Thoughts from Rev. Bryan Wilkerson

We've seen a lot in a few days, but my favorite sites so far has been Capernaum, the fishing village Jesus called home for the early years of his ministry. The Sea of Galilee is more beautiful than I ever imagined. The ruins of the town are still there -- the foundation of homes that Jesus might have visited, the site of an ancient synagogue where Jesus taught and cast out a demon, and the rocky shoreline where Jesus might've had his first encounters with Simon Peter and Andrew.

I'll never read the gospels again without the scenes coming alive in my imagination!

In a similar way, I'll never read the newspaper accounts of something happening in Israel without picturing these people and places in my imagination. Having looked across the border to Hezbollah -- controlled Lebanon, and listened to the fear and frustration and the voice of local residents, both Jews and Arabs, have a deeper appreciation for the complexity and significance of this remarkable land.

Thoughts from Rev. Paul Shupe

What a joy it is been to talk theology with my Jewish and Christian colleagues! This trip, specifically the hours on the bus, has provided the ideal opportunity for deep theological sharing. We've spoken, of course, about what we have seen -- the sites that bring to mind for all of us the presence of the holy -- but it's wonderful, from positions of growing trust we have opened our lives to one another, sharing experiences, hopes and joys. The result has been a great bubbling stew of ideas and commitments -- a meal often satisfying, and most often kosher as well.

There have been surprises -- times when I discovered that I have more in common with the rabbis that with some of my fellow Christians for example. Similarly, there have been times when my expectations had been confirmed. But the most common experience for me has been to learn, and to discover that my new learning has enhanced my empathy for those who are different, while nurturing my own faith commitments.

There is no question that I have learned more about and from Judaism on this trip that I have ever previously understood, and that my own Christian faith is strengthened by the experience of learning in this wonderful way. I shall always be grateful to Christian colleagues on this trip, and rabbis and other Jews who have been so open, and especially to God, the one who is at the heart of our faiths and our faith.

Thoughts from Rev. Robert Randolph

When my friend William Hamilton suggested making this trip, I was immediately interested. I have visited Saudi Arabia and viewed Muslim holy sites from a distance. I had never visited Israel or the sites central to my own religious tradition.

Given the mix of Protestant and Catholics, Christians, Jews, religious and secular, the makeup of the group offered a healthy blend of perspectives, but given the sponsorship of the trip I expected the information to be slanted. After all, a Jewish organization taking Christians to Israel has a story to tell.

I was right, they have a story to tell but learning does not always conform to expectations. We all have stories to tell. In the first days, learning about one another took up a good deal of our time. Perspectives among the Christians varied and the Protestants and Catholics needed to update their notions of one another. The Evangelicals’ worldview rubbed against the world view of the United Church of Christ as did the Episcopal perspective and the academic perspective of the chaplain to the Institute.

And all the Christians needed to enroll again in Judaism 101. So have we learned? You bet!

Then there was Israel. And it is clear that we all suffer from knowledge that is partial and truths that are elusive. Halfway through the trip I'm aware that the paradoxes that I have seen are not easily resolved, e.g. the desire for peace and the need to use force to protect the peace.

The recognition of shared humanity occupies the same space as the recognition that there are those who wish to kill to serve their ideology. The recognition that politicians may intend good but are often no wiser than their constituents is jarring. Democracy is sometimes better served by those who do not respond to their constituents everywhere should. And that service cuts both ways.

By the time we leave a degree of clarity may have emerged from this world of paradox. I hope so. But for now I am confident that about several things:

1. I am wiser for this experience

2. Israel is here to stay but remains a work in progress

3. Those who wish for need to pay close attention to what is going on in Israel

4. The United States cannot disengage from the conflict with those who believe Israel has no right to exist

5. The key to the future is knowing the better the religious traditions that help make us whole for within those traditions are to be found, and resources that will lead to peace

Half the trip and a good bit of rhetoric! By the end of our time here I want a bit of clarity. If I find it, I'll let you know.

Photos! Day Three

Please note that we are trying to get some video on the blog as well.... slow connection speeds are making this challenging.

Meanwhile here are some photos!

On the 3rd day - Rev. Ken Baily

For Christians, this is an enormously important phrase. For our group of Jewish and Christian pilgrims it was a transformative period. Awaking in a kibbutz, we spent our first hours at the tip of the Northern "finger" of Galilee looking into Lebanon. from our vantage, we could see Hezbollah villages, while hearing a challenging but honest safe now (disturbingly honest) presentation.

Almost all global politics are particularly local. Before the day was out we could look into politics of what is or has been Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, and of course Israel. Where else in the world?

For me, the graces of the day included a step at Capernaum (where sits the synagogue of Jesus' teaching and the home of Peter), the traditional site of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, as well as that for the delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. And -- AND -- we entered Jerusalem, most of us for the first time, with Psalms and prayer.

If the location of the border of Israel, the home of Jesus and the sites of the two central events for Christians were not enough, we also put our feet in the Jordan River and drove past Tiberias Magdala, and Jericho.

I am filled to the brim. Filled with sensation, observation, inspiration, and conversation. Filled with concern. Filled with trepidation. Filled, too, with hope. This third day has encountered history, anxiety and promise. And so filled this way, I am also longing to digest. To understand. To apprehend.

Maybe on the fourth day.

As a note -- an aside -- beyond the Jordan, the houses of worship, the international borders, what touches me most is the conversation on the bus and at our meals. What is quite powerful is our talking and listening and even hearing each other. Of course for Christians, discussions along the way and revelations that tables are also enormously important

For me, in this group, they are all graces.

Thoughts from Rabbi David Lerner

Dear Friends,

Shalom U’Vrakhah MiYisrael (Greetings and blessings from Israel)!

Thanks to modern technology I am able to send you greetings from Kfar Giladi, a beautiful Kibbutz in the Northern Galilee, just a mile from the Lebanese border. The first three days of the JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council) Interfaith Clergy Trip to Israel have been filled with varied events.

After moving interfaith prayers for the trip at JFK airport before the flight, we had a joyful flight on El AL to Tel Aviv. From there, we enjoyed a traditional felafel lunch in Netanya and then a magnificent tour of Caesarea - the impressive Roman city with is filled with amazing archeological sites that has been partially restored and is used as a wonderful beachfront concert site. Along the way there (and since there), we have been exploring passages from the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and the New Testament and related to the sites we have visited. Yesterday, for example, we saw a stone with an inscription mentioning Pontius Pilate who left Caesarea to try Jesus in Jerusalem, as we read from the New Testament It was also the place where the leaders of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 CE) were brought, tortured and killed by the Romans -- something we read each Yom Kippur afternoon in our Martyrology service.

From there, we went up to the beautiful mountain city of Haifa and enjoyed the Bahai Gardens and learned of the origins of their faith whose world headquarters are in Haifa. My roommate, Rabbi Dan Liben, and I went for a run around the top of Mount Carmel in Haifa with beautiful views of the Mediterranean on one side and Haifa’s bay and port on the other side. Beyond the stunning scenery, it became a quintessential “Israeli” experience. We ran into a park where a band was practicing for an evening concert by rehearsing “Rubber Duckie” (a classic American-Israel moment!). From there, we passed a street musician playing a classic Zionist tune from the 1920s and from found a beautiful promenade with stunning views and Israelis - Jews and Arabs -- of every color and background strolling in the evening air. Haifa is known as the city of co-existence and on this evening, we could see and feel it.

Dinner took us to the offices of the Boston-Haifa connection. This CJP program is not only about helping Israel and its not-for-profits through donations, but, more importantly, consists of a true collaboration between the two communities. Each year, they send delegations to Boston and we visit them. Our Billy Dalwin Preschool Director, Shelley Rossman, has hosted teachers from Haifa and brought teachers to visit Haifa several times. Over dinner, we met with the heads of various not-for-profits in Haifa, learning about their programs to help others by providing many services including, child care, offering micro loans and mentoring small entrepreneurs especially, women and Israeli Arabs. The discussion at our table focused on differences between American and Israeli not-for-profits. From there, we talked about the prospects for peace, which even for these Left-learning Israelis did not look all that promising.

Today, Wednesday, we heard a wonderful lecture by Professor Amazia Bar-Am of Haifa University about Israel’s Geo-Political and Strategic Alliances - it was a fascinating talk about the complexities, nuances, and challenges that Israel faces in a tough neighborhood. Most depressing was his assessment of the Iranian nuclear situation which reminded me to redouble our efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Shiluvim was our next stop. There we met a number of Israelis from Ethiopia who were working on a Boston-Haifa program to improve their communities through job-training for adults and after-school programs for children. Most powerful was Mulu, 32-year-old director of Shiluvim, who shared her journey in 1985 from Ethiopia as a seven year old. It was an arduous process walking for weeks to Sudan, risking her life on the way, finally boarding huge Israeli cargo planes with their engines still running! When she landed in Israel, she described it as a dream. Mulu also shared some of the particular challenges Ethiopian Jews face - I videoed some of her story which I hope to make available to you.

In the afternoon, we visited the Talmudic village of Tzippori where Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi - Rabbi Judah the Prince compiled the Mishnah, the basic code of Jewish law, in 220 CE. We discussed how the Mishnah revolutionized Judaism, helping adapt our practices from being Temple-based to rabbinic Judaism centered around study, prayer acts of loving kindness. The Mishnah is also a utopian text discussing areas of Jewish law that were shattered with the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, reminding those alive 1800 of hope - a basic Jewish approach to tragedy and life. I also shared how the Mishnah is the first legal code in human history to include the minority or dissenting voice.

Our afternoon continued with a visit to Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation. I had last visited in 1993 with a Jewish leadership group. Traveling to this Christian Holy Site with priests and ministers who read the story from the book of Luke in the New Testament about the announcement of Jesus’s birth. It was powerful to watch the priests in the group kneel and pray at this site where according to Christian tradition, Mary lived and for me, to get a sense of what this place means to Christians. As we left, we saw a disturbing Muslim billboard next to the Church which said “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.” (from the Quran)

Later in the afternoon, we visited Nahil, an Israeli Arab town, in the Galilee where we met Nadia Ismail, an Israeli Muslim woman who works to help empower Israeli Arab women, helping them find work. She described the discrimination she and her community face as Israeli Arabs. It was difficult to hear of their suffering. There’s a paradox here. Israel struggles to be both a democratic and a Jewish state and that tricky balance affects its Muslim population. Though it is clear that Israel is more democratic than most than Arab or Muslim states (in Israel, Arabs can vote and women have full rights), there is still much room for improvement. She invited us into her home and led us on a short tour of her village to see their difficult situation.

From there, we drove up to the top of Israel - Etzba Hagalil - the finger of the Galilee to Kibbutz Kfar Giladi for a relaxing dinner followed by some time to process our experiences in small groups. Another example of paradox - here we are at a beautiful Kibbutz, just a couple of miles from the Lebanese border. While we are enjoying a perfect evening tonight, we are aware that Hezbollah missiles fell all around here during the 2006 war and if Iran orders them to fire again, this picturesque kibbutz would once again be vulnerable.

Israel - a vibrant country filled with delicious food, majestic scenery, and timeless history, but also filled with paradox.

May we continue to grow from these experiences and yearn and pray for a hopeful tomorrow,

Rabbi David Lerner

Photos! Day Two

Our itinerary on day two included a briefing on Israel's strategic challenges from Prof. Amatzia Bar-Am, a visit to Shiluvim -- the JCRC/CJP program that works with Ethiopian Israelis, a terrific lunch, visits to Tzipori and the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth and a briefing by the Abraham Fund's Nadia Ismail on issues regarding Israeli-Arabs, particularly a program to improve job training and placement for Arab women.

Photos! Day One

Thoughts from Rev. Matt Karriker

Rev. Matthew Carriker

July 27 2010

What an amazing 1st day in Israel! Though still recovering from the plane ride, I was awed by all that we saw and did in our 1st few hours: visiting the historic Caesarea (where both Peter and Paul are located in Acts 10 and 23) and putting an image to our sacred Scriptures; seeing the magnificent Bahai gardens in Haifa; and this evening's meeting with the Haifa Boston connection -- a group promoting social justice in Israel nd Boston.

In Haifa, the third-largest city in Israel, Jews and Arabs live peaceably and harmoniously with one another. How beautiful to see! And how inspiring to sit at the dinner table with a Muslim living in Haifa named Muad, who educates people from all over the world about Islam: ‘Jihad’ as Muad shared, is a concept that has been abused by fundamentalists and was never intended to incite violence against innocent people. Rather is a concept of a passionate commitment to a cause or struggle. There's much to process after day one. I look forward to day two!

Thoughts from Beverly Goode

July 27, 2010

What can I say? The first day is such a blur!

Such a very rich group to travel with! Clearly, the religious leaders are dedicated to their ministries, as right to be expected. But – they are so down-to-earth kind and downright funny! What a gift!

The trip leaders are a gift, too. There is no question that we cannot ask. The legwork and preparation that has gone into this trip is hard to reckon.

We were welcomed to dinner tonight at the Beit Rutenberg patio by representatives of a coalition of NGOs (non-profit organizations) who work together both in Haifa and with counterparts in Boston (through the JCRC) at my table. Gaby, an Ethiopian who immigrated at age 3 with his mother, enduring the arduous journey through Sudan, now works with other Ethiopian Jews in Haifa; Muad, who helps people get an accurate idea of the Muslim faith; Boris, who immigrated from Russia, now helps young adults seeking internship opportunities in Haifa; Verad (a Haifa woman), who is Director of the Boston-Haifa connection.

Also today; the Bahai Gardens – so gorgeous! Caesarea – multiple centuries of art and architecture uncovered and existing together in a collage of cultures. A half-circle theater, some of whose seats are centuries old, will host a concert by a contemporary Israeli singer tomorrow night while a crew sets the stage, I ran my hand over ancient stone.

Thoughts from Rev. Sally Thatcher

Rev. Sally Thatcher

Our experiences of Israel began to unfold, believe it or not, with El Al security at JFK Airport. While Alan and David were taken aside and interviewed separately by 2 security people, we members of the group were interviewed in twos. Our interviewers were young women who sounded educated, intelligent, polite, and very intentional about what they were doing. They gave the impression that they take their job seriously and consider it important. It was a new experience to this traveler.

Shortly before flight left noticed a group of Jewish men in long black coats, wearing distinctive flat top, widebrimmed hats praying by the window looking out at our plane. David told us that this was a traditional Jewish ritual before traveling and invited us to do the same. We formed a circle: Catholics, Protestants and Jews, while Paul prayed a Christian prayer and David recited and in English and Hebrew a traditional Hebrew prayer for travelers. It certainly felt as we were starting off on the right foot (or feet).

We had additional opportunities to observe, close at hand, Jewish men in prayer. Our group was seated near the rear of the 747. There were many large groups of children returning home from summer camps as well as families with young children. It seemed as if we 14 were the only non-Hebrew speakers on the plane.

As darkness fell, some are over the Atlantic, a group of 10 or 12 men, again in black coats and hats, gathered in the aisles beside and behind us praying aloud from prayerbooks. It was impressive to see the way a schedule of praying structures their lives even while traveling. They prayed again at dawn. I don't know exactly when, but I was awakened by someone brushing me gently with his long white shawl, right arm and hand wrapped in a kind of strap and wearing what looked like a miner's light strapped to his head. Mercifully, the men prayed silently as I was not yet ready to greet the day, and apparently others or group weren't either. Bill and David participated and Bill promised to explain. More on this in a later entry.

The plane landed a few hours later to cheers and applause from Israelis. This traveler had goosebumps on her throat at finally being here. There is so much to learn about this land and its people in such a short time. What a week it's going to be!

Thoughts from Rev. David Killian

Our group of Clergy leaders for the Seminar to Israel assembled at Logan Airport on July 26 at 12 noon for the shuttle flight to LaGuardia Airport in New York. We took a bus to Kennedy Airport and checked in for El Al Flight 002. Before boarding the plane we gathered together for the traveler's prayer. Our section of the plane was full of Israeli youth returning home after a summer camp experience in Pennsylvania. Their teenage joy and exuberance put me in a happy mood. As night fell on our 10 hour flight, a full moon illuminated our progress eastward. I slept a couple of hours before we landed at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv at noon on July 27. After clearing customs we paused to pray for God's blessing on our interfaith pilgrimage and began our journey to the north of Israel. We toured Caesarea, the ancient port city on the Mediterranean, which has been expertly excavated and where the theater has been rebuilt.

Our guide read passages from Scripture and explained Peter's outreach to the Gentiles and Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea. We then traveled to Haifa where we visited the Baha'i gardens and shrine. We were welcomed by LEAD Haifa and leaders of the Boston-Haifa partnership. We had a delicious dinner and stimulating conversation overlooking Haifa Bay.

We created this blog so you can follow us on our 8 day journey to the Holy Land.

From Monday, July 26, 2010 to Tuesday, August 3, a group

of 14 Christian clergy, 3 Rabbis and JCRC leaders will tour and learn about the land of our ancestors.[Image]

Throughout our trip, we will post pictures, videos and reflections so you can share this special journey with us.

Our first stop is Boston's Logan Airport and then we are off to Israel where we will be joined by our expert guide, Gilad Peled.

Make sure to check in frequently to read about the sites, people and culture!