Upload on 8/11/2018
It was the 9th of November, a dark, cold and stormy night.
A wise sage gathered with her disciples for a community meal. At the end of the meal she quietly walked to the window, looked outside into the dark night and then turned to her companions and asked:
“Tell me friends, when will this long and dark night come to its end?”…
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Now, I will continue this story in a moment but, as I have just arrived back home from working in Israel and Germany and fresh from visiting Berlin, another city of great complexity and clashing narratives, I invite you for a second to travel in time through this 9th of November night and remember with me some of what the people of Berlin experienced on this very night over 3 different years during the last century:
100 years ago, on this date, the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm agreed to step down, leading to the end of WWI.
80 years ago on the 9th November,the Nazis burned and destroyed Jewish shops and homes and over 200 synagogues all across Germany in what became known, because of the shards of glass all over, as ‘Kristallnacht’.
29 years ago, 9th November, the Berlin wall came down after over 30 years of division.
The 9th of November, a long and dark November night holding the essence of the story of 20th century pain and challenges....
And now, let us go back to the story…
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“Tell me friends” asked the wise woman again, “when will this long and dark night come to its end?”…
“It is obvious” said one man, “The night will finish when we see the first light of dawn”
The wise woman shook her head signalling “No”
“Is it when the morning star rises?” suggested another.
“No”.
"I know!!! it is when we hear the first cockerel sounding a morning call" said a third.
They all looked at the wise woman silently for a long moment. Then she spoke: “When the day will come and we will look at the faces of the people around us, both friends and enemies, and recognize them for their humanity, as our mirrors, our brothers and our sisters. Only then, we will know that this long and dark night we live in, has truly come to an end. ----------------------------------------------------------- This photo attached here is of a message drawn on the original Berlin wall.
