T

he Jewish Community
Relations Council/ AJC,
in cooperation with
World Peace Outreach and the
Interfaith Leadership Council,
embarked on an interfaith mis-
sion to the Holy Land earlier
this summer, convening a group
of leaders from the Muslim,
Christian and Jewish communi-
ties in Metro Detroit.
The group — Rabbi Asher
Lopatin, Dr. Mahmoud
Al-Hadidi, his wife, Nada
Al-Hadidi, Bob Bruttell, and
Daniel Bucksbaum — began in
Jerusalem, which, according to
all three Abrahamic faiths, is a
shared place of sacred begin-
nings.
Starting underground and
working their way up, the group
took a tour of the newly reno-
vated Davidson Center and the
City of David underground tun-
nel tour. These tours explained
the significance of the Temple
Mount to all three religions
and displayed ancient artifacts,
including some predating the
first Temple.
The group then visited some
of the most important Christian
sites according to traditional
belief, from the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem to the
Basilica of the Annunciation

in Nazareth, and from the spot
of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan
River, to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Standing above the Bahai
Garden overlooking the port
of Haifa, the group engaged in
thoughtful discussion about
the complexities of balancing
religious orthodoxy with accep-
tance of offshoot religions in
the three Abrahamic faiths. This
topic was revisited while visiting
the remote village of Ghajar,
along the northern border with
Lebanon and the Golan Heights.
In the ancient city of Hebron,
our shared prophet, Abraham,
bought a plot of land to
bury himself and his family.
Naturally, our group visited the
tomb of Abraham, from whom
we all share a common lineage.
Unfortunately, for security rea-
sons, Muslims and Jews were
forced to enter through different
sides of the same building and
view the same tomb through
different windows. This experi-
ence was indeed a metaphor for
our shared experience on this
land. Experiencing the politics
of the country was unavoidable.
While not a traditional reli-
gious holy site, the Banias Falls
in northern Israel became a
spiritually enriching site for

A ‘Shared
Place of Sacred
Beginnings’

28 | AUGUST 24 • 2023

OUR COMMUNITY

JCRC/AJC travels on an interfaith
mission to the Holy Land.

RABBI ASHER LOPATIN
DR. MAHMOUD AL-HADIDI
BOB BRUTELL
DANIEL BUCKSBAUM
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

With mural artist Solomon Souza (second from
left) at Machane Yehuda on Saturday night

Bob Brutell on the
non-Muslim side of the
Tomb of the Patriarchs
in Hebron in front of
patriarch Abraham’s Tomb

Bob Brutell, Daniel Bucksbaum, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, Dr. Mahmoud
and Nada Al-Hadidi at the Temple Mount/ Al-Aqsa Mosque