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On July 5th and July 12th, ICCI provided the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem with study tours about the largely unknown and generally misunderstood topic of "Islam in Israel". On the first of these tours, which took place on July 5th, a group of American Jewish laypersons travelled to Abu Ghosh. The group visited the mosque there, as well as the Benedictine Monastery , where they met with Brother Olivier, one of the veteran monks. The group also visited and the city council headquarters, where they met with Mr. Issa Jaber, Director of Education for the town, and the community center of Abu Ghosh, where they met with Palestinian women who have undergone highly successful empowerment workshops for the last two years. At the end of the day, the group was privileged to meet with Mohamad Zibdeh, the Kadi of Yaffo and former Kadi of Jerusalem, to learn first-hand about the inner workings of the Muslim courts in Israel.
On July 12th, a group of North American rabbis who are studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute this summer participated in another study tour. This second tour was led by Rabbi Dr. Ron Kronish, director of the ICCI, and focused on the area of central Israel known as “the triangle”, which is populated mostly by Muslims. The participants saw the only Palestinian teacher-training college in an Israeli Arab city in Israel—the Al Qasemi College in Baka El Gharbiyah—where they learned about the way Islam is taught to teachers in training. Later in the day, the rabbis visited Kafar Kassem to learn about the massacre of 1956 and its implications for the consciousness of Palestinian citizens who live in that town today. For more on this, please see our blog:
http://icciblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/encounter-the-unknown-study-tours-of-%e2%80%9cislam-in-israel%e2%80%9d-by-icci/  
 On July 4, 2010, the participants of the "Coexistence in the Middle East" summer course visited Yad Vashem (the Israeli national Holocaust memorial museum and monument in Jerusalem), followed by two lectures illustrating two narratives of the history of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Gershon Baskin and Hanna Siniora, who serve as co-directors of IPCRI, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, taught students from all over the world what it actually means to look at the past from different perspectives. Both veteran peace activists and practitioners told their side of the story and concluded with the statement that there can not be agreement on the past because, despite being contradictory, all sides of the story are correct; nevertheless, there can and should be agreement on the future for peace.
For more on this, please visit ICCI's blog:
http://icciblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/coexistence-in-the-middle-east-what-is-history/
This academic tour program is a collaboration between ICCI, the International Institute of Leadership and the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and it aims at promoting coexistence through the training of future leaders using academic and experiential seminars that allow direct contact with different cultures. The special academic program, which is coordinated and partially taught by ICCI director Dr. Ron Kronish, is also sponsored by the Israel National Commission for UNESCO. On Thursday, June 22, 2010, the third cycle JIYAF (2009-2010) completed its activities with a final, reflective meeting, in which the participants attempted, with the help of group facilitators Mariam Abad Alda'im and Yael Yechieli, to summarize the experience of taking part in the program and to reflect on the lessons that they take with them for the future. Ms. Linda Slutzky attended this meeting as a representative of the U.S. State Department's American Center in Jerusalem, which awarded a grant to the program this year.
Having completed the program, JIYAF alumni often continue to engage in interreligious dialogue and action via various programs. Indeed, three of the participants of the current cycle, which just ended, have made plans to travel to Germany this summer to take part in Israeli-Palestinian dialogue workshops.
This third cycle of the JIYAF program has been funded by grants from the World Conference of Religions for Peace, the Pontifical Mission and the Embassies of the U.S.A. and the Netherlands.
ICCI's special course about "Encountering Poland: Relations between Jews and Poles – Religious, Historical and Social Dimensions", a collaboration between ICCI and the Polish Institute, with added support from Ms. Luna Kaufman of New York, began in October 2009. The course program featured guest lecturers from Poland and Israeli experts, who spoke to the participants bi-weekly. The concluding session of the course took place on June 14, 2010, at ICCI's Educational Center. The first part of this session was attended by special guests Rabbi Prof. Yehoyada Amir, of the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Shlomo Brin, of Yeshivat Har Etzion, who spoke to the group about their journey to Poland on in October 2009 as part of an ICCI delegation. The second part of the session was dedicated to reflective discussion about the course and insights gained by the participants, who expressed their satisfaction with the course and hopes for the continuation of this or similar courses. Course participants are given the opportunity to go on study tour to Poland (Warsaw-Lublin-Kielce-Crakow), which is planned for July 22-29, 2010. The tour's purpose is to show the Jewish educators from Israel a side of Poland that they don't know and to meet local activists in Polish-Jewish Relations today. Avigail Moshe coordinates this program for ICCI.
Amy and Rabbi Dr. Ron Kronish hosted the Ibrahim Leadership and Dialogue Project in the Middle East for Shabbat dinner at their home on Friday night, June 11th, along with graduates of ICCI’s dialogue and action programs for youth and young adults in Jerusalem. Prior to the dinner, the students were welcomed by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman at Congregation Kol Haneshama in Jerusalem, where they also received a double briefing by Rabbi Ron Kronish, on Interreligious Relations in Israel and on Reform Judaism in Israel. In addition, ICCI arranged for the group to see the major holy sites in Jerusalem and to see the main sites in Bethlehem, as well as to meet with young adults there, in partnership with the Arab Education Institute.  The 19th Annual General Meeting of the ICCI took place on June 10th, 2010, at the courtyard of the Swedish Theological Institute (HaNevi'im 58, Jerusalem, see image by DMY to the left). A new Board of Directors was elected and the financial and narrative reports for 2009 were approved. In the public part of the program, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Noami Tzur, spoke about "Heavenly Jerusalem and Earthly Jerusalem". In her lecture, she stressed the fact that religious institutions and leaders can play a significant role in making this city a better place in the future. Additionally, Ms. Tzur announced that the Jerusalem Municipality will be involved in a new international project called "Jerusalem as a Pilgrim City", and invited ICCI to participate in thinking and planning for this new project. Furthermore, she told the assembly about the projected reconstruction of HaNevi'im street, "one of the great treasures of Jerusalem", which will turn it into a "cultural paradise". The two projects Ms. Tzur described are related to one another, as HaNevi'im street will become the end point of a projected pilgrimage route beginning at the Dead Sea and going through the Kidron Valley.
The Between Memory and Reconciliation program, funded by the Rissho Kosei-Kai organization of Japan and coordinated by Avigail Moshe and Wasim Biroumi, brings together Jewish and Palestinian young adults—all Israeli citizens—for dialogue and action, including seminars with Japanese Buddhist students, in Israel and in Japan. On June 10, 2010, the program participants invited the public to a special art exhibition, entitled "Encounter: Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue". The exhibition, displayed at the Jerusalem Inter-Cultural Center, featured painted, photographic, plastic and cinematic art pieces created by the participants. The thoughtful, well-laid-out exhibition raised interest and received praise from the attendants (some 50 people). One of the pieces was a poetic short film by participant Sabra Abu El Hija and her sister, which engaged many people in conversation about what it meant. Between June 5-16, 2010, a group of students from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, visited Israel and the region and took part in a special ICCI seminar. The program for the seminar, organized by Ophir Yarden, the Director of ICCI's Center for Interreligious Encounter with Israel, focused on experiencing the multiple conflicts and narratives in the Holy Land, and enabled them to get to know Israelis and Palestinians in person through trips to Jaffa, the “triangle” region, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Aida Refugee Camp, etc. The participants reported that found the seminar eye-opening, and were especially pleased with the program's focus on political challenges in Israel and Palestine, which made it very unique. See also the related post on our blog:
http://icciblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/%e2%80%9ctake-my-side-but-dont-be-one-sided%e2%80%9d/ |
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ICCI's special course about "Encountering Poland: Relations between Jews and Poles – Religious, Historical and Social Dimensions", a collaboration between ICCI and the Polish Institute, with added support from Ms. Luna Kaufman of New York, has been ongoing since October 2009. The speakers in the bi-weekly meetings are alternately guest lecturers from Poland and Israeli experts. In recent meetings, Prof. Pawel Spiewak of Warsaw University, spoke about how it's "in" to study Jewish issues in Poland; Prof. Jan Grabowski of the Polish Academy of Science and Ottawa University, Canada, lectured about Anti Semitic Nazi propaganda in Poland; Ms. Leah Balint, a holocaust survivor and historian told the group about locating "hidden Jews"; Dr. Ewa Gawron of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, discussed creating new relations between Poles and Jews. The Between Memory and Reconciliation program, funded by the Rissho Kosei-Kai organization of Japan, brings together Jewish and Palestinian young adults—all Israeli citizens—for dialogue and action, including seminars with Japanese Buddhist students, in Israel and in Japan.
The program participants have been meeting throughout the month of May to plan their final group exhibition, entitled “Mifgash” or “Encounter.” The exhibition, which was held in Jerusalem on June 10, 2010, will feature original works of art that focus on each participant’s personal encounter with the “other” during the year-long dialogue program. During the month of May, the JIYAF participants met to organize their joint project and to continue discussing significant dates in the Palestinian and Jewish national calendars.
On Thursday night, May 27, 2010, they gave their friends, family, and other community members a taste of their experiences over the past eight months taking part in interreligious dialogue in Jerusalem through the JIYAF program. At their final group presentation entitled “Opening a Window”, they exhibited the photography project that they have been working on all semester and engaged the audience in the types of activities that they did in their meetings. Following these "ice breaking" activities, the JIYAF participants reflected on their experiences from the past eight months. They had all joined the group hoping to deepen their understanding of one another and of the situation. Indeed, before the program, most of them had never spoken to anyone from “the other side.” Despite all of the difficulties they encountered over the past year, every JIYAF participant said that the experience was “completely worth it.” Images from the event can be found at http://icci.org.il/jiyaf20100507.html .
ICCI thanks the staff of the Redeemer Church, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem located on the Via Dolorosa, for hosting the event.
The JIYAF program is currently funded by grants from the World Conference of Religions for Peace, the Pontifical Mission and the Embassies of the U.S.A. and the Netherlands. A second study tour of the Armenian and Christian Quarters of Jerusalem's Old City was held on May 14, 2010, along similar lines to the highly successful April 30th "Get to Know Your Christian Neighbors and the Problems They Face". The program, like the previous tour and a recent study evening on a related topic, was jointly sponsored by ICCI, the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations (JCJCR) and Kehillat Yedidya. The tour was led by Daniel Rossing, Director of JCJCR, and the program included visits to a variety of Christian institutions and meetings with Church leaders, notably the Archbishop Aristarchos, the Chief Secretary of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and Archbishop Aris Shirvanian of the Armenian Patriarchate. Prof. Harold Kasimow, the George Drake Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at Grinnell College in Iowa, gave a library lecture at ICCI on the topic of "Abraham Joshua Heschel and Interreligious Dialogue" on May 12, 2010. Prof. Kasimow studied with Rabbi Heschel at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and has published numerous articles about Heschel and interreligious dialogue. He is co-editor, with Byron Sherwin, of "No Religion Is an Island: Abraham Joshua Heschel and Interreligious Dialogue". |
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On Saturday evening, May 8, 2010, ICCI Director Dr. Ron Kronish met with Yachad scholar, Dr. Anna Lavelle, of Australia, who was in Israel on a special visit organized by Peter Adler. On the following week, Dr. Kronish met Nicky Wynne of London, who was in Jerusalem for development work for the St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital and visited the hospital in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem to discuss interreligious cooperation. Additionally, on May 9, 2010, Dr. Kronish spoke to a group from the Canadian Mennonite University, led by the University's Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Dr. Gordon Matties. 
The Between Memory and Reconciliation program, funded by the Rissho Kosei-Kai organization of Japan, brings together Jewish and Palestinian young adults—all Israeli citizens—for dialogue and action, including seminars with Japanese Buddhist students, in Israel and in Japan.
On April 16-17, 2010, the program participants went on a two-day weekend seminar in the North of Israel. The first part of the seminar, which involved visits to the destroyed Arab-Christian village of Biram and to Acre, was planned, organized and coordinated by three of the participants: Tareq, Sabra and Amir. First on the program was a tour of Biram village with Amir's grandfather, who was born and raised in the village and told the group about his personal story, his memories of his childhood in the village before he and his family fled from it in 1948, and the history of Biram since then. Later that day, the group arrived at Acre, where they met Yisrael Ben Ezra, an advisor to the Mayor of Acre, who talked to them about the municipal and political realities of coexistence in a mixed city, including issues related to the Arab tenants in Acre whose houses were burned in the riots there a year and a half ago. The group also met with Rim Hazan, a political activist who's a resident of Acre, who talked about life in Acre from the Arab citizen's perspective (including the struggle of the residents of the Old City of Acre to remain in their protected lease apartments, despite plans for real estate development by entrepreneurs supported by the municipality). Following that meeting, the group watched the film October's Cry, a political documentary about the October 2000 Arab-Israeli riots, and conversed with the mother of one of the Arab-Israeli casualties. The second part of the seminar was organized by the program coordinators, Avigail Moshe and Wasim Biroumi, and took place in the Christian village of Nes Ammim in the Northern Galilee. During that time, the group participated in several workshops and worked on planning their joint project. During the month of April, the 12 JIYAF participants took part in discussion programs about national holidays and commemorations. They devoted one meeting to Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and talked about the relationship between the Holocaust, the Jewish people, and the State of Israel. They spent another meeting discussing "Al Nakba" or "The Catastrophe," and its significance to the Palestinian people. The participants also continued preparations for the joint Israeli-Palestinian cultural evening they are planning, to take place at the end of May, in Jerusalem.
This program is currently funded by grants from the World Conference of Religions for Peace, the Pontifical Mission and the Embassies of the U.S.A. and the Netherlands.
The Face to Face / Faith to Faith group, made up of 13 Palestinian and Jewish high school students from Jerusalem and Abu Ghosh village, has been very active in recent months. At the beginning of March, the group participated in a workshop led by Amy Kronish, a film historian and blogger, about the way that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is depicted in Israeli film. The participants watched and discussed short clips of modern films about the conflict. After Passover, they met with Ophir Yarden, the director of ICCI’s Center for Interreligious Encounter with Israel, for a presentation about the history of conflict in Jerusalem, from biblical times to the present. The students learned that, in such a complicated place, “facts” do not always lead to clear resolutions, as so many different groups can claim ownership over this land. During the week of Israeli Independence Day, the students used ICCI’s workbook, “I am From There”, to learn about Jewish and Arab experiences during the 1948 war. In the beginning of May, three participants from Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, led the group on a tour of their neighborhood. Participants visited the Beit Hanina Community Center, the Security Fence/Separation Wall, and a Face to Face member’s home.
This program is a partnership between ICCI and the Auburn Theological Seminary in New York.
 On Friday April 30, a group of thirty Jewish Israelis took part in a unique study tour entitled, “Get to Know Your Christian Neighbors and the Problems they Face.” The tour was led by Daniel Rossing, director of the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations (JCJCR) and the former director of the Department for Christian Relations of the Jerusalem Municipality. Participants toured the Christian and Armenian Quarters of Jerusalem, met with Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM (top, photographed by Evan Pelz), the Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land and Archbishop Aris Shirvanian of the Armenian Patriarchate, and visited the St. Vincent de Paul Monastery, near Mamilla. The tour, which was a collaboration between ICCI, JCJCR and Kehillat Yedidya, was a follow up to the highly successful study evening recently held at Kehillat Yedidya on the topic "Why Do Some Jews Spit on Christians?" More information about the tour can be found in the following blog post by ICCI intern Jennie Grayson: http://icciblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/getting-to-know-our-christian-neighbors-a-different-part-of- jerusalem
On April 22, 2010, more than 30 religious leaders participated in an innovative day of interreligious coexistence education at the Shfaram Comprehensive High School A, led by veteran founder and principal, Dr. Kamal Shofaniye, a charismatic and compassionate educator. Rabbis, Imams, Priests and Druze religious leaders spoke together in classrooms of the upper division of the high school as well as participating in a school-wide assembly in the presence of the mayor of the town.
ICCI expresses gratitude to Mr. Yakov Salame and the staff of the Division of Religious Communities of Israel’s Ministry of Interior for their partnership with us in this program and to Dr. Shofaniye, for hosting the event and sending us these pictures. |
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A group of Catholic educators from Sydney, Australia, who were in Israel under the auspices of Glenn Witmer, director of Menno Jerusalem Programs Inc. who is a specialist in Bible Land Tours, and was the former director of the Bat Kol Institute in Jerusalem. On Friday night, April 16th, Rabbi Ron Kronish, rabbinic student intern Brandon Bernstein and 2 other students from Hebrew Union College who are studying in Israel this year—Jeremy Simons and Sarah Lauing —led and participated in a special Shabbat dinner at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem for this group. The group, led by Joy and Ben Warren and Barbara and Bob Rosen, met with Rabbi Dr. Ron Kronish over breakfast at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, April 11th for a briefing on Interreligious Dialogue and Education in Israel.
On Friday and Saturday, March 19-20, the JIYAF program participants took part in a two-day seminar in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. They were there to reflect on their experiences in JIYAF, as well as to plan for the final trimester of the program. The participants planned various activities for the group, including a screening of the Academy-Award-nominated film Ajami, as well as a panel discussion with members of the One Voice Movement, which advocates for a two-state solution. The participants also toured a Christian school and learned about the challenges that it faces because of the political situation.
This program is currently funded by grants from the World Conference of Religions for Peace, the Pontifical Mission and the Embassies of the U.S.A. and the Netherlands. ICCI's special course about "Encountering Poland: Relations between Jews and Poles – Religious, Historical and Social Dimensions", a collaboration between ICCI and the Polish Institute, with added support from Ms. Luna Kaufman of New York, has been ongoing since October 2009. The speakers in the bi-weekly meetings are alternately guest lecturers from Poland and Israeli experts. In recent meetings, Fr. Piotr Zelazko, a Polish priest studying in Israel, spoke about the role of the Catholic Church in Poland; Prof. Bozena Szajnok of the University of Wroclaw discussed Polish-Israeli diplomatic relations between 1945-1967; and Mr. Bralek Zeichner, a representative of Polish Immigrants living in Israel, spoke about the forced emigration of 1968.
On March 17, 2010, 30 religious leaders from the Galilee – Jews, Druze, Christians & Muslims – gathered at Kibbutz Hanaton, a Masorati (Conservative) Kibbutz, which is undergoing renewal and rejuvenation, for a special seminar. Prior to the formal program of the day, which included joint study, reflection and action plans, these members of the Galilee Religious Leaders Forum held informal discussions over lunch with a visiting group of students from Columbia University's School of Journalism. The clergy then reconvened at the Hanaton synagogue to learn together some texts about the Jewish holiday of Passover, with Rabbi Shmuel Reiner of Mitzpe Netofa in the Galilee, one of the heads of Maale Gilboa Yeshiva. The non-Jewish religious leaders were fascinated by this opportunity to learn about what Jews do and say on the eve of Passover. Following the study session, the forum members began planning a day of joint lectures and activities at a high school in the Arab Israeli town of Shfaram, to take place on April 22, 2010.
ICCI expresses gratitude to Mr. Yakub Salame and the staff of the Division of Religious Communities of Israel’s Ministry of Interior for their partnership with us in this program and to Rabbi Yoav Ende, Rabbi of Kibbutz Hanaton, for hosting the event.
The group, led by Prof. Ari L. Goldman, visited Israel and the region in March 2010 as part of Prof. Goldman's 'Covering Religion' class and took part in a special program organized by the Director of ICCI's Center for Interreligious Encounter with Israel, Mr. Ophir Yarden. To read more about this program, please visit our blog as well as the special blog set up by the journalism students themselves at http://www.coveringreligion.org . |
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