Jerusalem Trip: CNRC Team Visits Collaborators at Hebrew Hadassah Medical University
Studying religion means grappling with a breathtaking spectrum of cultural diversity across time and space. Engaging with this range of human experience requires researchers working together across sites in different cultures, countries, and continents. We have been very fortunate to find a wonderful group of collaborators at Hebrew Hadassah Medical University in Israel led by Professor Shahar Arzy. In March, two of our team members went out to Jerusalem to meet with Dr. Arzy and work together to lay the foundation for a new branch of our research project.
Professor Arzy and his colleague Zalman took us to Machaneh Yehuda, an amazing place to see the sights, smells, and tastes that Jerusalem has to offer. After almost getting caught in the rain, we had lunch at Azura, a local establishment that has been serving Israeli fare since 1952. From there it was off to HHU to meet with Drs. Grafman and McNamara virtually to discuss our collaboration.
The next day, Rachel and John spent the morning exploring the Old City of Jerusalem, one of the holiest and most culturally significant places in the world. The Old City contains sacred sites for each of the three great Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), as well as showcasing a diverse community of different cultural and religious groups within each faith.
Finally, it was back to work at a nearby cafe to set the Jerusalem fork of our project up for success, going over protocols, discussing cultural differences, and generating new ideas for the next wave of our research.
Even after a short amount of time, it was apparent that the locals experience and encounter religion in much different ways than in the United States. It will be very exciting to learn more about how their daily lives influence their dreams, as a major focus of this research project.
We are very thankful for the hospitality we were shown during our stay — thank you so much to Dr. Arzy, Zalman, and Daniel!
