A remarkable jewel in Washington state

For many years there was a Skagit County 300-acre dairy farm owned by a couple with a family. As the couple grew older, they decided to sell the farm.

There was a man in Seattle who was interested in the purchase of a farm.

His name was Rabbi Raphael Levine of Temple de Hirsch.

He was born in Lithuania.

When he enrolled in school he was mocked and insulted for being Jewish.

About age seven he and his family immigrated to America.

Then he went to school and experienced the same insults and mockery for being Jewish as he did in Lithuania.

The young Jewish boy was sad over the treatment he received.

He pondered a lot about it and decided that the children who insulted him were simply repeating what they heard their parents say.

He decided, as an adult, he would like to buy a farm where young people could meet and enjoy life with each other and stop insulting one another.

The rabbi and I had been friends for fourteen years on a television program on Sunday evenings.

One day he asked me to drive to Mount Vernon with him.

He said, “I want to buy a farm.” I was completely surprised, as I felt he knew nothing about farming.

On the way he told me the vision he had if we purchased the farm.

I was thoroughly in union with him in trying to bring people together.

I decided to partner with him in the purchase of the farm, which we did.

Then we began to realize the challenges trying to bring about the rabbi’s vision.

We were fortunate that his wife knew the professor of architecture at the University of Washington.

She approached him and he was enthusiastic about the idea.

He agreed to ask the seniors to design a lodge for 60 or 70 people with dining room, etc.

Seven agreed to accept the challenge.

He promised to grade them on their work.

The old farmhouse was still on the farm.

The students would come up for a couple of days a week and stay at the farmhouse, get their meals, and construct the lodge.

After a year, the lodge was finished in 1968.

We averaged about a hundred people per weekend from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. The most special group we hosted, for three years in a row, were pre-teens from Palestine and Israel. There were about fifteen in each group. Three times a day they ate their meals togeher. It was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life.

Special recognition should be given to the parents of those pre-teens who were willing to send their children 10,000 miles away so that they might become friends instead of enemies. I consider that experience one of the most significant efforts to promote peace among those who are divided. The staff did not interfere with the discussions. I asked a young girl, age 13, what she expected to find. She looked at me and said, sadly, “I want to know why they shot my grandfather coming out of the mosque.” Hopefully, trust in facing difficult questions helped to promote peace and understanding.

This is my hope for peace between Israel and Palestine.

Father Tracey will be 103 years old later this month.