A Bridge Between the Past and the Future: Celebrating David Miscavige’s Opening of the Tel Aviv Ideal Org on Its 12th Anniversary
“This center … represents our recognition that all religions hold central truths in common and thus may work together to achieve the common dream of universal brotherhood.”
So saying, David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, cut the ribbon on the new Tel Aviv Center of Scientology—the first Ideal Scientology Organization (Ideal Org) in the Middle East—12 years ago today.
Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard defined an Ideal Org as “an activity where people came to achieve freedom and where they had confidence they would attain it.”
In keeping with Mr. Hubbard’s dream, the Center was designed to serve the Church’s growing membership in Israel, and is the home base for Scientology-sponsored humanitarian programs throughout the lands encompassing what was once known as the Fertile Crescent.
On that day in August 2012, over 2,000 Scientologists from Israel and 27 nations gathered to celebrate not just the opening of a new Scientology Center, but also the reawakening of hope for brotherhood among faiths and peoples.
Tel Aviv, by its very nature, is a combination of the old and the new, past and future. It was born on the sand dunes north of the ancient Arab-Jewish port city of Jaffa in 1909 and was named in the spirit of brotherhood. The Hebrew word tel means “mound” or “accumulation of layers of civilization over many years.” Aviv means “spring,” with all the newness, hope and rebirth that season implies. Hence, the city’s name itself combines the past and the future.
“You will mark a turning point for not just the entire Israeli society, but for all of the Middle East.”
Tel Aviv’s older neighboring sister, Jaffa, had already been conquered, ravaged and subjugated over the millennia by no less than a dozen and a half rulers, ranging from the Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Babylonians and Persians to the current Ottoman Empire.
Tel Aviv was not, then, conceived as just a dwelling place or as a gateway to the then-larger town of Jaffa. It was to be a bridge between the past and the future—between a past filled with violence and strife and a future of respect and cooperation among peoples despite their outward differences.
That symbolism of old conflicts (the tel) giving way to a new springtime (aviv) of understanding as represented by the opening of the new Ideal Org of Tel Aviv was not lost on the various dignitaries, local and national, who addressed the gathering of thousands that summer day.
A biblical scholar and author summed up the significance of the occasion, saying, “I believe Scientology is the only religion that can create a connection or even affinity between the different faiths and the only one that can relieve the tension between religions…. In so doing you will mark a turning point for not just the entire Israeli society, but for all of the Middle East.”
The Office of the Prime Minister Director for the Bedouin Sector cited the Center’s contributions to the community and the Middle East: “You teach man his rights, you prevent drugs in schools, you take care to build up the individual and you inspire kindness toward one another.”
The Senior Coordinator on the Status of Minority Women, Office of the Prime Minister, spoke about the Church’s non-religious, common sense guide to better living, The Way to Happiness, and the effect it has wherever it is spread. “We have this tool to spread to the minds and hearts of people not politics, but something that touches the heart of children, youth, adults, all genders, all religions, all races,” she said. “We can defeat racism, hatred and fear.”
A stone’s throw from ancient Jaffa, where the footsteps of holy men and the hoofbeats of armies once echoed, Mr. Miscavige’s message of hope has as much impact today as it had over a decade ago: “From this day hence, it becomes your mission and destiny to extend our help across this legendary land. Let it be done in the spirit of Scientology so that your help is freely given, because it is all about freedom. And let it be done with supreme dedication, because only in that way we will realize the Aims of Scientology and thus a world without insanity, without criminality, without war—a world where the able can prosper, where honest beings have rights and all are free to rise to greater heights.”
