Israel

History

Country:
Israel

Organization name:
The Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue

Preferred English translation of the name of your organization:
מרכז רוסינג לחינוך ולדיאלוג

Year of establishment or foundation of the organization: 
2004

Brief history of the organization:
The Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue is an interreligious organization based in Jerusalem which promotes an inclusive society for all religious, ethnic and national groups. Through education, encounter, research and advocacy, we foster better relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land. The overall goals of our programming are to: contribute to the understanding and appreciation of the other’s religious/cultural/national narratives, traditions, beliefs and practices; combat prejudices and negative stereotypes; create and deepen relationships across religious lines despite differences and disagreement.

Number of members (approx.):
We are not a membership organization.

Where is your organization based?
Jerusalem, Israel.

  
JCJCR Christianity tour in the Old City of Jerusalem         Dialogue and Identity teacher delegation to Switzerland 

Activities

Main focuses/areas of your work:
Dialogue and Identity: This school-twinning program, endorsed by the Ministry of Education, began in 2006 in cooperation with the TALI Jewish school network and the National Office of Catholic schools in Israel. In over 24 primary schools across the country, some 800 Jewish, Christian and Muslim pupils, and more than 70 teachers and principals take part in encounters designed to promote understanding, respect and intercultural tolerance, and to encourage the development of social and interpersonal skills in a multicultural society.

Educating for Change: This 30-hour in-school teacher training program gives teachers practical tools for managing and facilitating conflict-related discussions in the classroom, while providing space and time for individual and group development of the teaching staff. Principals participate in a joint Jewish-Arab forum including educational seminars and a study tour. “Educating for Change” was developed in cooperation with the Center for Civic Education in the Ministry of Education, the Jerusalem Education Administration and the Jerusalem Foundation.

Jerusalem Center for Jewish Christian Relations: JCJCR was established in 2004 to meet the challenges posed by the complex and special encounter between the Jewish majority population and the Christian Arab minority in the Holy Land. JCJCR runs a wide range of courses, conferences, seminars and lectures on the Christian communities in the Holy Land, local Jewish-Christian relations, interfaith and intercultural relations for "multipliers", such as teachers and tour guides, and key stakeholders including government officials and the Israeli army.

Healing Hatred: An innovative model for interreligious dialogue, “Healing Hatred” enables participants to understand core spiritual and moral dilemmas that lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Developed over the last five years by the Rossing Center, the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem and the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, the course equips professionals with tools and hands-on skills of spiritual counseling for the healing of trauma and fear, in order to change the discourse from victimhood to building a joint future.

Campus Interfaith and Dialogue: a new interfaith project, is conducted in partnership with the Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Diversity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and has two components. (i) Meeting Place, employing the Rossing Center's Healing Hatred methodology, brings Muslim, Christian and Jewish students together as a group over the academic year to study and discuss theme-based texts from the three monotheistic faiths, and to share their findings in cross-campus initiatives. (ii) Dialogue Circles, trains student facilitators in the Rossing Center's Educating for Change methodology to conduct dialogue circles for Jewish, Christian and Muslim students at Hebrew University campuses in short 'breakout' sessions (between lectures) to discuss topics and current events of a conflictual nature.    

Rossing Center in the Open House of Remle: Another new project in the famous house from ‘The Lemon Tree’ (by Sandy Tolan). The project is working to create a Ramle-based hub of grassroots interfaith and intercultural activity – created, implemented and sustained by Ramle residents, with the outcome of an empowered and sustainable interfaith, intercultural and inter-generational local leadership. In addition, the project has a strong focus on women empowerment, by documenting the complex stories of different women in Ramle, and creating an intergenerational network of female inter-cultural and interfaith activists in the city.    

Adasha – Jerusalem Center for Interreligious Encounter: ADAShA provides foreign groups which are interreligious in their composition or in their areas of interest with a serious and systematic educational experience in the Holy Land. ADAShA's’s innovative programs encourage personal discovery through firsthand experience. Site visits, text-study, lectures, meetings with local religious leaders and visits to local organizations serve as stimuli for far-ranging theological, historical and contemporary discussions amongst the participants.

Which audiences do you work towards?
Elementary, middle and high school students, religious leaders and clergy, teachers and educators, tour guides.

How often does your organization meet?
Our staff meetings as a whole group monthly.  We have general assembly meetings once a year.  As we are not really a membership organization, we don’t hold regular meetings for members.

Events regularly sponsored by your organization:
We run an annual event entitled the Daniel Rossing Memorial Symposium. Other than that, we run trainings and programs but not regular events. These training seminars, lectures and encounter programs involved thousands of people each year in events ranging from a one-hour lecture to a 56-hour teacher-training course. For more details, see our website calendar of events: http://rossingcenter.org/events/

Does your organization have any regular publications (in print or online)?
We publish quarterly newsletters in English which are sent via email and have an active social media presence. Sign up for our newsletter here.

We manage the following Facebook pages:

• The Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue
• Jerusalem Center for Jewish Christian Relations
• Educating for Change (Hebrew Only)

Has your organization figured in any published online material such as newspapers, books or blogs, databases?
Amnon Ramon (2012). Christians and Christianity in the Jewish State Israeli Policy towards the Churches and the Christian Communities (1948-2010). The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. Can be accessed through: https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PUB_christianspdf_abstract_eng.pdf

  
 Educating for Change teacher training in Modi'in.           Staff

Organization

Main working/publishing language of your organization:
English, Hebrew and Arabic

Officers of your organization:
Our board of directors consists of the following officers:

Chair - Jonathan Tsevi, Adv, long-term interfaith activist (Jewish)

Members of the Board:

Rabbi David Rosen, International Director of Interreligious Affairs, American Jewish Committee (Jewish)
Ms. Soher Za'atry, Financial Consultant specializing in women's empowerment in the Arab sector in Israel (Greek Orthodox)
Ms. Melanie Sobell Zaken, Director of Human Resources, HR Global, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Jewish)
Fr. David Neuhaus, SJ, formerly Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics, teaches Scriptures at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Seminary and in the Religious Studies Department at Bethlehem University (Catholic)
Fr. Norayr Kazazian, Principal of Armenian school (Armenian)
Ms. Hanan Abu-Dalu, Principal of Al-Sawahrah Middle School, Jabel Mukaber, long term interfaith activist (Muslim)

Briefly describe your organization’s relationship to the ICCJ:
We are members of ICCJ.

What is the greatest challenge your organization faces at the moment?
Overcoming resistance to dialogue on all sides.
Ant the major challenge we face at the moment is managing our projects during the COVID-19 pandemic.

E-mail address to contact your organization:
info(at)rossingcenter.org

Website of your organization:
http://rossingcenter.org/en/