We pulled up to a small village known as Bar’am, home to a population of Maronite Christians living less than two miles away from the Lebanese border in northern Israel. As we listened to the story of a man named Shadi, we started to understand the history of his people and their quest for recognition. On the other side of the mountain behind a small church, there lay a population ready to remove all traces of the Aramaic people. The ruins of what was once a bustling town payed homage to the fight to survive among such a hostile environment during an era in which it was under Lebanese control.
Realizing that so many of these people were refugees fleeing persecution in Iraq and Syria, I couldn’t help but focus on the immense human propensity for sin and chaos. We live in a culture so far removed from outright acts of terror, so far removed from religious persecution, so far from the people who consider us to be Satan on earth. And yet, a few miles away, Shadi would not be able to speak to us the way he did for fear of the consequences. Israel is a safe haven for the freedom to live and to worship. Where else in the Middle East might one stand outside with a group of people and sing the glories of Christ? Where else might one see a Christmas tree next to a mosque with signs in Hebrew? The freedom for democratic thought is not allowed under Sharia law. In Shadi’s words, the need “to differentiate what is good” is vital to understanding the complex relationships characterizing this region.
However, though we glimpse the nature of the danger and distorted worldviews surrounding the country of Israel and the city of Bar’am, we also learn from these people who are the epitome of resilience. I see a language, near dead for hundreds of years, being brought back to life. I see a people group that has been in diaspora for two thousand years being brought back to land. I see a hope for a future that is not grounded in fear and misunderstanding, but one that is set on God’s promise for deliverance. We can learn a lot from this purposeful and vibrant life that the Aramaic population is partaking in.
Ms. Rodi is a senior studying biochemistry.
