CPTnet
14 March 2006

HEBRON: The piper's pipe dream--Tom Fox's vision for Hebron

by Dianne Roe

My last conversation with Tom Fox was in December 2004 in Hebron. We went
to church together in Jerusalem, and then, as we rode back to Hebron, he
shared with us a vision he had for Hebron's Old City.

"Why not turn one of these empty storefronts into a safe space for all
people?" he asked. As we left the service taxi and walked toward our
apartment, we looked at the empty buildings. "Muslims, Christians, and Jews
could meet together in one of these places," Tom said.

We later walked down Shuhada Street where the Israeli army welded the
Palestinian storefronts shut, turning the buildings themselves into a
separation wall. The only chance Israelis have to meet the Palestinians who
live in these locked buildings near the CPT apartment is when the
Palestinians go to their balconies. Tom saw these closed storefronts and
looked for something better.

Pipe dreams, I thought, even though his sharing uplifted me and helped me
find hope. How can we make that happen here?

On Saturday, March 11, 2006, the Hebron team heard news of Tom's death. We
made copies of Tom's picture as he played the recorder and carried them with
us to a vigil in Hebron with the words, "Play on, Tom." I longed to hear
Tom's music again and hear the prophetic voice of our CPT piper.

One of the empty buildings is across from our apartment. The Shaheen
family, relatives to our landlord, moved out involuntarily when the Israeli
army declared the area closed. In 1929, the Shaheens risked their lives to
save their Jewish neighbors. The Shaheen men and women turned their home
into a place of refuge more than seventy-five years ago. Now the Shaheen
descendants and their former Jewish neighbors, the Mizrachis, are hoping for
reunions. Is it possible that together we can fulfill Tom's prophecy and
turn our neighborhood into a place of refuge?

When Moses was in Moab before he died, he spoke to the Israelites, asking
them to designate six cities to serve as refuge for the Israelites, for the
resident or the transient alien among them (Numbers 35:15). Those who
followed him named Hebron one of those cities of refuge. Those of us who
have listened to Tom Fox in Hebron look for ways to carry out the vision of
Moses and of Tom.