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Community Corner

Interfaith Trip to Broaden Horizons

Trip to Israel will help Rabbi Lisa Sari Bellows and the Rev. Margaret Gramley "grow and learn together."

On Sunday, Rabbi Lisa Sari Bellows of  and the Rev. Margaret Gramley of  embarked on a 10-day trip together to Israel.

The trip began in Tel Aviv; from there, the two will travel to Jerusalem and Kibbutz Kfar Blum.

“Rabbi Bellows invited me to come with her on this trip last summer, and of course I said I’d come,” Gramley said.

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Congregation and have an established history of supporting interfaith dialogue that includes hosting a book club for members of both congregations.

“ already has this nice relationship with , so it’s time to take it to the next level,” Bellows said. “This trip will give us an opportunity to reflect and to think about how we can make the community and the world better.”

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The topics of identity and religion are also important to Bellows.

“As we grow in our own identity and understanding of faith and as we encounter each other, we are challenged to clarify who we are,” she said.

“We have enjoyed growing and learning together,” Gramley said. “We can understand more from learning from each other.”

The 10-day trip is organized through the Central Conference of American Rabbis and is subsidized through the Association of Reform Zionists of America. The congregations of and also contributed to the trip.

ARZA World, which specializes in Jewish heritage tours, is the tour operator.

According to Gramley, about 20 rabbis and Christian clergy from the United States and Canada will participate in the trip, which includes services and a festive Shabbat dinner.

Gramley explained that while the trip includes sightseeing, the tour’s emphasis is on starting a dialogue among the participants.

“This is definitely not just a tour of sights,” Bellows said. “We’re learning about different groups on this trip.”

Both Bellows and Gramley have traveled to Israel before, and are approaching the trip from different angles.

"I have not toured the Christian sites with Christian people, so it will be a big deal for me to have that experience," Bellows said.

Gramley is looking forward to seeing Mount Carmel. “It will be so wonderful to hear the story of Mount Carmel while seeing it,” she said. She is also eager to learn about Judaism in Israel.

Other stops on the trip include guided tours of the city of Caesarea; the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem; the Yad Vashem complex, which is the Jewish National Memorial to the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust; and Christian holy sites around the Sea of Galilee.

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