A review of the descendants meeting in Freudental
What is peace? For me, it was tangible in these days with our guests who came to discover their family stories. I’m not resuming the four wonderful days; I only try to highlight some very peaceful moments:
Peace is if a dark angels’ story turns into light within three days. The artwork of David Rubin was (and is still) exhibited in the town hall, but the piece will stay in the community of Freudental all thanks to the donation of Reinhard Maier. The main character on the image is Davids’ brother Mark, the “angel of light” and we know it because he presided the Shabbat prayer in the synagogue sitting in the last sunlight. It seems that we can overcome the sad story of loss, of flight, of negative experiences suffered in the Nazi time by Margot Stein.
The artwork of descendant David Rubin will stay in Freudental.
Peace is if Israeli and German children play together even if they don’t speak the others language! Peace is juggling together…
Peace is if people find the courage to look into their own and in their families’ history accepting that we can’t change the past but that we can construct the future. And peace is if others in a friendly manner accompany them to the cemetery.
At the Jewish cemetery
Peace is to continue to study family trees, to find new links and to complete the “lines of life”. Peace is to connect with the ancestors and their environment.
Connection with the ancestors
Peace is inviting strangers to your own house and cook for them. Peace is following an invitation in an unknown household. And peace is to savour good food!
The brunch at Sunday morning
Peace is if people gather in the former synagogue to meditate, to sing and to pray together in the present – not questioning each other if or in what God they believe! The participants of the Sunday morning prayer created a real “Inter-net” while knitting small lines into a big and coloured “hyper-link”.
Non-digital inter-net and real hyper-links
Peace is laughing and dancing together in a (theatre play) wedding…
Peace is watching a film which tells a very personal story of only one person and understanding that this could help us all to better understand our own story.
Peace is all these very short and fine moments of listening, smiling, speaking a foreign language and welcoming the others – to live in connection.
Thank you very much for bringing this peace to Freudental, giving it all the deep meanings of the word SCHALOM: joy, wellbeing, physical and emotional integrity, salvation and wholeness.
Listening and learning together!
I wrote this text one week after the descendants meeting while sitting under the fig tree in my garden, Michael.