Miracle in Jerusalem
Jerusalem -- It was only my first day in Jerusalem, but I witnessed a miracle. As the sun set over the golden Dome of the Rock, I watched an Arab Sheik and an Israeli Rabbi pray together. Sorry, make that two Rabbis.
We were in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian side, on the Mount of Olives. From here you have a magnificent view of the Old City, especially the historic mosque that now rests on the Temple of the Mount. The mosque contains the rock where Jews believe Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and from where Muslims believe Mohammed rose to heaven.
This, more than any other site in the Holy City, embodies the struggle between Arab and Jew: both sides claim this piece of land as sacred to their religion; both sides remain unwilling to concede the other any right to it. For Jews, their claim is made more wrenching by the fact it is actually illegal for them to pray at the site, and whose visits there are limited and strictly monitored by local police. (To see a “samizdat” video of American Jews defying the ban, click here.)
And yet on a recent evening—the eve of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz--those tensions were briefly put aside. Among three men, anyways: Sheikh Ghassan Manasra, head of the Suffi Sheiks in Israel who lives in Nazareth; Rabbi Menachem Froman of the Jerusalem-based organization, Legacy of Peace; and their guest, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, of Ohev Shalom, the National Synagogue of Washington, D.C. Rabbi Herzfeld was leading his synagogue’s annual trip to Israel (which I joined). Herzfeld’s hosts were determined to persuade him that the dream of Jews and Muslims praying peacefully side-by-side didn’t have to be a fantasy.
And for a few minutes, it was true.
Beforehand, Sheikh Manasra had invited the two Rabbis to meet him at his mother-in-law’s home, tucked into a garbage-strewn hillside near the Mount of Olives. Herzfeld and Rabbi Froman, famous in Israel for his liberal religious views, traveled to the house in a bullet-proof car. Sheikh Manasra graciously met them at the front door, hugging Froman, an old family friend. The two squeezed hands as they chatted over a platter of fresh fruit, before the Rabbi put on his Tefillin—the leather accessories that traditionally adorn a man’s forehead and arm during Jewish prayer.
It was quite an experience to watch: a Rabbi fully decked out in Orthodox garb, sitting in the reception room of an Arab in East Jerusalem—and a Sheik at that, albeit one who eschewed the keffiyeh for an elegant sweater and pants. Rabbi Herzfeld, dressed in a more Americanized suit and yarmulke, pressed the Sheik on the limits of his tolerance: Did he think Muslims would ever accept Jews to pray alongside them on the Temple Mount?
“The Temple Mount should be a place where everything goes right but now where everything goes wrong,” Herzfeld said. It should be a place for people to pray together. If we can pray together, that would be a beginning…”
Sheikh Manasra nodded in agreement. “The problem is not religion but religious people. Our project now is to build tolerance and peace with religious leaders.”
Then it was time to pray. The group waded through heavy mud to get to a quiet place that afforded a spectacular view of the mosque. The fading sun glinted off the golden dome, casting shadows on the biblical landscape of cypress and rock. The three men held hands and began praying in both Hebrew and Arabic. (You can watch the full prayer here.)
When they finished, their eyes were moist. Within seconds, the Muslim call to prayer rose up over the hills. By now the men were wading their way back through the mud, to the front door where they would say goodbye to Sheik Mansara. I found out later that it is exactly this sort of “outreach” that provoked a beating of his teenage son last year: Extremists and critics of Sheik Mansara's liberal views attacked the young man near the house. They beat him nearly to death.
“I have a dream,” the elderly Rabbi Froman said, acknowledging with a wry smile his evocation of Martin Luther King. “I have a dream,” he continued, “that one day we will take President Obama to the Mount of Olives, and we will pray together. We will pray with our wives, in the same direction…”
“When we pray in the same direction we can do other things in the same direction,” said Herzfeld.
Froman nodded. “Muslims, Jews and Christians praying side-by-side. What would you think of that?”
