time during his bar mitzvah, I attended his temple, and was very surprised at the contrasts that our religious practices encompassed. I think that this was my first experience with cultural and religious ideologies that were largely centered from middle eastern traditions. There were many discussions that I had with details about “kosher” foods. “The word “kosher,” however, is Hebrew for “fit” or “appropriate” and describes the food that is suitable for a Jew to eat. With its roots in the Hebrew Bible, the system of defining which foods are kosher was developed by the rabbis of late antiquity, “(Web [n.d].).” I was able to have a pretty intelligent conversation with my Uber fare as a result of my upbringing and experience with the contrasts between Judaism and Christianity.
The rider told me that Jerusalem had recently been established and recognized as the capital of Israel, and that was something I was not aware of. He discussed the history of the establishment of Israel as a country, and we agreed on some aspects that peace was still far off for the region. “The Arab states surrounding Israel launched wars to eradicate the Jewish state in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. Israel won these wars but peace has never been fully achieved because Israel has continued to occupy territories that the Palestinian refugees…claim for themselves for a Palestinian homeland, (Moran et al., 2014).” The rider at some point drew parallels to the establishment of the Jerusalem as the capital and it’s recognition as such by the president, as a precursor to the end of the world. I am not sure that I agree with this fact, but the discussion lead me to do some research on Jerusalem.
Apparently, Trump has positioned the United States embassy to be located in Jerusalem and for some reason is adamant that it be moved from Tel Aviv, and that this could be negotiation leverage for a peaceful resolution between Palestine and Israel, somehow, in spite of the fact that, “The Palestinian leadership in the occupied West Bank, however, see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Today, 86 percent of East Jerusalem is under the direct control of the Israeli authorities and Jewish settlers, (Aljazeera, 2018).”
I think that this move represents a clear viewpoint that some positioning, cultural recognition, and acceptance is necessary by the United States government. Surprisingly it is Donald Trump who is instigating the move towards cultural understanding and supposed moves towards peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. His actions alone should illustrate to us how critical understanding of cultures, their belief systems, their traditions, and history that middle eastern countries share, are the future of business and economics for people in the United States. I think that we should all learn to focus more of our time to understand the cultures of the Middle Eastern people as they cannot be ignored.
My upbringing and knowledge gave me background that I could draw from to communicate effectively on the subject of Palestine and Israel. It is a direct result of my exposure to a family that differed significantly in their beliefs from that of my own and my family’s. This should illustrate how critical it could be for the future generations to have exposure to cultures that have different core beliefs. I think that not only could it raise the standards for handling humanitarian concerns, but also perpetuate an air of understanding, rather than conflict.
Perhaps Trump’s motivations are not to encourage peace at all, but to further solidify Israel as a foothold for the US economy in the region. I think that the future is yet to be seen, and as I communicated to the Uber rider, I sure hope that the political move is not a precursor to the end of the world. Perhaps Trump is correct in making large political changes to encourage these two neighboring countries to begin to consider each other from an alternative cultural perspective.
Reference
Al Jazeera News, (12 February, 2018). Donald Trump. Jerusalem is off negotiating table. Retrieved from, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/trump-jerusalem-negotiation-table-180212052249924.html
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. New York, NY: Routledge.
Web, (n.d.). Kosher Food What Makes It Kosher or Not. Retrieved from, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kosher-food/