Jerusalem Forest II...

So, I spent another weekend 'camping' in the Jerusalem Forest. Perched in an even more beautiful spot at the edge of a terrace under a gracious pine bough. An unimpeded view of and between two forested hills, the setting sun and the valley below.

So, what is a guy who once made $300,000 per year, has international healthcare, executive administration and technology management and consulting experience (and enjoys it) doing in the woods?

Shabbos. A rational spot to spend it for what I've lived through in the last several years, including this past year and currently in Israel.

Dignity, Autonomy, Privacy. The holiness and dignity of quiet, all more valuable than even the view.

I would definitely return to this vantage point for holy moments in the future. Preferably with a house and career to go back to afterwards. And a family who would like to join me or just to return to.

I'm a Jew. I came under The Law of Return. This society processed my Tehudat Zehut (Citizenship ID), but will it let me be a citizen? The invasions of privacy, networked vetting, disinformation and coercion -- awful.

I've had a year of my time, money and health wasted, while investigators and provocateurs impede every effort, and pretend it is all HaShem (or me). Criminal abuse through government, religious, and social institutions. People who behave and govern this way will repair the world? They should take turns in the Forest with a Chumash where I have been.

© Copyright 2006 Dean Levinson