The Urfeld Circle as a Parable – Between Reality and Hope*
The Urfeld Circle is love
Naive and truthful love among people
Lost love that was reignited suddenly
Within innocent hearts.
The Urfeld Circle came to be out of a pillar of smoke
A human pillar of smoke carried high up into the sky.
The smoke of hatred, murder and destruction became in the Urfeld Circle
A pillar of blessing carried jointly to God's doorsteps.
The Urfeld Circle is spirit and faith
The good spirit that burst out of the depth of faith
Floated and then landed with a silent sigh
On the shoulders of those seated around a table and a lake.
The Urfeld Circle is a dialogue
A dialogue between old, tough opponents
A close, heated, intimate dialogue
Between people who lost… and found…
The Urfeld Circle is the impossible,
It is a bond beyond all rational thinking
Between people, religions and nations
That a lake, a sea and wilderness lie between them.
The Urfeld Circle is friendship
A friendship of unexpected truth
With deep roots of faith
Between brothers who went to battle and came back.
The Urfeld Circle is a reverberation
That reverberated silently over the surface
Rose, spread out and cried until it evolved
Into a music and a song that resonated in the heart.
The Urfeld Circle is a thought
A pure and pristine thought
That is carried now on the wings
Of wisdom and the hope it enables.
The Urfeld Circle is a work of art
A work of art created in the "palace of togetherness"
Through the human warmth that flowed among the seated
Who turned destruction and holocaust into a masterpiece of "Shevet Achim"**
The Urfeld Circle is light
The light of dawn breaking through morning mists over the lake
Black mist that turns into light
The dawning light of the faith in goodness.
The Urfeld Circle is a way of life
An antique forgotten old way
A way that was lost for a generation, for generations
And was jointly discovered as the "King's highway"***.
The Urfeld Circle is fire
An ancient fire that burnt and destroyed
A fire that was rekindled in the hearts
That became the fire of hope and the light of mankind.
The Urfeld Circle is taste and smell
The taste of fresh simple bread
Eaten together each morning afresh,
Around a shared table.
The Urfeld Circle is like good wine,
A drop of old wine that was lost and survived
A drop from an ocean of dried up tears
Became a drop of Kidush wine and shared blessing.
But above all,
The Urfeld Circle is love
Love that was suddenly rekindled
In the hearts of the innocent through faith
In the divine glimmer within their hearts.
Yair Palgi, 3.3.09
* On the occasion of the inauguration of the "The Chair for the Theology of the People of God" in the Pontificat Lateran University, Rome, I was asked to explain to "innocent" students, what is the Urfeld Circle.
** Psalms, 20,17, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity
*** Numbers, 20, 17 (we will go along the king's highway, we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left)