An Interfaith Tour of Jerusalem

Hello, friends.

Take young Jews living in Jerusalem for a semester or more, studying Judaism on a deep level every day. Offer them the opportunity to take a tour of the Old City, but one focused only on Christianity and Islam--not about Judaism at all. How many will take you up on the offer?

Apparently, more than the number of spots available for a walking tour through the narrow cobblestoned streets of the Old City.

Last month, I was so excited to organize an interfaith tour for students of my yeshiva. It was funded by a grant from the Russell Berrie Foundation (the group that sent me to Rome), and was part of the ACWAY network (the group that sent me to Morocco). My thinking when applying for the grant had been that my peers would be so heavily entrenched in their Jewish learning at our school that many might not find the opportunity to push beyond and learn about the other religious narratives in that land. I felt that it would be wrong for these future Jewish leaders to have spent a year in Israel, and not be able to at least basically speak to the importance of the country and Jerusalem specifically to Christianity and Islam. So I wanted to at least offer that opportunity.

Our group, with the Dome of the Rock in the background

And it turned out amazingly, which was due only in very small part to me and instead in very large part to the interest and deep engagement of those who participated. I was amazed by the excitement of those who chose to come, and the fact that we even had to turn a few people away because of the high interest. I already knew my peers at Pardes were intelligent and analytical, but seeing the dedication these individuals showed to learning about other religious groups during our tour was an amazing thing to see.

Also, the way weekends work in Israel is that they were Friday-Saturday--but for many of my peers, they were observing Shabbat from Friday evening-Saturday night. So our only "free" part of the weekend for something like this would be a Friday morning, since the rest of the days we were in class. These lovely folks gave up their brief free time to come learn about other religions. So much happiness! I was quite excited that morning, I'm sure they can all attest to 8 a.m. Allyson bouncing around the Old City with a huge grin on my face and a ton of energy.

Fr. Russ McDougall speaking to our group

We had a fantastic, upbeat tour guide to lead us, we learned about the theological backgrounds of Christianity and Islam, we spoke with a Catholic priest and with a Muslim professor, we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and saw Al-Aqsa Mosque from above, we talked about these religious communities in the land, and we had lunch (yum). As I knew I would be reporting on the tour to the Foundation, I asked participants to complete a pre- and post-tour survey, and the response was overwhelmingly positive in terms of participants feeling they learned a great deal in our few hours together. A poster I made about the tour was also displayed at the G20 Interfaith Summit in Berlin this month, even though I was unfortunately not able to make it over for that meeting myself. The following week at school, even people who had not been able to attend were asking about the tour--people at Pardes were really committed to the vision of learning about other faiths. It was a great cap to my year in the Middle East!

Please note Allyson in Middle-East-appropriate attire in the hot sun. Hot. So hot.

I have now left Jerusalem, and am starting on new adventures already...and surprise, interfaith has already started factoring in. Exciting times ahead!

Now, go out and love one another.

<3,
Allyson