People’s religious faiths are often the beliefs they hold most firm, and it can be difficult to give other faiths a sympathetic understanding. One attempt at understanding was demonstrated on Tuesday, August 30, at Northeast United Methodist Church (NEUMC). Retired Lutheran pastor Tom Duke welcomed 35 people to a program called “Reflections on an Interfaith Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.” In January, he and 21 other people met in Jerusalem for a 13-day tour of Israel and Palestine sponsored by the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and the St. Paul Interfaith Network (SPIN). The travelers were an ecumenical group of Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Duke said the trip’s mission was “a three-fold pilgrimage: To visit the holy sites of Islam, Judaism and Christianity; to get a better understanding of the ongoing conflicts; and to seek out possibilities for peace-making.”
The meeting, at 2510 NE Cleveland St., was hosted by Reverend Sarah Lawton, pastor of NEUMC.
Duke introduced Tolga Misirli, whom he called the “instigator” of the trip. Misirli is a chemistry instructor at Ridgewater College who emigrated from Turkey. He is also the executive director of the Minnesota branch of the Niagara Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 by Turkish businessmen, which, according to its website, “is dedicated to the mission of fostering civic conversations and sustained relationships between people of different cultures and faiths.”
Misirli said he was sorry he had to miss the trip, noting that experiences like this allow travelers to “get out of their comfort zones and help to kill the biases and prejudices” about other cultures.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg, adjunct faculty member at United Theological Seminary, was the trip’s organizer and leader. The travel agency provided two guides, one Palestinian and one Jewish. Each guide was able to give different perspectives about the sites and their histories.
Three members of the trip spoke about their experience.
Abdisalam Adam is a Somali Cultural Specialist at St. Paul Central High School and the board chair of the Islamic Civic Society of America, which operates Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis. He said that, growing up in Somalia, he was not exposed to different faiths and cultures. “I understood Jerusalem to be the ‘Holy City,’ but all the things I heard about the Israeli side were very negative.”
Adam listed the references to Jerusalem in the Quran, and showed slides of many of the city’s mosques including the Al-Aqsa Mosque next to the Western Wall. He noted that Jerusalem had the second-earliest Muslim house of worship, after the mosque in Mecca.
His photos also showed partitioned villages and painted signs listing the names of refugee camps. He noted that the politics of Hebron was a prime example of the sharpness of the divisions between Jews and Muslims. He said, “It was there that I really felt the agony and the pain of the struggle of the people, especially with the wall and the checkpoints.” While he saw much poverty in much of the West Bank, he said, “I was really taken aback with the level of development in Ramallah.”
Another trip member, Dorit Miles, a retired psychologist, is an Israeli American. She grew up in Haifa and came to the U.S. in her teens. She joined the trip, she said, “Because I wanted to hear the Palestinian stories for myself… it was my excitement and my curiosity that brought me to the West Bank.”
She agreed with Adam that Ramallah was a beautiful city with great possibilities. She said “I saw people there building a nation with wishes and aspirations.”
She admitted that “meeting the ‘other’ is challenging. If I really wanted to get to know the other, I had to meet my own prejudice. And for Israelis, it is really hard to hear anything positive about Palestinians.”
“As groups, Palestinians mostly see Israelis as soldiers and occupiers, and Israelis see Palestinians as terrorists…But I truly believe that individuals talking with each other can make the region a different place.”
Gail Anderson, the third presenter, is a graduate of United Theological Seminary and founder of EmpathyWorks LLC. She has been doing interfaith work for the past 10 years.
She spoke about growing up with a lot of Jewish friends, and noted that while in seminary, she did a yearlong field study at a synagogue in Minnetonka. She said, “I came to deeply understand the relationship American Jews have with Israel. In all the time I went to Saturday Shabbat services, there was not a sermon in which the rabbi did not mention Israel.” She also said she believes “there should be a place on earth where Jews can live in peace and safety… which makes me a Zionist. I also believe that there are a lot of other people who have equal claim to that land, the Palestinians, and that they should have a place where they can govern themselves according to their traditions.”
She talked about Hebron and showed slides of a chronology of the city, beginning with its mention in Genesis. She explained that its importance to both faiths is highlighted by the tomb of Abraham, who was buried by sons Isaac, the patriarch of Judaism, and Ishmael, the patriarch of Islam.
Duke said, in closing, “Something I learned on this trip is that some of the real hard challenges of peacemaking are within our own communities – the difficulties with coming to grips with realities.”
Bruce Robinson and Pastor Sarah Lawton (Photo by Mark Peterson)