Worldview: A linkage of faiths at YMCA in Jerusalem

"You have two peoples with real legitimacy in this land... and both must recognize it. The zero-sum game has gone on for too long." Forsan HusseinThe Jerusalem International YMCA. Its tower looks down on the Old City.

Founded in a bookstore near the Old City in 1878, the YMCA was shut down by the Turks during World War I and later reopened by the British. It moved several times before construction of the current building began in the 1920s after a $1 million Christmas donation from James Jarvie of Montclair, N.J., who was inspired by plans to make the institution a center for people of all faiths.

Designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon, architect of the Empire State Building, the neo-Byzantine-style stone complex is covered with decorative elements that represent the three monotheistic faiths. The phenomenal carillon bells in the tower are played by a Jewish Israeli professor and a Mormon American.

When the building was dedicated in 1933 by British Gen. Edmund Lord Allenby, he had these words inscribed on the front in Hebrew, Arabic, and English: "Here is a place whose atmosphere is peace, where political and religious jealousies can be forgotten . . . " (For more on the building, visit www.jerusalemymca.org.)

Worldview: A linkage of faiths at YMCA in Jerusalem

This was a bleak year for anyone who dreams of Middle East peace or Arab-Jewish coexistence. So, on Christmas Day, I'd like to write about an institution in Jerusalem that brings Christians, Jews, and Muslims together, and about its director, who has bridged divides that seem insurmountable. »Read story

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