GUEST POST
A reader of this blog, Paul Shaviv from New York, recently connected with someone who had given a talk in Ireland about Christian Zionists, including John Grauel. It prompted him to write the following memoir, which he was kind enough to share with me:
In 1986 I was the Director of the (grandly-named) B’naiBrith World Center[1]in Jerusalem, the representative office of B’nai Brith International in Israel,reporting directly to BB International in Washington DC. The job was, in its own way, interesting,and dealt a lot with diplomatic and interfaith contacts.One day in September I received an unusual call from Dr DanThursz in Washington DC. A former Methodistminister called John Grauel had passed away in New Jersey, where he lived. Moved by Jewish suffering under the Nazis, Rev.John Grauel became a leading Christian Zionist, and was well known as the onlyChristian volunteer on the ‘Exodus’. Havingleft the Ministry (perhaps under slightly unclear circumstances), he partly orcompletely earned a living lecturing to Jewish audiences about his story. He did a lot of work for American B’nalBrith, speaking at its youth camps and other gatherings; and was also,apparently, a regular speaker for UJA.Grauel’s family (not clear who this was; he had two adoptedPalestinian Christian sons, who may have lived in the USA with him) claimedthat ‘Golda Meir promised him that he would be buried in Jerusalem’. No written record of this promise existed,but no–one wanted the embarrassment that could follow publicity if the‘promise’ was unfulfilled. The IsraeliConsulate in NY could not help. UJA NewYork had promised to cover the costs of sending the body to Israel and costs ofa funeral – but on condition that someone else arranged it. Dr Thursz asked me if our office in Jerusalemcould help. Could I arrange a funeralfor John Grauel? I have to say thatarranging the burial of a Christian minister in Jerusalem was not something Ihad expected to tackle.It took a week or so[2]to arrange. I decided to start at theend – find a cemetery and a burial plot. If there was no grave – there could not be a funeral. I called my friend Ake Skoog at the SwedishTheological Institute on Rehov Haneviim, whom I knew through interfaithactivity. He gave me some telephonenumbers of leaders of the Christian communities in Jerusalem. Not all could be approached – the deceasedwas a Methodist and a Zionist…. Buteventually I spoke to the local clergyman who was in charge of the formerTemplars Cemetery in Emek Refaim in the German Colony. He readily agreed that if we could get thebody to Israel, he would open the cemetery and open a grave. This was a major achievement, and we nowtackled the next issues – how could we handle the body once it arrived inIsrael; who would conduct the service; and what was the appropriate format ofthe funeral?There were some relatively bizarre dimensions to theexercise. I called the Jerusalem ChevraKadisha for advice. They told meimmediately that there was only one company in Israel that specialized inhandling Christian bodies, typically including the nuns and priests alsobrought for burial in the Holy Land (orChristian tourists who died while in the country)– and that was ‘Ambulance BneiBrak’. It sounded inherently unlikely,but I called the number they gave me. “Ambulance Bnai Brak?” I asked when thephone was answered. “A shulem!” repliedthe voice at the other end in a thick Hungarian Yiddish accent. It turned out that in an ‘Only in Israel’scenario, this was a completely Haredi/Hassidic operation.I arranged with them that they would collect the coffin fromBen-Gurion when it arrived, and deliver it the next morning to the cemetery inJerusalem. They told me that they wouldprobably bring the body to Jerusalem the night before “and we’ll leave it inthe Chevra Kadisha in Rehov Shamgar”. I didn’t argue.I knew the Pastor of the Scottish Church in Jerusalem (nextto Yemin Moshe, and opposite the Old City), because of our negotiations overthe adjacent site (see footnote 1). Heagreed to conduct the graveside funeral service. “If y’say he was a Man of God,we should give him a Christian burial”.So we had the grave, the logistics and the clergyman. We fixed the date (I think it was a Fridaymorning), and got Washington to confirm the transport of the body with El Al. Next, we had to arrange the funeral. A few calls to Misrad haBittachon promised usa Naval Guard of Honour. Israel TV wereinterested in covering the event. TheJerusalem Municipality agreed to send a representative. We contacted the organization of ‘Exodus’survivors, and were promised that the legendary captain of the ship, ‘Ike’Aharonovitch would attend (“If he’s sober”, I remember our contact gloomilypromising). We seemed to be set.On a bright Jerusalem morning the huge iron gates of thecemetery were wide open. A crowd ofperhaps fifty or sixty people gathered. A grave had been dug and the gravediggers stood by, watching. A grey bus drew up, and a about a dozen or soyoung Israeli sailors in full white dress uniform got out, and were lined upnear the grave. It was impressive. The camera crew from Israel TV, a couple ofreporters and various VIP’s trickled in. ‘Ike’ Aharonovich arrived and was escorted to a place of honour at thefront. The Scottish pastor, resplendentin his colourful canonicals, stood with open bible. The only person missing was John Grauel….We waited. Outsidethe gates, I noticed a blue van pass by, then reverse back past theentrance. A minute or so later a facepeered round the entrance to the gate – black hat, beard, long peyos dangling.He grinned, stepped forward and gestured to others, whom we couldn’t see. A minute or two later six ‘avreichim’ enteredthe cemetery gates, on their shoulders the coffin of the Rev John Grauel whomthey carried to his last resting place….. The honour guard snapped to ‘Attention’. The Pastor, visibly amused, composed himself and intoned theburial service. As the coffin waslowered into the grave, in his broad Scottish accent he recited Robert LouisStevenson’s famous ‘Requiem’:"REQUIEM"Under thewide and starry sky,
This be theverse you ‘grave for me:
And thehunter home from the hill.
The crowd shookhands, murmured to each other, and left. The grave was filled; the clergy closed the cemetery gates. ‘AmbulanceBnai Brak’ wanted to know who the deceased was, and why he was so important.They shared with me that when they had opened the coffin (as they were legallyrequired to do) they were worried because he was ‘wearing a sort of tallit’[3].I reassured them that the deceased was definitely not Jewish. That day Israel TV carried a nice itemreporting the funeral. A neighbor ofours remarked that they had seen it, and were sure that they had glimpsedsomeone in a kippah ‘one of those Reform rabbis’ who seemed to have been incharge…..Jon Grauel had been buried in Jerusalem.[4]
[1] This projectwas intended to be a permanent Israel-Diaspora Center in Jerusalem, funded byBBI. The building that is now the Begincenter was commissioned and designed for this purpose. BBI abandoned the project and the building plans and site were sold tothe Begin Center when Dr Daniel Thursz (d. 2000), the then Executive Vicepresident of BBI, left the organisation, and the lay leadership changed. Fortuitously for this story – see below inthe article – the site was overlooked by the Scottish Church in Jerusalem.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder