By Dr. Yehuda Stolov | Executive Director
On June 28th, the Reut-Sadaqa Interfaith Encounter group had a very moving field trip to Beit Hagath, in Ein Karem with Etienne Lepicard MD, PhD, who is its founder and inspiration.
Beit Hagath was originally the farm for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion which is now under jurisdiction of Monastery of Abu Ghosh. Beit Hagath’s natural setting full of flowers and gardens maintains a certain wildness in which the soul can flourish. It is a unique location which approaches interfaith in a unique and humane way. A Christian, Jew and Muslim live together on its grounds and have breakfast every morning together.
They have interfaith study groups, e.g. studying the weekly Torah portion with the Hebrew Midrash and Christian Fathers, such as 3rd century commentator Origen who lived in the Holy Land. Later study of Qu’ran was added. It hosts an interfaith music festival and many other projects. One of the most stimulating is its partnership with the Master Chef Ezra Kedem, who teaches culinary skills to hearing impaired high school students or students of cooking from Notre Dame centre, opposite New Gate who come to learn and cook and taste together in an atmosphere that is reflected in the architecture of the kitchen and nearby dining room, both of which are made of transparent glass. It seemed a powerful metaphor for their open hearted work. We came away smiling.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser