Fire in the Olive Grove
Meeting with the President of Israel
Anna Sokolow
Jerusalem 1979–81 I had the good fortune to meet, study and work with Anna Sokolow-the first dancer to leave Martha Graham Dance Company, spread her wings wide and take flight into her uncompromising lifelong devotion to the development of her lyrical dance style.
I was living in the Monastery of the Holy Cross at the time. It is a castle-like fortress smack in the middle of the New Jerusalem city. It is the place where the timber for the cross used to crucify Jesus is said to have originated. It is situated in a valley surrounded by the Knesset building (Israeli Parliament building), the Israel Museum, and the Presidential Palace.
I visited the monastery and got to know the resident a monk named Narkissos. What a coincidence that his name would be Narkissos… My dance studios were less than 300 metres away! He was the only monk there at the time and I was asked to stay as an added element of security for them. I was given my own room, the keys to the castle, and 3 meals a day.
There was an incident in Nablus earlier that month where a monk who later became a saint; Philoumenos the friar at the monastery of Jacobs Well was murdered in his own church by a very disturbed Israeli. So Narkissos was feeling vunerable because there was no telephone in the monastery. Permission was given by the Patriarch for me to live there as security. The nearest telephone was 200 yards away. My job consisted of running to the payphone and calling for help if anything should happen. “What could happen? I thought.
I soon learned of the land the Knesset and the Presidential Palace were occupying, was actually owned by the monastery and was leased to Israel. One day some Jewish youth set fire to the monastery’s olive grove. The fire brigade was very late to arrive. They were more concerned with making sure the fire did not spread beyond the Monastery property. This made me very sad and angry.
Shortly after this event I was walking home when a limousine stopped beside me and Anna Sokolow’s head popped out. She told me to get in, so I can escort her to visit the President. I told her I cannot do that, since I was dressed in my t-shirt and blue jeans and was carrying a plastic bag with my dirty dance clothes from the day’s rehearsal. I also told her I was very hungry because I had nothing to eat all day. She told me not to worry because I would be with her and there is food there. “Food” was the magic word! I got in the limo and drove off the meet the President Yitzak Navon.
We were waved right through the main gate and walked up the lawn to where President Yitzhak Navon was standing with his wife (my dirty laundry remained in the limo). He was presiding over a performance of Inbal (a Yemenite Jewish dance troupe originally trained and supported by Anna many years before). Anna Sokolow was the honorary guest. The event was a fundraiser aimed at representatives of the UJA of America. Anna took me right up to the President and introduced me using my full name Athanasius. He asked me if I was Jewish. “I am Greek and I came to study dance here in Israel. In fact we are neighbours.” I said. He asked me where I lived. “In the monastery of the Holy Cross down the street” I replied. He was impressed that I lived in that great castle. I said yes it is Greek Orthodox. He revealed to me his desire see the inside. I told him I would be happy to give him a personal tour.
I look around his garden and said: “I see that your olive trees are better cared for than our own in the Monastery.” He very proudly said: “Yes I have an excellent gardener and we make sure they are well maintained.” I then thanked him for taking such good care of them because those olive trees were also planted by Greek Orthodox monks from the monastery. In fact”… Anna knowing full well the circumstances surrounding the recent burning of the olive grove of the Monastery and my distress over it interrupted me and told the President I was very, very, hungry. The President then very kindly suggested to his wife that she take me to the buffet and prepare a plate because as soon as he finishes the speech everyone will descend to the food like a pack of hungry wolves. She prepared for me a large plate with all the trimmings as well as a huge plate of desserts.
I can imagine how I must have looked with my plate on my knees as I sat on a chair. I wolfed it down and then I just wanted to leave. No attention to what was going on around me. Anna was busy being introduced and I told her I had to go home now. I was very upset.
After this very gracious show of hospitality we departed. I asked Anna why she had interrupted me. I was going to tell him of the sadness and anger I felt when a large number of our olive trees were burned a few weeks earlier. She told me it was a good thing she interrupted me because I was talking to the President of Israel as if he was my gardener.
“Not only is he my gardener but he is also my tenant because the land his house is built on is leased from the Greek Orthodox Church. I was truly happy that his olive trees on the property are so well taken care of, unlike our own that are being burned.” I replied deffiantly. She then told me that it may be true but you do not speak that way to the President of Israel.
She being the Grand Old lady of dance and quite a rebel in her own right, appreciated my rebellious nature. We became even closer and she included me in her choreography for the musical “Hanna Shenesh” for the Haifa Theatre. It was the true story of a very brave young Jewish woman living in Palestine at the time, who volunteered to parachute into occupied Europe and work for the resistance movement helping Jews escape. She was captured, tortured and executed shortly before the end of WWII.
Needless to say my forthrightness brought me some unwanted attention from the police, and the following days I was often stopped at night on my way to the monastery by plainclothes security and asked the same questions: “Who are you?” “Where do you live?” “What are you doing here?” My answer ws always the same: “I am Greek I live in the monastery and I dance for Anna Sokolow.” After looking at my passport they would let me continue. I didn’t think much of it. Security was always very tight in Jerusalem.
A week later Narkissos asked me what happened with the President of Israel in a very concerned manner. I pretended I did not know what he was talking about at first. “I don’t know him” I replied quickly. “Did you not meet with him?” Narkissos asks me now more urgently. “No how could I meet with him? No!” He looked at me with a stern look, so I had to come clean. “Oh yes! Now I remember! I went to see a dance performance the Presidential Palace and a did briefly see him but I did not really meet him.” I responded carefully so that I didn’t lie to him. “Did you say something to him?” He insists on knowing all the details. “No nothing!” I quickly reply as I began to feel my spine tingling as I began to feel there was ominous news coming my way. “Anything else?” Narkissos asked “No nothing” I reply again. “Oh but wait! I did remark at how well taken care of his olive trees were.” trying to look really innocent. “Anything else? he says with a more stern look in his eyes. “Oh yes, I did tell him these olive trees were planted by Greek Orthodox monks… and that we were neighbours” Why are you asking me all these questions? What’s wrong?” The Patriarch called him in and wanted to know what you said to the President. Then he gave me the bad news… “The Israelis were asking a lot of questions about you and you are no longer allowed to live here.” My permit to live there was rescinded. I protested. What if something happens who will run to the telephone booth down the street to call for help? Will the Patriarch send someone else for security?” I asked. “No he will not” Father Narkissos said with his irritation evident in his every word. After a few moments of silence which were more like a Mexican standoff, he told me I could still come to eat but not stay overnight. I still had a job gardening and I had enough money to rent a room nearby.
I had to move out, because the monastery and its inhabitants needed to maintain a very low profile and I had quickly become a bit of a celebrity.
I could still go and eat there during the day. So I rented a room close by and moved out, but continued to visit for lunch and dinner.
I began to feel my time in Israel was running out. Flora took a the job as the new artistic director of Mudra. Anna returned to New York.
I was dancing but making no money from it. I made a living by buying ancient Greek silver coins from Palestinians and Bedouin in the West Bank, and selling them in Greece, the UK and Canada. Living in a Monastery in Jerusalem right beside the Israeli Parliament building enabled me to pursue dance with a passion without too much worry about finances.
I was also on tour with Anna Sokolow to military bases performing in the Hanna Shenesh musical for the graduates of the special forces and pilots. The Israeli youth at the time were looking to move to Europe or America. I stood out like a sore thumb. Why would anyone decide to relocate to Jerusalem who was not Jewish?
A year later there was nothing left that interested me artistically and I moved out of Israel, vowing never to return unless I was welcomed with a red carpet. In July 1982 I left Israel to return to Canada but first I had some unfinished business in New York…
The red carpet appeared 15 years later in 1996 and I returned to Jerusalem… see link
https://medium.com/my-naked-truth/jahrusalem-3001-ad9553cfb3a5
