Translated and adapted from the Hebrew by DeAnna L’am
The kidnapping
On Thursday my son Yehue went to school and entered his classroom for a math lesson. A strong knock on the door disturbed the class as soon as it started. The man who entered, announced that he had to detain Yehue Ezrahi..jpg)
It was only then that my dear son perceived the man to be no other than Yaron Goshen, who works as a theatre actor and a medical clown, as well as being the court jester in our community.
Yaron read out loud the detention order form, which declared that Yehue is hereby taken for a Coming Of Age journey full of challenges.
The Coming Of Age Test
Since Yehue grew up in the desert, surrounded by nature for most of his life, it made no sense to send him for a rite of passage in nature.
For him, the jungle is the urban environment, with which he is unfamiliar, and where he may truly feel lost. This is why the adventure was planned to start at the twilight zone of the central bus station in south Tel Aviv.
Helping Others
But first, Yehue had to use his skills for the good of others. Being a musician, Yehue’s first task was to accompany Avi, a medical clown and musician, who works for the Sa’arei Tzadek hospital in Jerusalem.
Avi equipped Yehue with a red nose, a clown’s hat and a guitar, and the two took off for a mission in the children ward. They soon came upon a little child, terrified by the thought of an IV being stuck in him. Avi and Yehue immediately started playing with him. They made him laugh so hard, that he didn’t even notice when the nurse stuck the IV in his arm.
Making Coffee
The next station was designed to teach my son one of the unique skills of the common Israeli Male: making “black coffee” on a camp stove at the side of the road. The coffee made, Yehue dared tasting it for the first time in his life, when “suddenly” two horses appeared. One had a man on its back, the other was saddled and available. The rider, a skilled riding instructor, invited Yehue to mount the horse. It turned out he had to learn how to ride…
A friend once told me that his Sufi teacher claimed horseback riding to be a very important spiritual skill. One has to know how to control an external beast, in order to understand how to control the internal one: gently, with love, and with clear authority. An important lesson for a coming of age boy…
Furthermore, I knew Yehue had an ancient aversion to riding, stemming from an unsuccessful ride on a camel’s back in Sinai. After an hour of riding Jerusalem’s mountains, Yehue got so excited he decided to seriously learn horseback riding.
The Key
The adventurous day continued with an intuitive painting lesson. After the painting lesson was done, and Yehue was on his way, he was approached by a man in a wheelchair, asking for help. It turned out that for some unknown reason his wheelchair was chained to a lamp-post, and that Yehue held the key to the lock.
Indeed, one of the people he met earlier in the day handed him a key without any explanation. Yehue understood immediately that the key would serve him later on his adventure. After releasing the handicapped person from his chains, Yehue had to help by guiding him through south Tel Aviv streets to a certain address.
A Shaman, The Sea And Sand
The assignments followed each other until the lad found himself alone on a train going north. All of a sudden, as if by accident, there was Eden, one of the youths of our community, who was “by chance” going north on the same train. Eden handed Yehue another key and a Hebrew-French dictionary.
A woman, speaking only French, waited for Yehue at the train station. She took him to the seashore at dusk, and sent him walking north on the beach. After walking for a while in the dark, accompanied by the sound of the crashing waves, Yehue met another person: my friend, the Hebrew Shaman, Shmuel Shaul, who did some inner work with Yehue which was related to his body, its healing points, and the letters of his name in Hebrew.
Yehue was then given a choice between a night dip in the sea, and a “burial” in the sand. He preferred being planted in the ground, and so he was. Shmuel laid him down ceremonially, and covered his body with Mother Earth’s sand. He gave him meditating guidelines and left.
Yaron had trouble finding a kid covered in sand on a dark night at the beach, but after about a half an hour, in which my dear son hummed to himself some of his favorite Metal bands tunes, believing he was to sleep on the beach till dawn, Yaron showed up.
Since Yehue chose to be buried and not dunk in the water with Shmuel, he received a night dip in the dark sea with Yaron.
Peace, Love and The Torah
The following day, Yehue was guided by Dorit Bat Shalom, his eyes covered, through a journey of the senses. Strange and unexpected meetings ensued, such as the one with Bedouin friends at the Shibli village, for whom Yehue had to make… black coffee… He then received a blessing for a life of a Peace and Love Warrior from our sister, the Bedouin peace activist Aa’ida.
On the Shabbat, a large community of family and friends gathered to listen to Yehue’s Torah reading. We were blessed with a real Torah scroll to read from. As is our way, we conducted a Shabbat morning prayer with music and song, compiled of Yehue’s musical choices.
It was important for Yehue to deliver a personal interpretive speech about the Torah. To be an adult, he explained, means that one has an opinion. Thus, he understood, one has to show the community that he has something to say as an adult. And he did…
The following day Yehue said to his Mom: “even when I’m really old, and really senile, I will not forget this ceremony and how much love I felt during it.”