Now, its Saturday

It's been another 24 hours since our last update but we're essentially the same. We are still safe and taking the necessary precautions.

Saturday is a day off for us so we have been reading and surfing the internet. The events all around he world only bring into sharper focus why it is so important that all of us do what we can to make this world a more loving place.

It's Friday afternoon and we're still fine

It's Friday at 2:30pm (7:30am est) and we just wanted to write that although there was another attack on Haifa, we are fine. As always, we are taking all necessary precautions and will continue to do so until the situation has been resolved.

Some thoughts

As most people around the world, we have been thinking a lot about the situation that is happening in the Middle East and wanted to share some of our thoughts.

It is so important for people to realize that the Baha'i faith is entirely non-political and therefore we take no position on the situation here - or anywhere else in the world. The aim of the Baha'i faith is the establishment of peace and justice for all people, and we believe that this can only come about as each of us works to overcome our prejudices and accept each other as members of one family. The Baha'i Writings state: "The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established."

This is what we are doing here and why we want to stay. Above all we feel confident in our hearts that unity in the world will happen as long as each of us does our part, however small it may be.

We wanted to share this prayer that explains our heart-felt hope for humanity:

O Thou kind Lord! Thou hast created all humanity from the same stock. Thou hast decreed that all shall belong to the same household. In Thy Holy Presence they are all Thy servants, and all mankind are sheltered beneath Thy Tabernacle; all have gathered together at Thy Table of Bounty; all are illumined through the light of Thy Providence.

O God! Thou art kind to all, Thou hast provided for all, dost shelter all, conferrest life upon all. Thou hast endowed each and all with talents and faculties, and all are submerged in the Ocean of Thy Mercy.

O Thou kind Lord! Unite all. Let the religions agree and make the nations one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth as one home. May they all live together in perfect harmony.

O God! Raise aloft the banner of the oneness of mankind.

O God! Establish the Most Great Peace.

Cement Thou, O God, the hearts together.

O Thou kind Father, God! Gladden our hearts through the fragrance of Thy love. Brighten our eyes through the Light of Thy Guidance. Delight our ears with the melody of Thy Word, and shelter us all in the Stronghold of Thy Providence.

Thou art the Mighty and Powerful, Thou art the Forgiving and Thou art the One Who overlooketh the shortcomings of all mankind.


Baha'i Writings

A good article on the situation in Haifa for Baha'is

It's thursday at 3pm (8am est) and again there is not much to report. Life seems to be getting more normal as each day passes.

If you want to get a better sense of what it is like here, this is a link to a news article that does a pretty good job of describing life here for the Baha'is in Haifa:

Bahai faithful unshaken by rockets in Israel

Wednesday afternoon

It's now Wednesday afternoon. At the risk of sounding redundant, we are still safe and working to keep focused on our work.

Still here in Haifa

It's now Tuesday at 3:30pm (8:30am est). For the most part it has been a quiet 24 hours. Christine and I had a very good sleep last night and went to work this morning. Of course we remain vigilant for the possibility for any problems -- and can respond accordingly -- but at the same time we feel very safe. Most of all I am so happy that I came back from NY a day earlier.

It's so different being here than in the States and watching it all on tv. Seeing the news (or reading the reports on the web) doesn't really give a balanced view since news outlets have a need to keep people updated on things that may have happened as much as 24 hours ago -- so, often its hard to keep straight when one thing or another has occurred. In the end this blurring of the events makes things appear far more serious than they feel in real time.

Speaking of which, you may have heard about another rocket attack on Haifa today and again I can tell you that there were no casualties and did not occur where we are.

A quiet afternoon and night

It's now 10:30pm in Haifa (3:30pm est) and its been pretty quiet since this afternoon. We had a nice dinner this evening and have spent some time watching tv -- and not the news!!

We're both getting pretty sleepy and tomorrow is another work day. Although we are aware of what is going on north of us, there are still other things that can be done that we have control over and after all thats what we came for.

Still fine

Its just after 3pm Haifa time (that's 8am in NY) and although CNN is reporting about a new attack on Haifa, again I can happily assure you that Christine and I are still fine. As I mentioned yesterday, Israelis are quite prepared for this kind of thing and there are safe shelters all over the city. I'll write more later.

Brian is back in Haifa and everything seems calm here

I just arrived back in Haifa a few minutes ago and wanted to let everyone know that everything seems calm here.

It has been an interesting 24 hours since I decided to get back here. I had a conference in New York City this past weekend and was scheduled to come back to Haifa on Tuesday night -- but since all of this was happening I wanted to get back with Christine asap. So I went to the airport at Newark at 2pm on Sunday to see if I could catch an earlier flight. They were nice enough to waive the $100 reschedule fee and i had just enough time to call the people who were expecting me on Sunday night and Monday and get to the gate for the flight.

Since I had been up from 3am Sunday morning(when I first heard of the missle hitting Haifa), I pretty much passed out right after dinner and woke up about an hour out of Tel Aviv. The biggest problem was catching a sherut (minivan taxi) because we had only 3 people that wanted to go to Haifa. After about an hour and half we got two more -- we paid the guy twice the fare (since the van usually holds 10 and he needed to make the full rate) and we were off. The nice part is that he dropped me off right at the front door of our apartment and we had a very nice visit with the other people on the sherut--all of whom had their own story on why they are returning to the Northern part of Israel right now.

Well, I've got to take a shower and up to see Christine. As I mentioned, we will do our best to keep you updated on this blog, but I can tell you that the difference between watching this on CNN and being here is dramatic -- everything here seems calm and quiet. The birds are still singing and the Baha'i Gardns are as beautiful as ever.

Most of all I'm happy to be home!!

Christine is fine!

Just wanted to let you all know that I just spoke with Christine on the phone and she is fine. She said that the missile struck a long way from her. I'm going to see if I can get a flight to Haifa today so I can be there with her.

We're safe

I'm sure that all of you are anxious about our saftey in Israel, but I just wanted to assure you that everyone appears to be safe at the Baha'i World Centre. This is Brian and I am actually in NYC for a weekend conference for work -- but I woke up at 3am on Sunday morning and saw on cnn that there was a missle that hit Haifa overnight. Sunday is a work day there so i tried to call Christine about an hour ago and although I was unable to speak with her, the person i spoke with told me that everyone is fine. Israel has a very good emergency preparedness system so everyone there will be able to take cover if needed. I feel very confident that she is ok but as soon as I speak with her in person, I'll post another message here.

By the way, I should mention that if you try to call Christine you will probably not have much success since the phone lines are pretty tied up -- but I will do everything I can to update this blog with new information as I get it and will be returning to Israel on Monday evening.

Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes.