Jerusalem Center for Jewish – Christian Relations

The Center initiates and runs courses throughout the country for diverse audiences. Most of the courses are for Israeli Jewish audiences and focus on the local Christian communities, their history, their heritage and their traditions. The aim of the courses is to impart basic knowledge alongside encouraging understanding of and tolerance towards others, and fostering respect for minority communities. The Center also organizes courses for Arab audiences that provide information on Jewish traditions and explore issues related to Israeli Jewish identity.

All courses are conducted in cooperation with educational institutions such as teachers-training colleges and universities.

Teacher Training: Annual courses of 56 hours in teacher-training colleges focus on the history, heritage and traditions of the Christian communities in the Holy Land. The courses give an overview of the birth of Christianity and the history of the Churches, and then move on to other topics such as Jewish-Christian relations, the relations between the State of Israel and the Churches,  the education system and the teaching of Christianity, the holiday calendar of the local communities, the lay people and the clergy. During the course, the teachers visit sites related to the topics studied. In recent years the courses have been taught at David Yellin College and the Kerem Institute in Jerusalem and at Seminar HaKibbutzim in Tel Aviv.

Teaching Religions: The Center holds additional courses examining the question of how to teach religions in the formal and informal educational system, and teaching religions in the framework of educational tours. The courses are intended for student teachers and their purpose is to enable teachers to develop tools for teaching religions creatively in the classroom.

Short courses: courses dealing with familiarity with the Christian communities, their scriptures and traditions. The courses include a combination of tours and class meetings, and are intended for pre- and post- army preparatory courses and informal study frameworks.

Short courses: The courses are held annually in cooperation with the Department of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University in the framework of the “Introduction to Christianity” class, in which the participants are exposed to the communities, the holy sites, and the past and present of the city of Jerusalem.

Short courses for the Arab public: The courses are held in the Galilee and expose participants to the historical and cultural background of Jewish society in Israel. The courses deal with subjects related to religious and cultural heritage and the different streams and groups that make up Jewish society in Israel.