We drive along the barbed electric fence that surrounds the Israeli settlement of Har Gilo. We are headed to the Walajah valley of the Palestinian territory. The valleys are deep and lush with pine ...Read More
The heavy rain doused the aluminum-roofed shack. Rivulets carved paths through the thick mud around the house. But inside, the house was cozy, comfortable. Thick carpets and bouncy velvet couches make...Read More
Mahmoud’s family lives one Palestinian hill over from a newly-forming illegal Jewish settlement. Six Jewish settlers arrived about a year ago with tents and made a primitive campsite. All year they ...Read More
The Tent of Nations is an organic farm on a long narrow strip of Palestinian land that has held its deed since 1917, through four occupations: Turkish, British, Jordanian, and Israeli. It is placed in...Read More
We met Shirim at her family’s olive grove plot. It falls just outside the Betar Illit settlement. More accurately, it falls on the entire hill but the settlement imposed itself right on top of the f...Read More
Normally people do not go to Rome to refrain from eating. But it was Yom Kippur, and I was on my way to afternoon services at Beth Hillel, Rome’s new progressive Jewish community. My long walk to th...Read More
I was late to Rosh Hashanah services at Beth Hillel, Rome’s new progressive Jewish community. I meant to leave my apartment at 6pm but I scooted out the door by 6:45pm, realizing that the mistake wo...Read More
As autumn settles into the trees, changing bright green to the yellow, orange, and red rainbow of fall, I always get a little sad. Summer is by far my favorite season, all heat and sun, with air so he...Read More
For a class I am currently taking about young adult ministry, we were given the simple prompt, “Why church?” Below is my response to this simple yet profound question of whether or not the Churc...Read More
As I write this, I am sitting at my kitchen table while my ten-year old, home from school today with a fever, watches a movie upstairs. It is a bright, beautiful fall day in Austin, Texas—and part o...Read More