The Elijah School - Our Vision Please fill in your name and email address to receive our newsletter. Several decades of Jewish-Christian dialogue have succeeded in breaking down certain barriers and constructing bridges of good will and understanding. A need has been felt for joint cooperation on the religious front, as opposed to social and humanistic issues, focusing on in-depth study and reflection as another step in an ongoing relationship. Further, Israel, Jerusalem in particular, is a crossroads of people in quest of spiritual identity and meaning. Many Israelis seek to study other religious traditions as they disenchanted with their own tradition.
Many foreigners come to Israel in order to engage in religious studies.
This second group includes both Jews, who come to Israel in order to study Judaism, and Christians who come to Israel in order to gain a better appreciation of their Christian roots and identity. Further, the small number of scholars engaged in the academic study of other religious traditions and the specialization of their study causes major areas in the study of religion to be completely lacking in Israel. Study in traditional institutions is first of all limited to members of the particular faith. Thus, someone seeking to study another religious faith tradition from within usually cannot enter a traditional religious school or seminary. Secondly, study in traditional establishments often lacks critical distance.