Rabbi S-K's Interfaith Clergy Israel Trip

Wednesday May 8

I had such good intentions about blogging my way through Israel. Unfortunately ICJS and BJC did far too good a job filling our heads and hearts each day so that by the time I reached my room, there was not a drop of energy left for writing. But as the ancient Rabbis believed, "ein mukdam v'ein meuchar baTorah" "there is no earlier and there is no later in the Torah" or in other words, who cares  about the chronology - what matters is the meaning.

On that note - some highlights and moments of meaning in roughly the order they happened, but only roughly:

In Haifa we visted Beit HaGefen (house of the vine) where Muslims, Christians, Bahai and Jews find various means of dialoge and sharing their own visions of the world with each other. The director, Asaf Ron (who was the shaliach in West Hartford, CT when I was a rabbi there) believes that fear is the biggest barrier to living in true haromny with one another because fear means people cannot see the person standing in front of them, only the stereotypes they've learned. Through art, conversations, and shared festivals,Beti haGefen is beginning to break down those walls. I was thrilled to hear from an Ahmaddiyah Imam because that is the community of Muslims who have established themselves just across the street from BHC. I deeoply admire their opennes and willingness to share and listen.

Despite high hopes, that's all I can manage tonight - a ten day lack of sleep is crashing down on me and no way to stop it. more highlights tomorrow.

Lhitraot, (See you later)