{"id":97303,"date":"2022-10-27T13:32:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T19:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=97303"},"modified":"2022-10-27T13:32:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T19:32:56","slug":"shalom-from-tel-aviv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html","title":{"rendered":"Shalom from Tel Aviv"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sunset<\/a>
Looking westward at sunset over the Mediterranean from Tel Aviv
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for dinner, and hold an orientation meeting with our group.\u00a0 Ten of them have arrived without their luggage; I hope that that problem can be remedied soon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When they\u2019re in a better position and can appreciate the humor of it all, perhaps I\u2019ll tell them a trio of lost-luggage stories that I\u2019ve enjoyed, involving people that I know.\u00a0 One of them is a personal experience of my own and it\u2019s really short, so I\u2019ll tell it \u2014 such as it is \u2014 right here:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many years ago, my wife and I flew from New York City to Milan, Italy.\u00a0 Unfortunately, though, our bags did not<\/em>.\u00a0 So I had to go downstairs at the Milan Malpensa Airport in order to file a lost-luggage report.\u00a0 When I arrived at the office, there was one person ahead of me who had also been on that flight and who was there, not looking very happy, to report that his<\/em> bags hadn\u2019t arrived.\u00a0 It was Henry Kissinger.\u00a0 Seeing him there cheered me up all day.\u00a0 Not because I had anything against Henry Kissinger but because it was amusing to see that such things can happen to the mighty and great as well as to peasants such as I.\u00a0 Our luggage landed on the next scheduled flight and was delivered to our hotel; I expect that Dr. Kissinger\u2019s did, as well.\u00a0 (By the way, Henry Kissinger has just published a book on Leadership<\/em>.\u00a0 It has received very positive reviews, and I want to read it.\u00a0 He is ninety-nine years old.\u00a0 Amazing.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve set the wake-up time for tomorrow morning at 5:45 AM.\u00a0 I always tell people that, after we\u2019re done with them here, they\u2019ll need a vacation from their vacation.\u00a0 I\u2019m only partly joking.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/a>
The Church of St. Peter in Joppa (aka \u201cJaffa\u201d or \u201cYafo\u201d), as seen from Tel Aviv to the north. It marks the supposed spot where Peter had the vision of the clean and unclean beasts that is recorded in the tenth chapter of the New Testament book of Acts.\u00a0 And, truth be told, it can\u2019t be very FAR from the church\u2019s location, since the peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean on which the town of Joppa sits is really quite small.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m quite tired, and it\u2019s already late here, so I\u2019m going to reach back to something that I already posted some years ago:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in 2012, shortly after the (to me) unexpected and devastating death of my brother, my longtime friend Thomas F. Rogers<\/a> was at our house for the monthly reading group to which he and I and our wives belonged \u2014 unfortunately, Tom\u2019s wife has just recently passed away herself \u2014 and he brought with him a page of quotations that he thought might be helpful to me in my grief.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was grateful to Tom, and I share them here in hopes that others, in whatever situation they may find themselves, might see special meaning in one or more of these:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first is from\u00a0Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975)<\/a>, an eloquent and well-beloved counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> during my formative years:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDeath,\u201d said President Brown, \u201cis not an extinguishing of the light.\u00a0 It is a putting out of the lamp because the dawn has come.\u201d\u00a0 (Improvement Era<\/i> [June 1967], 26)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is an extraordinarily powerful comment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second comes from the distinguished Latter-day Saint historian Richard L. Bushman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact of the matter,\u201d Professor Bushman writes, \u201cis that I find goodness in my Latter-day Saint life that I find nowhere else.\u00a0 When my mind is filled with scripture, when I speak to the Lord in prayer, when I comport myself in the way of Jesus, I am the man I want to be.\u00a0 I feel wisdom, concentration, compassion, and comprehension to a degree beyond anything I have known as a scholar or a teacher.\u00a0 I do everything better under the influences that radiate from the Latter-day Saint religion.\u00a0 I am a better father and husband.\u00a0 I give more to my children.\u00a0 I connect with the poor and needy.\u00a0 I counsel my students more truly.\u00a0 I am more unselfish.\u00a0 Moreover, I like what the religion does for my fellow Saints, both longtime members and new converts.\u00a0 It welds us together into a community of mutual trust and aid.\u00a0 Latter-day Saints, in my experience, are people of goodwill.\u00a0 They give to each other and to worthy works of every kind.\u00a0 We care for each other the way Jesus said we should.\u00a0 The experiences in my own congregation have persuaded me that nothing is more likely to improve the world than conversion to the beliefs I have treasured all my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a scholar, I know full well the doubts of agnostics.\u00a0 I know that the scientific worldview, now dominant among intellectuals, appears to exclude traditional belief.\u00a0 I have dealt with the arguments against belief all my life.\u00a0 But over against these, I place my own intimate experience of goodness among the Latter-day Saints.\u201d\u00a0 (Why I Believe<\/i> [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 2002], 42)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My experience has been very much like his.\u00a0 I\u2019m a better person, and life is better, when \u2014 to use a Latter-day Saint idiom \u2014 I\u2019m in tune with the Spirit. \u00a0My critics are unquestionably right, of course: I\u2019m a horrifically bad person. \u00a0But they should be grateful for the Church and its teachings because, otherwise, I would certainly be even worse<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The third is from a poem entitled \u201cFinding Place,\u201d which was written by the contemporary Latter-day Saint poet Doug Talley<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this life we find the peaceable kingdom<\/span>
\nwithin, then above, beneath, and all around.<\/span>
\nWhat can a person driven by grandiosity<\/span>
\nknow of the quiet, hidden God found here?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Precisely.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

(I hope that I\u2019ve gotten the lines right.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Tel Aviv, Israel<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for dinner, and hold an orientation meeting with our group.\u00a0 Ten of them have arrived without their luggage; I hope that that problem can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nShalom from Tel Aviv<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shalom from Tel Aviv\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-27T19:32:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/11\/Israel_Tel-Aviv_5174292697.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html\",\"name\":\"Shalom from Tel Aviv\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-27T19:32:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-27T19:32:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shalom from Tel Aviv\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shalom from Tel Aviv","description":"    Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shalom from Tel Aviv","og_description":"    Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2022-10-27T19:32:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/11\/Israel_Tel-Aviv_5174292697.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html","name":"Shalom from Tel Aviv","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-10-27T19:32:56+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-27T19:32:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Well, we finally made it to Tel Aviv.\u00a0 About thirty hours late.\u00a0 We had time to put our luggage in our room, grab a quick bite to eat for","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/shalom-from-tel-aviv.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shalom from Tel Aviv"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}