While walking the Camino across northern Spain, I became conscious of three powerful images of St James: St. James the Apostle, St. James the Peregrino, and St. James the Moorslayer. Apart from any actual historical identity and significance, people through the ages have obviously used the figure of St. James for various purposes. St. James …

Continue reading 63. Using the Image of St. James

I do not want to appear morbid; however, I am sometimes intrigued by cemeteries. Those cemeteries often show how individuals respond to death. The way individuals are remembered by words and decorations on tombs or on plaques in churches can convey powerful sentiments. The very location of cemeteries may also say something about the hopes …

Continue reading 62. Responding to Death: Words about the Dead and Hopes for the Dead

Raanan works for peace in Jerusalem. Preparing to be a rabbi at Schecter Rabbinical Seminary, Raanan is probably not your stereotypical rabbinical student. Born in Vancouver and raised in San Diego by secular Jewish parents, Raanan became more intensely aware of his Jewish roots while covering a conference in Cuba as a young college newspaper …

Continue reading 61. Working for Peace in Jerusalem

Although life in Israel is not always easy, Israelis address aspects of daily life as best they can. In Jerusalem, everybody is affected by a different weekly schedule. When I realized one Friday morning that I needed to buy two more ink pens, I knew that I had to rush to get to a store …

Continue reading 60. Israelis and Work

Tantur has evolved since its opening in 1972. It appears to have shifted from exclusively an ecumenical academic institute to a lay, clergy, and academic ecumenical center which interacts with its local context. While other academic and interfaith centers exist in Jerusalem, I’ve come to sense that Tantur, as an ecumenical and interfaith institute, plays …

Continue reading 59. Tantur Ecumenical Institute as an Evolving Institution

Some Palestinians find work in Palestinian restaurants and banks.  Unfortunately, most Palestinians have difficulty finding work. Some researchers have estimated that 35% of work-age Palestinians are unemployed. I hear it as I walk through the Bethlehem checkpoint and enter Palestinian Bethlehem. The Palestinian men ask hopefully: “Taxi?” It is followed up immediately with the question, …

Continue reading 58. Palestinians and Work

Like individuals elsewhere, Palestinians, Jordanians, and Syrians face issues of everyday life. These individuals deal with issues acutely aware both of Israel and the surrounding violence looming like a thunderstorm overhead. I had these following conversations concerning everyday life and Arabic attitudes and actions associated with family life and gender issues. Unsurprisingly, I had numerous …

Continue reading 57. Conversations about Arabic Family Life and Gender

I regretted that we were not able to hear the lecture from the Muslim scholar. Because he had to rush his mother to the emergency room shortly before his Tantur Ecumenical Institute presentation, he was not able to talk to us about contemporary Muslim life in the Mideast. Yet I have three impressions of Muslims …

Continue reading 56. Three Encounters with Muslims of Jerusalem

Jarod and Kamal were our tour guides in and around Jerusalem for four different days. Like most travelers, I relied upon input from others, such as tour guides, to try to make sense of ancient and contemporary Israel. These two tour guides navigated that terrain of talking about ancient Biblical times and about current, or …

Continue reading 55. Seeing with the Help of Two Tour Guides

While pilgrims may be solitary individuals like me, I suspect that most pilgrims come in groups. On the one hand, individuals in such groups may travel with a constant complainer, may hear unpleasant gossip, or may seem to be sacrificing their interests to those of others. On the other hand, individuals in a group may …

Continue reading 54. Jerusalem Companions