Holy Land Ties from page A13

Staff photo by Keri Guten Cohen

experience for me. I've enjoyed discussions
about the Christian-focused sites as much
as I have the Jewish-focused sites!'

Jerusalem And Beyond
As the group ascended to Jerusalem from
the north through Samaria to stand on Mt.
Scopus near sundown to view the vista of
the Old City, there was more excitement.
A significant landmark had been reached
and the group shared the traditional
Shehechiyanu prayer and sips of sweet
wine. More hugs and more "amens" came
as the group huddled against the cold and
in celebration of the shared experience.
At the Mount of Olives, they learned
about the Jewish tradition of leaving stones
on gravesites to mark the remembrance of
a loved one. And they shared one member's
bittersweet pain in saying Kaddish for
her late father — another example of the
religious give-and-take that became a hall-
mark of this trip.
At Jerusalem's Western Wall, the evan-
gelicals prayed alongside the Jews, both
feeling the awesome power there.
"I see why they call it the Wailing Wall:

said Vivian Dykes of
because Israeli
Redford. "There's a
citizens may not go
cry that comes out, a
there. Just passing
cry for life, a cry for
through the tight
freedom, a cry that
security checkpoint
says,`I am your God,
was an experience.
and you are my peo-
For the
ple! Oh, God — that
,
Christians, it was
means something."
a moving experi-
Other special
ence to see the
moments came when
manger and the
viewing the Dead
star of Bethlehem
Sea Scrolls at the
display. For the
Israel Museum in
Jews, just being in
Jerusalem, at the gar-
R
a Palestinian town
den of Gesthemane
was eye-open-
and in President
ing. At a Christian
Marilyn Castro, Micki Grossman and
Shimon Peres' resi-
shop with heavy
dence where Plummer Deldre Harris-Spinks in the Western Wall security, a Palestinian
gave out the first annu- tunnel at a spot closest to the Temple's Christian spoke briefly
al Martin Luther King inner sanctum.
about how tough it
Israel awards.
was for Christians
The evangelicals and a few of the Jews
in Bethlehem, a city of 45,000 where they
also traveled to Bethlehem, birthplace of
represent a dwindling 14 percent of the
Jesus and now a Palestinian town on the
population.
outskirts of Jerusalem. To get there, they
"It is not easy, and the whole city feels
had to leave their Israeli bus and guide
like a prison:' he said. When asked if he

r

meant the Israeli security wall, he replied,
"It is not a security warAsked to explain
further, he said he could not talk anymore
because he was working. Yet he made
clear, as did some graffiti on city walls, the
Palestinian animosity toward Israelis.
In contrast, some of the Jewish partici-
pants recalled the sweet sound of Jewish
and Arab girls in Detroit's Partnership
2000 Region in the Jezreel Valley singing
John Lennon's "Imagine." Two soloists, one
Jewish, one Arabic, led the hopeful song of
peace that left everyone in the audience in
tears.

Friendships Forming
Relationships start slowly, as they do
when people who don't know each other
are thrown into a group. The evangelicals,
though, came with a love of God's Chosen
People and Israel in their hearts. The Jews
share a love of Israel, too, but perhaps were
a bit wary of the Christians' open admira-
tion for them.
Just as the idea of Chosen-ness is spelled
out in the Bible, so, too, is the reason they
love Israel.

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