About three weeks ago I received a call from a dear colleague, asking me if I would like an all-expense-paid trip to an interfaith conference in Israel? A few phone calls later I knew only a little bit more. A Catholic organization known as the Neocatechumenal Way was organizing a meeting for rabbis and Catholic priests in Israel, they had funding for 100 rabbis who could carve out the time on very short notice, and they were still 40 rabbis short. (I thought that sounded pretty funny, too!) Also, the conference center at which the meeting was to take place was near my brother and sister-in-law’s house in the Galilee, and I could play with their growing brood of grandchildren.
I booked my ticket.