The Three Faiths Forum

A wonderful welcome. Mitzpah gets a vegetarian bone in the shape of a toothbrush which he promptly devoured.

We talk about walking and pilgrimage. I’m asked: “In Temple times Jewish people ascended on foot to Jerusalem. Where is Jewish pilgrimage now?”

“We used to go on journeys to study” comments a charming gentleman, head of the Moroccan community. “We would visit the graves of great Rabbis and study their teachings. I’ll take you somewhere which requires a 6 hour journey by mule”. I say I’ll definitely be coming. I think of Hanno Terrorde who arranges travel with donkeys. “We have lost the wisdom and simplicity of Nomadic culture. We should recapture it for at least a few weeks in the year” (That would be a real journey. I am being spoilt all along the way).

We talk too about the tension between life’s journey as the pursuit of personal spiritual fulfilment (reading lech lecha as go to the land where you discover yourself) and life’s journey as service to others (reading lech lecha as go to you – that is, others whom we care for and who care for us). I worry about the possible narcissism if the first idea is taken too exclusively, and note the number of young people I know who devote themselves to social justice. Ideally the spiritual journey and the moral journey should inspire each other.