Newsletter 33: The Templars

Dear friends and family, shalom,

Thanks to this terrible war, which I hope has now come to an end; the tourists cancelled and I was left unemployed.

This was a great opportunity to get back on my bicycle. I rode all over town and stopped for coffee at my favorite Ben Yehudah Str. Coffee and ice cream shop. It's just across from the cigar store and I wait until Friday comes around, which is the day I smoke my weekly cigar. Actually I take about 3 puffs per day, starting on Fridays. Usually the cigar lasts until Monday. I don't approve of smoking controlling me. I control the smoking and I'm very strict about this. If I don't manage to buy my Friday cigar then I don't smoke any cigar for that week. It's Friday or nothing for me.

Last Thursday I did my long planned tour of the German Colony of Jerusalem. I guided a group of government employees from the Government Statisticians office on a study mission.

The German Colony started out in the 19th century as a village of Christians who belonged to an organization called the Templars. The idealism of these people makes this neighborhood especially interesting.

The organization still exists, with important centers in Australia and in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Templars consider themselves the People of God and as such are obliged, just as the Jewish People, who also consider themselves the People of God, to live in the Land of God.

The Templars, in fact have adopted the Jewish ideal of the unity of the three concepts, namely: The People of God living in the Land of God according to the Law of God. In accordance with Christian belief they have replace the law of God with belief in Jesus.

Unlike other Christian groups who came to dominate the land and convert its inhabitants to Christianity by building impressive churches, schools and other institutions, the Templars, like the Jews came to colonize theLand of Israel. In fact their name, Templars, indicates their objective, namely to be the bricks for building the Temple. Each Templar sees himself as a brick and the colony he creates as the Temple of God. The Templefor them isn't a physical building but a spiritual situation exemplified by a life of creativity and morality.

Just like the Zionist Movement they bought land in Israel and carefully selected the first settlers according to occupation and devotion to the goal of building up the land. They were just as successful as the Jews of the Zionist Organization in achieving their aims.

Who can say what wonderful, positive new relationships would have developed between Christianity and Judaism, through the common goals of the Templars and the Jews, had the 2nd World War not shattered all hope of this.

During the 2nd World War the British Mandate Government expelled the Templars, as enemy aliens, to Australia and Germany.

Just as Jews living outside the Land of Isra