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 One city, three religions.
9th till 11th March 2012 Nes Ammim organized the Jerusalem Seminar for it's volunteers. Two of them, Marissa and Mirjam, report about this weekend.
One of the most impressive parts of the Jerusalem Seminar was the tour through Mea She'arim, a neighborhood where ultra orthodox Jews live. The day we were there it was Purim. During this feast you have to dress up in the opposite way of how you look in daily life. Some of the locals took this very seriously. They carried a bottle of wine in their hand and wore very strange clothes. We found it special to see this neighborhood in such a partying atmosphere.
The next day we made a guided tour through the old city. We started with the morning prayers at the Western Wall and took a look at the Golden Cupola, which is part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Unfortunately we were not allowed to visit the plaza of the mosque, because this is only possible for non Muslims on certain times. The tour ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was an interesting experience to see the houses of prayer of different religions in one day and to realize how close the people with various beliefs live in this city.
The third and last day we made a nice walk through New Jerusalem. At last we visited Mount Herzl. There we made a guided tour and saw the graves of the soldiers and of important Israeli politicians, where-under Yitzhak Rabin. Altogether a beautiful and inspiring weekend, with excellent weather. |
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We were not only victims, we also resisted.” This motto is used by people in Israel to convey the remembrance of the Shoa to their children. “Dealing” with the Holocaust has been in the center of the study work in Nes Ammim since the very beginnings. The awareness that there are roots of latent Anti - Judaism in Christianity led to the founding of Nes Ammim- as a sign of change and restart of the relationships between Christians and Jews. Also this year the cooperation with the memorial museum in the neighboring kibbutz Lochamei HaGettaot proved of value. The kibbutz was founded by survivors of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. The highlight of the two days seminar was the encounter with an old lady, who survived two years of Auschwitz when she was a young girl.
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„I'm sorry for what my people and my family did to you“, this sentence opened the doors of the rest home in Shave Zion for me. The בית המיסדימ „Beit Hamejasdim“, a home for retired people was donated by the government of Württemberg to Swab Jews living in Israel. Today ten women inhabit the home, who could flee from the destruction and expulsion by the Nazi regime. In the context of the „ideological working hours - project“, volunteers can contribute to the different aspects of dialogue work in Nes Ammim. Meeting these women can generate heartache and pain by the volunteers facing a shameful part of German history. Nevertheless, they also experience the generosity and sense of humour of the Shoa survivors. Christian - Jewish dialogue in this place means meeting witnesses of contemporary German history and listening to them. This encounter makes volunteers more sensitive to all kinds of forms of anti Semitism and neo Nazism. „I'm sorry“- this sentence is essential. It didn't make me small, but helped me to maintain a German identity that is aware of history. Ulrike Haag
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