A rabbi and an imam are going to Jerusalem

It may sound like the beginning of a traditional joke, but I think it sounds much better than a rabbi and a imam started a war in Jerusalem. Ramazan Demir, the imam, and Schlomo Hofmeister, the rabbi, are both young and religious and involved in the daily discussions regarding religion and tolerance, both between their religions, on one side, and in relation with the majority. 

Together, they spent a couple of days in Jerusalem, via a stop over in Istanbul, exploring their roots and the big dilemma of the 21st century. Both of them are European citizens and acknowledge the main challenges of our times, while trying to make the world a better place.

During their trip they approach issues such as extremism, radicalization, missionarism, relation with other religions, head covering for women and in general how to preserve the difference while being part of the majority. On purpose or not, they behave like well trained diplomats, avoiding as much as possible particular tensed situations and political disputes - which do exist and fuel greatly the current dissent, particularly in the Middle East - trying to assume that extremes and over politization is in fact the main reason for misunderstanding. Even when they are visiting Hebron, a place torned out between two religions, where a visit from outside cannnot be done without special supervision, particularly when it comes to going to the religious places, the two enlighted religious leaders are just mentioning that the holy places of the two religions are situated in the other religion's place. 

In my opinion, the most interesting part of the book were the discussions about the current relation of Western Europe to religion, the post-post-Enlightment years and the difficulties of accepting the religious difference. The dialogue omits to address, among others, the root causes of the current radicalization among Muslim communities in Europe, but hope the dialogue will continue and, at least in the German-speaking media, a more complex discussion will ensue.