Prologue
A specific theme keeps recurring in my life: I sort out and tend to grow through my encounters with different cultures. I was born the eldest of five sons of Holocaust survivors and had a reform Jewish upbringing, as far as that was possible in a small village in the Netherlands. After high school I moved to Jerusalem, studied Psychology, joined the Israeli army, became a Human Rights activist, and studied Business Administration. These are some of the changes in my life involving engulfment in a different culture. Each of these changes resulted in major socio-cultural challenges – expressing themselves in emotional, cognitive and behavioral realms. Consequently, each change provided an opportunity for personal growth. Some of the changes also primed me for social activism.
Friendships have been a specific and important part of these intercultural encounters. In the last decade, I am friends with a Bedouin man, a Muslim Palestinian. He lives just a few minutes driving from my home in Jerusalem, but on the other side of the separation wall and in a highly different socio-cultural and political environment. His worldview is in many ways opposite to mine, complementary and empowering. He too went through extensive transformation in his life, from a childhood in the desert to obtaining a university degree. The friendship is a struggle against restrictions of various kinds: socio-political, geographical, cultural and mental. It endures tremendous social pressures and has been extremely challenging for both of us. Nevertheless, it provides us with new insights and greatly enriches our lives.
