By Heather Walker
ROME — The Lay Centre has the pleasure of welcoming numerous Jewish scholars to its resident community. To mark this year’s Day for Jewish-Christian Dialogue, Jan. 17, two of these scholars shared their experiences of dialogue and community while in Rome.
Rebecca Eisenstadt (2019-2020) is currently completing her master’s degree in archeology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Shulamit Miller (2013, 2016) is a postdoctoral fellow in archeology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Both came to Rome on the Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn Fellowship to study at the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Both scholars commented on the friendship and mutual respect they experienced at the Gregorian and The Lay Centre. Eisenstadt said students at both institutions share in common the desire to “come together to create a learning experience and a community based on openness to new people and opinions.”
Miller described her time in Rome as “literally life-changing.”
“I loved having the opportunity to build friendships with people from different countries, faiths and walks of life, to learn about their lives, their hopes and struggles,” she said.
“Looking at myself in relationship to others, and articulating my thoughts in ways which would express my lifestyle and beliefs to others, with varying degrees of knowledge,” helped her learn a great deal about herself, she said.
“The greatest evidence of the success of these experiences are the long-term relationships which I continue to foster with my friends from Rome, no matter where in the world we are or what we are currently doing with our lives,” she added.
Eisenstadt said she also grew to understand “Christianity and Catholicism on a new level. I learned from every one of my (fellow) residents and friends at The Lay Centre new aspects of life and beliefs. The whole experience was exciting and mind-opening, and I’m very grateful for that.”
Both scholars experienced a number of surprises while in Rome as well. High on Eisenstadt’s list of surprises was the welcome and openness she experienced at The Lay Centre and at the Gregorian, where she met and befriended priests, monks, religious men and women, which she did not expect.
She also recalled arriving in Rome as the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region began and being amazed at the conversations on the different synod themes.
“It was an opportunity for acquaintance with contemporary issues that concern the Vatican and the Catholic world,” she said.
However, not all surprises were positive, added Miller.
“Unfortunately, sometimes, the surprise was to realize that even people who you had come to call your friends, still had misconceptions or prejudices,” she said.
Nonetheless, Miller saw these moments as opportunities to pursue dialogue, to discover the richness and beauty of other faith traditions, and to overcome misunderstanding.
Photographs courtesy Rebecca Eisenstadt and Shulamit Miller
