I’m writing this message from Jerusalem, where I am concluding a unique interfaith journey of discovery and understanding co-led with my partners and friends, Amanda Berman, CEO and Founder of Zioness, and Bishop Michael Fisher of Greater Zion Church Family.
Earlier this week, our group visited Capernaum – in Hebrew, כפר נחום – a small town on the shores of the Galilee. According to Christian tradition, this was the home of Jesus for many years, a place where he taught and prayed. We gathered in the remains of a synagogue that dates back to his time. There, surrounded by a shared sacred history, we lifted our voices and sang the opening words of Psalm 118:
Hodu l’Adonai ki tov! Ki l’olam chasdo! הוֹדוּ לַיהֹוָה כִּי־טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ
Give thanks to GOD, who is good—whose steadfast love is eternal!
From that spot, we walked just a few steps — perhaps a hundred feet — to another sacred site: the remains of a Byzantine church first built in the fifth century, on the place where Christians believe the apostle Peter once lived. What struck us was not only the beauty of the place, but the simple, powerful, and urgent truth it revealed. Some fifteen centuries ago, a synagogue and a church stood side by side. Neither destroyed the other. Each community prayed, learned, and lived in its own space, in what appears to have been a peaceful and respectful coexistence.
Perhaps this offers a template for our own moment. We, too, can live side by side — listening, exchanging ideas, sharing culture, sharing music, sharing our hearts. This truth resonates especially deeply for me on this mission to Israel with leaders from the Black Christian and Black Jewish communities. Our work together reminds us that if we hope to move toward healing, justice, and understanding, we must stand alongside one another.
In combating antisemitism, racism, and all forms of bigotry and hatred in our country and across the world, our only hope for real progress is by engaging in this work together, arm in arm, with allies and friends. And in countering the delegitimization of Israel and all forms of anti-Zionism, we must move beyond our own echo chambers and curated algorithms and seek meaningful engagement, conversation, and fellowship with those outside our immediate communities.
This trip has been one of deep discovery and profound faith. I have witnessed the abiding love that the participants have for this land, rooted largely in their religious traditions: the Jordan River is precious because, according to the Christian faith, it is where John the Baptist prepared Jesus for his ministry; Jerusalem is sacred because it is where Jesus carried out his final earthly mission.
I have come to believe, on a theological level, that God calls us to this work. God calls us to form partnerships, to labor together with one another and with God in the sacred task of Tikkun Olam — mending what is broken in our world.
Hodu l’Adonai ki tov! Ki l’olam chasdo! הוֹדוּ לַיהֹוָה כִּי־טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ
Give thanks to GOD, who is good—whose steadfast love is eternal!
These words belong to all of us. They remind us that the world is filled with goodness, filled with God’s presence, filled with God’s love.
Let us do the work together.
Let us stay in conversation.
Let us praise and give thanks together, always with respect and friendship, side by side.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yoshi
Standing together at the remains of the ancient synagogue in Capernaum.
