A small break from interfaith dialogue

As amazing as the entire concept of Interfaith dialogue may sound it is completely exhausting. It's a taxing process that has involved me putting aside politics and opening myself up to a different form of dialogue. This dialogue does not involve a competition of which side has suffered more and who deserves what and which law is behind which nation. No, this is dialogue that is solely dependent on religion. How does your religion view spirituality, marriage, peace, the environment. Since my last encounter I have been to 3 more. This brings it to a total of 5 encounters, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened at an encounter a few nights ago.

The topic was "God's holy mountain" - can the Temple Mount and Jerusalem be shared the three major religions or at least can it be shared by Muslims and Jews? This interfaith encounter group was first held last year and it attracted big religious leaders in Israel. One of those leader was Sheikh Nimar-Darwish, the creator of the Islamic Radical movement in Israel. At this encounter he said, "If in the End of Days the Messiah says God told him to build the Temple here, no one will disobey his command. However if this [i.e. building the Temple] is the will of the messiah, I will bring the stones on my shoulders!"

I found that to be very interesting and maybe even optimistic. The encounter itself did not turn out that way. It was heated and stressful for me. But I realized those are learning experiences not everything I do during my internship will be easy and exciting. But after that I needed a break. So I made a trip to Caesarea, a town about 45minutes south of Tel Aviv. I am here visiting some family members and just overall relaxing, sitting by the pool, and NOT talking about the conflict. I was actually able to check out a huge protest outside a concert here. Surprisingly this protest had nothing to do with Israel, the Mavi Marmara, the Palestinian people, the Gaza blockade or anything political. This was a protest calling from Israel to divest from BP. This environmental group had put up signs all over the city against BP and the oil spill. FINALLY! No more politics. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this protest, for the first time in so long this was something not politically motivated and completely based on the environment and people's concern over the oil spill in the Gulf coast that has take a back seat in the international uproar that has ensued over the Mavi Marmara incident.

Anyways, I'm happy at least someone gives a damn about the environment. I also had the opportunity to sit by a pool and tan and eat great Moroccan food and listen to some amazing Moroccan music. This weekend was much needed and it definitely was a great one. I am not really looking forward to going back to Jerusalem but I know there is a time for vacation and now its not the time. This was a pleasant excursion and I am now on my way to continuing my amazing internship.