Jerusalem Hugs

JERUSALEM HUG 21st May 2007

I came across this story on the web here in Israel. Thought you would love to read it. It is great to hear good news and the spreading of love coming from a troubled country like israel.

This Monday afternoon thousands of people were expected to gather in one big hug of love around the Old City of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, though, I don’t really think there were several thousand people who showed up - it seemed more like several hundred to me - but we still evoked stares and curiosity from passers-by. It was a touchy-feely type of thing, a truly spiritual experience, and those who prefer and are used to angry, violent, political demonstrations (which is just WAY too many people) seemed to stay

Most of the day, starting from around 12 noon, people of all religions, all “types”, young and old (I’m talking from infants to some incredibly adorable elders who appeared to be in their 80’s or even 90’s), gathered on the luscious, green lawn of Hutzot Hayotzer in preparation for the historic event. Those hours of preparation proved to be no less mystical and significant than the “Hug” itself. It was sort of like Woodstock all over again (only minus the hundreds of thousands of people and the hallucinative drugs).

These people didn’t need the drugs. Some of them were on that “natural, spiritual high” that you hear so much about and can only dream of one day reaching: true ecstasy from a higher level of consciousness - while all the rest were simply high on life. Most of the hours were spent making music, singing, dancing, meditating, practicing capoeira, laughing, smiling and just plain and simple “being”. Oh, and there was hugging. Lots and lots of spontaneous hugging everywhere I looked.

Love was truly in the air. And so was peace, enlightenment and a true and passionate hope for a better

Of course, the police were all prepared for the event and were circling the area with weapons in hand. But they, too, were occasionally caught smiling to themselves, observing the serene moment, only to catch themselves in time and keep “doing their jobs”. At around 5:00 pm, we all set out to circle the Old City, following the beats of the drums which led us, and gathering curious pedestrians along the way. Im not going to get into the Hug itself because no words can describe the sensation you get when you suddenly find yourself One with the people around you, One with the ancient historic walls, One with the world, One with the Universe… One with God. You just simply cannot describe that kind of silence

Ok, so you might think that all of this is nonsense, or you might think that we are all wackos for choosing to participate in such an event.

But I can tell you one thing I now know for sure:

When you hug the beautiful city of Jerusalem -

Jerusalem hugs you back.

Shalom, and a hug to everyone.

Shoshana