At the Crossroads November 25, 2011

The places we have travelled on this sabbatical so far have been countries we expected would have complementary cultures and would give us different but complementary experiences of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish worlds in interaction. Andalusian Spain was an immersion into history, in the European culture most influenced by the shifting influences of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity as their faiths were proclaimed in their periods of political and cultural dominance. Jerusalem is a prisoner of its history in many ways. It wants to be a world city welcoming the faithful and the curious from around the globe. It is courted and claimed by two nationalities to be their capital. Like the Anselm Kiefer artwork we wrote about in our last post, Jerusalem's Old City is a vessel trying to hold within its walls the holy yearnings of three faiths, and when you try to compress God into that small a vessel, it cannot help but shatter.

And now we are at a crossroads - Istanbul! Where Europe and Asia meet! Where Constantine declared Byzantium the New Rome and Capital of Christianity, where Sephardic Jews fled from Spain, where the most sophisticated Muslim democracy on the planet shows the world it can be done! We sent our first evening exploring Istikan Street in the New District, as exciting a shopping and walking street as any we have ever seen anywhere, even the Ramblas in Barcelona.

We arrived here on the last leg of our journey on a day that feels just like home in Kate November, 45 degrees and overcast with a chilly wind. Walking on a beach in Tel Aviv seems far away, though it was just yesterday. Traveling within just a few days between Palestine and Israel and into Turkey, we are very aware if the privilege our skin color and passports afford us. We travel freely in the world in a way so many people we have met can only dream about. When we reach a crossroads with a checkpoint, we are assisted in passing through and knowing which way to go. When we come to a body of water, we are ferried over to the other side. From a viewpoint high atop Galata Tower, we are amazed to see Europe and Asia reaching towards each other across the Bosporus, and amazed at how easily we have come to be here at this crossroads.

Location:Istanbul, Turkey