FREEDOM - Arabic Speaking Interfaith Encounter Group on 13th August 2008:

On August 13th the group gathered in my home and dealt with different issues related to "Freedom". We started by reading a short text in Arabic by the great Egyptian writer Taha Hussein. The text is titled "Freedom".

In the text, a young person asks his old teacher how can he explain the behavior of a person who was free all his life, but when he reached old age preferred to be a servant of another person. The reply of the teacher was: "life exhausted the free person so much that in his old age he could not bear both old age and freedom together, since freedom puts a heavy burden on the person".

This founding text of Taha Hussein was an opening for a fascinating discussion between the group's members of three faiths, about issues of "Freedom" in it diverse meanings: from freedom of religion and worship, national freedom and artistic freedom to school vacations and the freedom to do nothing.

Reported by Group's Coordinators: Dr. Shlomo Alon and Nadia Tutanji-Nusseibeh



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