The Chautauqua Institution's Department of Religion observes Abrahamic week by focusing on the most iconic of sacred spaces -- considered by the three Abrahamic Faiths as the most holy of sacred places -- Jerusalem.
Invited from Jerusalem to participate in the conversation are members of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths who can impart both their understandings of how this penultimate sacred space came to be so regarded, as well as their visions of how it might be shared in peace.
Bio
Rabbi Michael Melchior
A former member of the Israeli Knesset, Rabbi Michael Melchior received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Hakotel in Jerusalem. A native of Denmark from a long line of Scandinavian rabbis, he has served as rabbi of a Jerusalem congregation since 1986, and since 1980 also holds the title of Chief Rabbi of Norway. International Director of the Elie Wiesel Foundation, as well as an administrator of various human rights, immigration, and educational organizations, among his many awards are the Norwegian Nobel Institute's Prize for Tolerance and Bridge-Building and Yeshivat Hakotel's Award for Work in the Diaspora Rabbinate. Rabbi Melchior has written numerous articles published in the Israeli and foreign press.
Since 1996 Rabbi Melchior has been the chairman of Meimad, a modern-Orthodox party, which in 1999 became a faction of One Israel. He was elected to the Knesset in May 1999. From August 1999 until March 2001, he served as Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, responsible for Diaspora and social affairs, and from March 2001 until October 2002 he served as Deputy Minister of Israeli Foreign Affairs. Rabbi Melchior served as Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, and Sports from January until June 2005, when he was appointed Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, until the resignation of Labor from the government in November 2005.
Rabbi Melchior devotes his life to teaching the recognition of the equality and dignity of every human being: that all peoples, as brothers and sisters, have a common lineage, and all are, irrespective of race, religion, or gender, created in the divine image.
City (pop., 2006 est.: 729,100), ancient city of the Middle East that since 1967 has been wholly under the rule of the State of Israel. Located in the heart of historic Palestine, it is nestled between the West Bank and Israel. The Old City is a typical walled Middle Eastern enclosure; the modern city is an urban agglomeration of high-rises and housing complexes. It is holy to Judaism as the site of the Temple of Jerusalem, to Christianity because of its association with Jesus, and to Islam because of its connection with the Mi'raj (the Prophet Muhammad's ascension to heaven). Jewish shrines include the Western Wall. Islamic holy places include the Dome of the Rock. In 1000 BCEDavid made it the capital of Israel. Razed by the Babylonians in the 6th century BCE, it thereafter enjoyed only brief periods of independence. The Romans devastated it in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, banishing the Jewish population. From 638 it was ruled by various Muslim dynasties, except for short periods during the Crusades when it was controlled by Christians. Rule by the Ottoman Empire ended in 1917, and the city became the capital of the British mandate of Palestine. It was thereafter the subject of competing Zionist and Palestinian national aspirations. Israel claimed the city as its capital after the Arab-Israeli War in 1948 and took the entire city during the Six-Day War of 1967. Its status as Israel's capital has remained a point of contention: official recognition by the international community has largely been withheld pending final settlement of regional territorial rights.
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