House of Prayer “Amen” in Jerusalem

On Monday, September 5, 2016, the House of Prayer called “Amen” was opened in Jerusalem. This was the peak of a process that took half a year, during which Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders and heads of communities, met in order to learn together about the unique world of prayer of each of the traditions and of each of the members of the group. The initiators of the program were Rabbi Tamar Elad Appelbaum and Yair Harel, from the Zion Community, together with the festival “Mekudeshet 2016”, a part of the Culture Season in Jerusalem. From the Christian side, those who agreed to participate in the long process were Father Rafic, responsible for the Jerusalem Hebrew speaking Catholic community, Sister Esther, a Coptic Orthodox nun, and Father Alberto Pari, a Franciscan. The different events are taking place from September 5 to 11, 2016 and the program can be viewed here

On Monday evening, an opening session on the theme of “One” brought together three invited guests from the three religions: Dr. Meir Buzaglo, professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University, Father David Neuhaus, Latin Patriarchal Vicar and Dr. Barakat Fawzi, a lecturer in Islamic studies at Bethlehem University. The speeches were delivered in an atmosphere of prayer and music from the different traditions, which accompanied the whole evening.

On Tuesday morning, a meeting took place focused on intercession, animated by Rabbi Dov Zinger with the participation of members of other religions, especially Shaykh Raed Mahamid from Jaffa and the Coptic Orthodox choir. Some of those attending were pupils from the bilingual school. Let us pray that events like these bring much inspiration to this country.