| Jerusalem Inquiry Journey, the first of four journeys planned and led by teams from among the group’s members, asked what Israel 100 would look like considering the polarization in Israeli society. During the two days, we met with different groups along the polarization axes and learned about the challenges of the diverse groups through personal, community, and public stories. A meeting with people, communities, and narratives.
** In Givat Ze’ev a Karlin hassid told us of an encounter between the haredi and secular worlds; at Beit Hanina, Muhammad Awida surveyed the issues of East Jerusalem’s Arabs for us; in the alleys of Nachla’ot we interviewed people on the topic of polarization and the strengths of Israeli society; at the Ohavei Zion Synagogue we heard about the ethnic polarization from cultural researcher Ofir Tobol; and we met Uri Banki, who was very moving as he shared about his beliefs and the Shira Banki’s Way non-profit he founded to encourage tolerance in society. At the end of an emotionally and physically tiring day we went to the Machane Yehuda market to eat, drink, and continue to talk, try to understand, ask, listen, and respond.. We began the second day at the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance with a meeting with CEO Alon Shachar and Prof. Daniel Sperber. In the afternoon we were hosted by Yotam Reshef, a Co.Lab 06 graduate and Deputy Director of Education and Community at the Jerusalem Botanical Garden, where we heard about the garden’s activities and the unique initiatives he is involved in with Co.Lab members. As the evening progressed, we were privileged to see the garden covered with lights and color that served as a background for our voices, for the processing of the journey’s experiences, and for the complex transition through a range of emotions – sympathy, despair, fear, pain, disgust, solidarity, empathy. What next? Should we find a third narrative as defined by Mohammad Awida, pull the cart of the 87% introduced by Uri Banki, or offer other ways to reach Israel 100 better people? The journey continues… |
