The Land

HAIFA – One day three years ago, Feras Anteer and Rabaa Swaid met on the campus of the University of Haifa. He had been visiting the university to explore its Master’s programs and overheard her talking to some students about needing young Druze people to take a survey for her class research project.

JERUSALEM – The Song of Songs, the Biblical text attributed to King Solomon, has long been a source of controversy. Because of its sexual nature and sensual imagery, the ancient rabbis debated whether or not it should be included in the Bible altogether.

CHERRY HILL, NJ — “It’s a question people ask. I’ve been asked it myself. Are you only marrying this person because he happens to be Druze?” Fatin Harfouch tells me from her armchair in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

ON THE BANKS OF JORDAN RIVER, ISRAEL — The first thing most pilgrims to the Qasr al-Yahud baptismal site notice are the gilded crosses atop the Orthodox Church of John the Baptist across the river in Jordan.

TEL AVIV — Under the relentless Mediterranean sun, a collection of rainbow flags thrash in the ocean breeze along a strip of oceanfront in Tel Aviv known as Hilton Beach.

JERUSALEM — Before we arrived  in the Holy Land, Professor Goldman encouraged us to  travel in three capacities: As tourists,…

JERUSALEM — Since Jerusalem’s traffic was temporarily snarled by the city’s fourth annual marathon this morning, our professors opted against…

JERUSALEM — After five months of reading and talking about Jerusalem in class, the day had come when we could…

BETHLEHEM — Today began with a visit to the one of the most revered mountaintops in the Holy Land and…

TIBERIAS — Our third day traveling in Israel in search of religious diversity began and ended with the Druze. We…

It is a cold winter afternoon and the Starbucks coffee shop on Second Avenue and East 13th Street is crowded…

There is magic in the moment of stepping into The Church of the Ascension in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The…

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and women rallied on Water Street in lower Manhattan on Sunday to protest…

A small group was already gathered around a banquet table when Father Vasilios Bassakyros descended the creaky stairs to the…

In the center of a large open Hindu temple in Queens, New York,  a gleaming black statue of Ganesha sits…

JERUSALEM — Trying to find my way to the Western Wall through the winding streets of the Arab Souk in the Old City of Jerusalem, I was distracted by the sultry scarves…

JERUSALEM — On our last full day in Israel, a Sunday, I walked the Via Dolorosa, the street in Jerusalem’s…

We celebrated shabbat in Jerusalem this evening and had dinner in pairs with several Jewish families. Below are reflections from…

On Wednesday evening, we ate dinner in the homes of several Palestinian host families. Here are recaps on what we…