Secret Asian Man- The Status Quo

In Jerusalem this week. This is a photo of a ladder on a balcony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, final resting place of Jesus Christ.  It looks pretty beat up and pretty ordinary, but it’s been there for hundreds of years. Or, something that looks like this.

The Church is controlled by three Christian sects, the Armenian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholics.  Each is a guardian over a certain section and they haven’t always gotten along.  As it was told to me, the Catholics once controlled the door and refused to let the Armenians use it, so the ladder was put in place to allow them access to their section on the upper floor.  

Eventually, there was an agreement that allowed everyone use of the door, but the Armenians wanted the ladder kept there just in case relations soured again.  A pope in the 1700’s decreed that nothing in the entire church could be moved or replaced unless all the religions agreed.

 

Hence, the ladder remains.  It’s made of cedar wood, maybe from Lebanon, but it rots through from time to time. The last time was in the 70’s or 80’s.  And when it did, it needed to be replaced with an exact replica.

 

That, in its most concrete form, is what is meant by the term Status Quo, when it comes to Mid East tensions. Things should be kept exactly as they have been for centuries. In the 80’s when they found another entrance to the temple mount, there were riots in the streets until it was closed.  Just last year, when the Israelis wanted to put in new security cameras, again there were riots.

Want another example?  Just Google “Monk Broom fights Bethlehem” and see what pops up.  Full on Brother Vs Brother broom bashing.  Over what? Because one monk swept dust onto the section that another order controlled.

Back at Jesus’ burial church, the Christians guard the inside.  The Israelis guard the streets in the old city, but the Jordanians guard the temple on the top. Muslim’s hold on to the keys for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  One family has controlled the keys for centuries.  Every morning, they open. Every evening, they lock up. The 12 inch key is some 800 years old. After one muslim conquest or another, the head honcho saw, even then, that no Christians were going to get along, so he took the key and gave it to someone with less of an interest and that has been acceptable for millenia.

Giving up any control or ceding any trust is a glacial process with little thaw in site.

Flash forward to dinner the other night at the Jerusalem Young Men’s Christian Association. Sing it now, The YMCA.  It may sound seedy, but it’s a landmark designed by the same guy who designed the Empire State Building, who also designed the Leveque Tower back in the ol’ homeland, so... connections.  It’s got a tower with great views and reportedly clean, comfortable rooms for very reasonable prices.  Spa, Gym, pool and great gardens, too.

It also has a nice little bar/restaurant. I had an Israeli soup and salad along with my Palestinian kebabs and Palestinian beer.

Even through there is a centuries old status quo agreement, maybe there is also movement toward more commonality.  Here’s the sign, and the punchline.

I’m not even kidding.

Into the bar together, walked a priest, a rabbi and an imam...

Oleh-Oleh!

Oleh Oleh is a tradition here. The practice of bringing back gifts for people when you go away on a trip. Most Indonesian airports here have dedicated Oleh Oleh shops for just such gifts. Nuts or cookies or key chains. Often there is a regional flair; something that the area is known for.

I travel a lot, so I've taken to picking up things for the office or my house staff. I'm not sure where the boundaries lie, but it seems to be appreciated. Nothing big and seldom anything permanent. I've not seen their homes, but I imagine them to be small and I don't want to contribute to their cluttering up. Tea, coffee, chocolate. Is that the perfect gift?  Something you savor with all your senses and then flush?

On a recent trip to Oz, I brought back kangaroo jerky.  Mrs. S.A.M. wondered if it were halal.  Could Muslims even eat it?  This was a true concern. Was I being an insensitive jerk(y) by offering it?

I gave it, but later I confessed that I didn’t know if it were halal and apologized if they couldn't eat it. It brought about an interesting discussion.

Turns out that my driver and housekeeper had talked about this very issue. My driver who is the most pious in our immediate environment opined to our housekeeper that because kangaroos mostly eat grass and seeds, they were like sheep, and so they could be eaten.  This might be how they got that Monty Python skit about how to if someone is a witch.

I thought this an interesting tidbit, so I asked if that were the dividing line? Whether something eats grass or seeds made it legal. Sheep eat grass. Cows eat grass.  They were okay. Pigs were dirty because they eat anything.

Mrs S.A.M. asked,  “What about goats?”

Housekeeper: “Yes. We can eat goats!”

Mrs. S.A.M: “But, goats eat anything.”

Pause… Awkward laugh. Change of subject. “We can eat fish and shrimp! But if something lives in two worlds, like a salamander then we cannot eat.  But sometimes a frog lives in the water and in a tree, but we need to eat it for medicine. Then, it is okay.”

Hmmm. Another exception.

I asked the next day how she liked the kangaroo jerky. She said it was good, but was a little too strong so she cooked it in fried rice. Her family loved it.

My driver and his family ate his all up without question. Once it was established that kangaroos are bouncing sheep, all was kosher, or whatever. He revealed that he once ate tiger.

“Please tell me about that, Pak?” I'm dying to hear about this rule.

It seems that his brother was in the army and was posted in Borneo back before the island was a giant palm plantation and tigers still roamed. This brother found himself face-to-face with a tiger and having no other choice, shot it. Having done that he cleaned and brought the meat back to share with his family.  Not sure where the exception is.  Whether it was dead already and so could be eaten or some other rule.

Tiger Killed, Chopped Up, Eaten

Then I found the above article and I think the rules about eating tigers predate the arrival of Islam to Indonesia.  I think this is ancient jungle tradition.

Maryam

This is a movie review.

The ambassador does very good job of bringing locals and Americans together.  I mean, I guess that is their job, interceding between two countries.  But, the Ambassador here does well in doing this on a personal level. Promoting activities between American staff and our locally employed staff. He is very involved in team building. He participated in the award for the local Karaoke competition. He promises to compete next year.

An Indonesian won the Venice Film Festival award for his film “Maryam.”  This is a first, and a big deal among Indonesians.  

To showcase, the ambassador screened the film over lunch this week and had the director,Sidi Saleh, come in and talk about his film. It was well-attended by all.  

“Maryam” is about a Muslim, Indonesian, pregnant house girl who has to take care of an autistic young Catholic man over a Christmas weekend and what happens to them both when he forces her to take him to church on Christmas Eve.  

There are so many conflicts contained with in.   Rich v poor. Higher Class v lower class. Muslim v Catholic. Autistic v “Normal”.

One would think it difficult to touch on so much in just 17 minutes, but this flick manages to delineate them all with a gentle humor and grace and scant dialogue.  I mean, one of the characters is autistic played by a true autistic gentleman.

I wish I could send you somewhere to watch it, but it is not yet on Netflix or Amazon or any other outlet that I can find.  I know.  What’s the use of reviewing a movie you cannot find.  My apologies.

Do keep an eye out for it though, at a theatre or film fest near you.  “Maryam” directed by Sidi Saleh.  If you can find it, you will enjoy.