Posting #9

Are You in the Moab for a Bite?

Goldie: We are hiking through western Colorado's dinosaur-laden desert mountains, on our way to Moab, Utah. I am pondering a question posed by Rabbi Arthur Waskow about Ruth. "If the biblical character Ruth was to show up at an American border station, how would she be received?" Then we arrived in Denver to see our friends Steve and Jan and one possible answer emerges.

Jan Cooper greets us at the door filled with joy: "I got two of the daughters out of sweatshops and into jobs at the community center."

"Got who....what?" I ask. It seems an immigrant family has come to her attention, all desperately trying to make it after having mistakenly been deposited in Denver en-route to another theoretical contact. With incredible love and presence Jan, Steve, friends and synagogue community have mobilized to get the girls out of abject labor situations, the family properly housed and supported in all possible ways.

If you and I came across such a situation - would we see our role as turning back the unwashed masses at the border or welcoming them to our world? The patriarch of the family, a strong, tall ebony toned man with white beard shows me a gash where he’d been attacked as a minority in his country of origin. In the attack he had turned back the hilt of the adversary’s knife, choosing not to kill his aggressor. "I looked into his eyes and asked myself," he said, "what is justice? Then I walked away, choosing not to become a murderer."

His words brought to mind a day in Germany. I had been leading high holiday services in nearby Holland and had asked the group what does the traditional Jewish prayer, the Shema, (which is a verse in Deuteronomy) " mean to them? For me it is about loving and listening because spirituality ultimately leads one to experience that all of creation is One. I told this experience to Rabbi Michael Goldberger who we were visiting in Dusseldorf. He recalled a time when a man came up to tell him that during the war he had to shoot a Russian soldier in self defense. As the man he’d shot fell, he heard him uttering the shema - that same prayer, which is traditionally said at bed time, which appears in the mezzuzah on a Jewish person’s doorpost and it is said at the time of death.

Meditation and mysticism have a salutary effect on the human soul....denying our oneness becomes impossible. Then it occurs to me Ruth was a Moabite! What great synchronicity on our way to Moab, Utah.

Goldie: Day 3 in Denver. Yesterday it was 78 degrees F. Today it's snowing huge flakes, like the kind we used to cut out in nursery school.

Barry: Vinnie the Minni needed some minor repairs. Have decided she is the feminine side of Van Go, so I'll characterize the repairs as cosmetic.

Goldie: Barry!! (I just released the parking brake and it seems the cable snapped.)

Barry: Driving off from the dealer, she actually seemed to be pulling better. Is it psychological, an "engine over body" type of thing, I wonder?

Goldie: Everyone says we have to see this one book store in Denver....Barry: It's THE cultural center of Denver. It's not one of the glassy new buildings. Called the Tattered Cover, it's housed in a four-story building. What makes a great bookstore?

Like spirituality it is hard to define, but you know when you’re experiencing it.
Goldie: Each bend of bookcases enclosed snuggly chairs, current and antique photos...little setups for tea and comfort abound. So gloriously devoid of the McDonaldization of chain-store America.

Barry, what are you growling about?

Barry: Chains such as Barnes and Nobles, Borders are seductive because of their comfortable browsing areas and coffee shops but are ultimately destructive to our cultural environment (like lawns) because of their mediocrity and power to control which authors will sell and be hits. Ultimately corporate America decides what we read.

Final stop on our final full day in Denver, Jan, Steve, Goldie and I go to Idaho Hot Springs about forty-five minutes away in the mountains. It's 8 p.m., we are tired and hungry but find ourselves rejuvenated by the hot mineral springs which are located in caves. There are three pools, the hottest is about 110 degrees. We skip the mud baths (Jan had been working in
the garden all day and didn't feel the need) and ended the day with lots of stories over Chinese

food. Actually the restaurant was closed by the time we got there - never mind, that's another story.

Our last day in Denver.
Barry: Surprise! I am embarrassed to find strangers are writing to us commenting on these postings. Apparently they are being accidentally sent to everyone on Goldie’s address book. We post an apology, stay up half the night upset at our mistake when lo and behold...............

Our retraction resulted in hundreds of people asking to stay on the travelogue list and virtually no one asking to be taken off! What a remarkable thing to happen it feels so affirmed and unexpected.   

I have a final breakfast with cousin Ben. We talk for about two hours over breakfast. The time flies. Ben asks really good questions about Gestalt theory. After breakfast we leave Goldie and continue walking and talking.

A final goodbye call from Steve and we reluctantly take our leave.
Our love to all on this list...Barry and Goldie