AU Wackerlin Center for Faith and Action

Monthly Musings

March 2006

Earlier this month, I was privileged to attend a short –an evening plus one full day – Jewish-Christian dialogue in Jerusalem.

The dialogue itself introduced me, as always, to interesting and brave people, who seek peace and understanding rather than narrow sectarian advantage. I was particularly appreciative of a conversation with a Jew who had emigrated from Russia twenty years ago. There, he had studied Hebrew and Talmudic studies and become a rabbi. Nowadays, he runs a bird sanctuary just outside Jerusalem, where he encourages visitors to care for both avian and human inhabitants of the land.

The second (and last!) evening I went for a walk in the old city with Danny, a student of mine from Cambridge days who is now training for the rabbinate and studying for a year in Israel. I hadn’t been to East Jerusalem since 1993 and was struck by its gentrification since then. Rich Jews from abroad have built apartments there, and the population seemed much more Jewish and less Arab than before. No doubt this was partially due to the fact that it was the festival of Purim, and many Jews were out and about, obeying their religious injunction to get drunk and have a good time.

Danny and I stood opposite the ruins of the western wall of the Temple, the Dome of the Rock and other holy sites and chatted about religion, Israeli politics, the future of the land, and a pile of other things. I wondered, as we spoke, how religion can be a part of the solution to the competing claims for truth and territory between Jew and Muslim. And, as a Christian, I lamented the exodus in recent years to the West of many Christian whose ancestors have lived in the Holy Land since the time of Jesus.

There are signs of hope for the future. Our walk took us past the Jerusalem YMCA which, since its foundation in 1878, has opened its doors to interfaith cooperation, and which still works with Jews, Muslims and Christians: www.jerusalemymca.org/ENG/Home/Home.html. I also thought of the wonderful work of Daniel Barenboim, the outgoing (Jewish) music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Edward Said, the distinguished Palestinian scholar who died fairly recently. This is a young orchestra made up of Jews and Arabs from various countries, who spend the summer based in Spain where, briefly in the medieval period, Jews, Christians and Muslims flourished in a wonderful culture. From Andalucía, the orchestra makes tours. Recently, it played Beethoven, Mozart and Elgar in Ramallah, Palestine. The DVD of the event does not shirk from presenting the difficulties attending that event. Yet it makes for gripping, troubling yet ultimately hopeful viewing. I recommend it warmly. Take a look at: www.barenboim-said.org/music.html.

— Martin Forward