From "Besa Land" to Promise Land
From Albania to Israel—Friendship Essay
January 31, 2010
Project: Minor Principle Application
Submitted to: Dr. Franco Gandolfi
Course: BMBA 612—Human Systems and Commerce
Author: Mr. Genard Hajdini
Tirana, Albania
January, 2010
E-mail:
[email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 3
Besa Land 5
Promise Land 6
Conclusion 7
Works Cited 8
CONTACT INFORMATION 9
Introduction
"And he (Noah) said: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem, and may
Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the
tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servant."
~Genesis 9:26-27
This is the story of two ancient nations: one descendents of Japheth
to Dodanim the coastland people, to Pelasgian, to Illyrians, to Albanians;
and the other to Shem, to Peleg, to Nahor, to Terah, to Abraham, to Isaac,
to Jacob, to 12 sons and tribes of Israel (Jacob's sons), 10 lost tribes in
the world and Judah and Benjamin today in Israel.
It was spring of 1994 where I met with the Gudoritch couple, the
first Jewish people to have known up to that point. They were both
archeologists and had come to Albania to see the archeological sites in our
country. I was happy to accompany them as a guide, although a teenager
myself. We went to Kruja, the birthplace of Gjergj Kastrioti (also known as
Scanderbeg 1405-1468). Then, we went to Shkodra in the northwest, where I
was born as well. They taught me about the comparative advantage that
Albania had at that time on good cheese, olives, beer, organic food, and
water. They preferred certain foods and fish. They promised that the
following year they would organize a bus full of Jewish people to visit
Albania, if I would be their guide. It was flattering, but before that
dream could become a reality, I ended up going the following year in July
25, 1995 in the United States for my senior year of high school to another
part-Jewish family: the Harmon family. They are truly a harmony, since all
of these family members enjoy singing and praising the LORD in the worship
team at church. I was taught by the host father of the family how to walk
with God, listen and converse with Him. He told me to walk like Enoch, a
man of faith, and be a friend of God, since God wants relationship with
man, that is why we were created. While, I attended Oral Roberts University
(ORU), thanks to TELED International who made possible my coming over to
United States of America, little did I know that its President Dr. Don D.
Petry who had come in Tirana, Albania for the first time in the conference:
"Free to Learn" on November 1991, and had the audacity to bring the first
Albanian flag without the five point communist star, flag that was hanged
afterwards in the democratic parliament after 22 March 1992 free elections
in the last 50 years of Communism—it was finally Jubilee year for Albania;
would become my mentor and spiritual father on my pathway to Christian
education.
At ORU, I met a lot of many people from many nations, since I become
the International Students Organization's President for two consecutive
years. Once, a Jewish lawyer invited me at his home together with my sister
who was studying in high school across ORU, during Passover Day as they
called what I knew as Easter. It was quite an experience: the radish plant,
the unleavened bread, the wine or grape-juice cup, and the kosher meal. I
was thankful to have known this other part of Jewish culture.
The Jews gave to the world the Torah, and the Bible. Moses who led
his people out of Egypt wrote down the Decalogue, the ten words, or the Ten
Commandments which are the basis of moral foundation of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. One Austrian Catholic theologian on our way back
from 7-9 November 2008 meeting in Paris, France, told me on Austrian
Airline flight seating across the isle: It would be better to think of the
ten words not as "you shall not do," but as "you need not to do." It is
more preventative to stop temptation if you think: "I need not to kill,
steal, covet, etc." Jews have given much to the world, as Albanians have
opened their hearts and homes for them.
Besa Land
"In mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that
from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum (Albania) I have fully preached
the gospel of Christ."
~Romans 15:19
Apostle Paul, a Jewish scholar under his Pharisee teacher Gamaliel who
was a leading authority of Sanhedrin in the first century A.D., preached
the gospel of good news from Jerusalem to Illyricum—Albania today. Little
is known about Albania, that it was the only nation in the world that did
not put any quotas on how many Jews could accept while they were running
away from Nazi Germany. Also, during World War II, no Jew has been
surrendered by the Albanian people to the Nazis, and all Jews over 2,500 of
them who came to hide in our country were safe and lived to go to their
Promise Land: Israel.
The Albanians in their history and proverbs talk a lot about certain
virtues, but almost two/thirds of it speaks about a word called: "Besa."
There is no word in English to describe this concept, but its meaning is "a
promise of a promise," or "the given word." The Jewish concept that
describes this concept is the Promised Son to Abraham, Isaac who was about
to become a living sacrifice in the land of Moriah, on a mountaintop. This
word "besa," or promise virtue of the Albanian people, become the guarantee
for the Jews living in our country. Just like when God asked Abraham to
offer Isaac, Albania a mountainous country became synonymous to the place
of "The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, 'In the Mount of the
LORD it shall be provided" (Genesis 22:14). There is also an anecdotal
story about Albert Einstein that he actually had an Albania passport to get
out of Germany. I am not sure to its validity, but in the end we would be
proud to have helped the least of them.
Promise Land
"He who saves a life, saves an entire world."
~Talmud (Quoted in Schindler's List Movie)
"The acronym, ICHTHUS in Roman Letters is also the Greek word for
"fish" but it stands in Roman letters Iesous Christos THeou Uios Soter,
meaning 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour'" (Cahill, 1999, 255). Jesus, the
Anointed One (Messiah in Hebrew), came to save His people, the nation of
Israel. God's promise was given first to Abram in his land, in Ur of the
Chaldeans, who become Abraham: "Get out of your country, from your kindred
and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make
you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; I will bless
those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all
the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-3). Then later,
Moses led his people through 40 years of desert wondering to the Jordan
River, not crossing it but already passing the baton to Joshua, sun of Nun,
who led his people to the Promised Land of "milk and honey." Jesus was the
promise to save his people and the world (John 3:16), the Logos that was
since in the beginning of the world (John 1:1-14).
Conclusion
"The Jews gave us the Outside and the Inside—our outlook and our inner
life. We can hardly get up in the morning or cross the street without
being Jewish. We dream Jewish dreams and hope Jewish hopes. Most of
our best words, in fact—new, adventure, surprise; unique, individual,
person, vocation; time, history, future; freedom, progress, spirit;
faith, hope, justice—are the gifts of the Jews."
~Thomas Cahill, 1998, 240.
From Besa Land to Promise Land
Figure 2. Map of Albania.
Figure 3. Map of Israel.
Works Cited
Cahill, Thomas. 1998. The gifts of the Jews: how a tribe of desert nomads
changed the way everyone thinks and feels. New York: Doubleday. p. 240.
Cahill, Thomas. 1999. The World Before and After Jesus: Desire of the
everlasting hills. New York: Random House, Inc. p. 255.
The New King James Version. 1985. The Open Bible: expanded edition. New
York: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
CONTACT INFORMATION
© Copyright Genard Hajdini
2010
Institute of Public Health
Rruga: Aleksander Moisiu
Nr. 80
Tirana, Albania
Produced in Albania
January 31, 2010
All Rights Reserved
Websites: www.moh.gov.al
www.ishp.gov.al
E-mail:
[email protected]
Skype: genard1977
Tel. (W): 00-355-4-23-74-756
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