Yonathan in Berlin - July 2025

This morning, I met Patricia Böckmann, a Christian member of the educational team at House of One. Nathalie Marie-Rose and Kübra Dalkiliç, resp. Patricia's Jewish and Muslim colleagues, I met last week. We got to know one another, discussed the book, and Patricia gave me a comprehensive overview of the work of the team, and of the various age groups and audiences that they work with. This time I did not forget to take a picture, and since Nathalie arrived as well, she joined us. From left to right: moi, Patricia, Nathalie.

Later this morning I had a pleasant and inspiring meeting with imam Osman Örs and Nathalie Marie-Rose, both of House of One. After that meeting, I traveled to the House of the Wannsee Conference , which (not unlike Plötzensee, but in a very different way) never fails to impress. There was a fascinating piece of art created with the voice of Josph Wolf, after whom the house's library is named, singing in Yiddish. I'm sorry that I cannot upload a video or sound recording here. A couple of Japanese tourists was reading and loudly discussing the explanations, so now I know that 'Yiddish' in Japanese is イディッシュ語 Iddishu-go. I wrote it down phonetically and later checked it in Google Translate. It sounded much more like the transliteration of the Japanese word than of the Chinese one (意第緒語, Yi Di Xu Yu). I could be wrong, I don't know either language. Also, in the picture of Joseph Wolf, notice the sign behind him on the right. The four letters in Hebrew (a particular font...

After the meeting with the staff of Netzwerk Israel, I got off the bus to take pictures of the Denkmal KZ (Konzentrationslager, concentration camp) Columbia . German Wikipedia has much more information than the English version. Columbia, or the Columbia house, was a former military prison when the Nazis turned it into one of the first concentration camp, right after they came to power. Many Jews and political opponents of the Nazi Party were held and tortured here, and some of the most notorious criminals of the regime worked here at the start of their 'careers'. The camp was used for only three years, in 1936 its remaining prisoners were moved to the new camp at Sachsenhausen. Early in the evening, I had the privilege to attend the monthly Friedensgebet (prayer for peace) of the House of One. A rabbi, a Protestant minister, and a Muslim theologist (Kubra of the educational department, whom I met yesterday) prayed for peace in German, Arabic and Hebrew. It was a small and movi...

Today, Stefanie Avital of the German Desk at my school, the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa, Israel, and I had the chance to meet Greta and Maja of the Netzwerk Israel , which - supported by the EVZ Foundation - gives me a scholarship to stay and work here in Berlin for over two weeks. As soon as I heard from Greta that I had received the scholarship, I contacted her to make an appointment. As with my colleagues from House of One, I wanted to meet Greta and Maja in person, so that future communication and cooperation would be easier and more effective. I wanted Stefanie, who lives in Berlin, to join me, because I thought it important for her to learn about the work of the Netzwerk and for them to know more about what we do at Leo Baeck. And all that is exactly what happened. It was a really good meeting, everybody learnt something, I think. For me and for my school, which invests lots of time, energy and (wo)man power in what is commonly known as shared existence projects and vari...

I've just met Kübra Dalkiliç of the educational department of House of One Berlin. As I wrote earlier, one of the main purposes of my stay in Berlin is to meet Kübra, her Christian and Jewish colleagues, and other HoO staff members. Now that we have had a chance to get to know each other, and they have received a copy of The Man in the Clouds,  the actual work of writing the learning units based on the book will be much easier and more efficient. Kübra and I will meet again tomorrow, at the monthly prayer for peace, organized by House of One.

Today, I met Roland Stolte, Director of Concept of House of One . We discussed my project, the challenges AND the need for coexistence projects in general and after 7 October in particular, and what are the best ways to continue from here. Then I met Nathalie Marie-Rose, the Jewish representative at House of One's educational department. It is with that department that I will be cooperating while writing the learning units based on The Man in the Clouds. Even though I constantly try to document my visit, of course I forgot to take a selfie with Nathalie. I know, something hasn't happened if you didn't take any pictures, but I often (also with school visits in Germany) am enjoying the moment and the personal meetings with colleagues, students and others, and then I simply forget to take any pictures. It may be a generational thing.

Today, I also visited the info-box of House of One, near the building site where the building - a prayer home for Christians, Muslims and Jews - eventually will rise. The first stone was laid in 2021. A volunteer at the site gave me an extensive overview of the history of the project, and of the challenges that it has faced and is facing. Local, regional and national political responsibilities and territories, rising construction prices as a result of the war in Ukraine and of Donald Trump's tariff threats, ethnic-religious tensions after 7 October, all the troubles that the world faces make an already intricate project even more complex. On the other hand, this only proves why the project is so important. If Jews, Christians and Muslims can build such a beautiful meeting place together in this city, which has a complicated history (including some of the darkest chapters in world history), then that place could become a beacon of hope for others. The target year for the House of On...

This project will be the main focus during my stay in Berlin. It started in 2016 as an idea for a workshop in Stuttgart for Palestinian and Israeli teachers: to have Israeli, Palestinian and German students translate a Dutch children's book into Arabic, Hebrew and German, get a trilingual, fully illustrated edition of the book published, and use that book in Israeli, Palestinian and German elementary schools. The book was written by Koos Meinderts and Annette Fienieg, whose permission to use the text and illustrations I asked and received before I started working on the project. The book is  The Man in the Clouds (De man in de wolken) , and it deals with the importance of giving, sharing, accepting the other, and the dangers of greed and materialism. Its main themes are universal, which together with the beautiful illustrations makes the book a great tool for intercultural and interreligious dialogue and education. I teach English at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa, and fou...

On this weblog, I'll be writing about my work and experiences during my stay in Berlin in July 2025. With the support of Netzwerk Israel (a cooperation of the EVZ Foundation (Remembrance, Responsbility, and Future ), the New Israel Fund Germany and other NGOs), I am staying in the German capital for over two weeks. Together with staff members of House of One , I'll be developing a project in which Jewish, Muslim and Christian students in Israel and Germany will learn together about certain values. In my free time, I will be upgrading an article that I wrote in cooperation with Centropa last year, which can be used as a guide to 50+ monuments and memorials in Berlin that deal with persecution by and resistance to the Nazi regime. I want to visit all the monuments and museums, take pictures, and see which ones I think are (the most) suitable and should be given the highest, medium and less priority for visits with students. This way I can work on two subjects, Jewish-Muslim-Ch...