What a brilliant man! The session was basically about the politics of theology. He discussed the differing approaches of Maimonides, who was primarily a philosopher at heart, and Judah Halevi, who was primarily a theologian. Perhaps the most meaningful words he said were that when you engage in a true dialogue it is more than speaking and listening. It is being willing to take the risk that you may change my life.
We left the Inbal Hotel, a structure whose angles and lines have always intrigued me, to head to the Old City.
There we followed the story of the Sephardi Jews within the walls of Jerusalem. We walked past the newly opened Hurva Synagogue
and toured The Four Sephardi Synagogues, a complex of four separate, but connected, houses of worship. The were built at different times to meet the needs of different communities that immigrated to Jerusalem and practiced different Sephardi rites.
We spent some additional time in the Old City, which is always a great pleasure
and then went to Beit Avi Chai to meet with Yair Harel the founder of the website piyut.org. On this website he has gathered liturgical melodies, or piyutim, from around the world. Unfortunately there was a crisis going on over the two concerts he was hosting this evening and could not meet with us, but we went to the web site and listened to a number of different melodies.
A final lecture was a surprise to the group. We were addressed by Rabbi David Weiss Halivni whose son is married to the daughter of one of the members of our Melton group. He is a Talmud scholar and Holocaust survivor. Now in his 80's, he is frail and difficult to hear, but mesmerizing. We are so fortunate to have heard his words of wisdom.
Tomorrow is the last day of the Seminar. It will be a full day, ending with a farewell dinner for the group. We will be walking in Sephardi neighborhoods outside of the Old City in the morning and meeting with Rabbi Michael Melchior, head of Mosaica, in the afternoon to discuss modern Sephardi Israeli society. We fly out directly after the dinner from Tel Aviv to Philadelphia. I won't have a chance to blog again until I'm in Rochester and can add in some pictures from the last day.
What a marvelous experience this entire trip has been!
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Thanks for the interesting dialogue and great photos. Looking forward to seeing you and hearing about the trip in detail.
ReplyDeleteCarol