“We in the West basically boil memory down to factual recall or lack thereof,” says Dr. Megan Roberts, but that’s not what most biblical authors mean when they say “remember.” Roberts teaches the Old Testament at Prairie College in Three Hills, Alberta. When she first started her research into memory, she was struck by the…
Born and raised in England in a Jewish family originally from central Europe, Tony Judt trained as a historian of Europe and taught at the City University of New York until his untimely death from Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2010. Judt was a dedicated commentator on current affairs, and after his death his widow published…
What leads to the eruption of physical violence – the fist fight, the storming of the Capitol, the bombings, the kidnappings of hostages? What does it take to change the entrenched stories that keep “them” apart from “us”? How do you bring sworn enemies to the same table to discuss peace? These are the questions…
From mid-October to early December 2023, I painted “Ghosts of Lemon Groves Past.” Inspired by a film called The Lemon Tree (2008), I explored the nature of a people’s love for a land. The lemons in the painting are not yet ripe, but carefully tended to by a farmer. Formerly part of a Palestinian village,…
“We, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, call upon our congregations to stand strong with those facing [sadness and pain] this year by foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities. We also invite the faithful to advocate, pray and contribute generously as they are able for the relief of the victims of this war…
June 2014. My team of five arrived in Beit Sahour. We met our homestay family, Orthodox Christian Palestinians who lived just outside of Bethlehem. Our days were spent volunteering at a local organization that offered respite for families with special needs children. Our evenings and weekends were ours to explore and learn. There was so…
Reflecting on Sylvia Keesmaat’s “Prayers for peace in the midst of the Israel-Hamas War” (CC online, Oct. 23), I recall a line from another of Bruce Cockburn’s songs, “Justice”: “Everybody loves to see justice done on somebody else.” These are troubled times. I struggle with memories of when I lived among the peoples of Palestine:…
These days it’s been hard to be a pastor at Bethlehem’s Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church. What do you say on Sunday after the bombing in Gaza on Friday night, when we didn’t sleep all night trying to get news, fearing the worst? Seventeen people were killed in one bombing, including the sister of one of…
One year ago, I stood in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I pressed my hands to the stone, closed my eyes, and asked: What is your story? Images flooded my mind: fire, smoke, incense, screams. I pulled my hand away. On either side of me women faced the wall, heads bowed, swaying slightly…
Creator of all / we are waiting for the sky to fall. / We look on in horror at children killed, / homes and schools bombed, / smoking rubble filling the streets.
I am old enough to remember two general Middle Eastern wars, the second of which started right after I had begun my undergraduate studies in Minnesota. With Israel’s victory in these wars, the Jewish state had acquired an aura of invincibility, despite the enmity of its numerous and much larger Arab neighbours. On October 7,…
“One of my lifelong dreams is to visit the Holy Land!” My wife Karen and I often hear those words when people learn that we lead guided group tours to Israel. For most individuals a visit will be a once in a lifetime experience, and many approach such a trip with a singular purpose in…
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