The Jerusalem Post website recently published an article by Julian Kritz ’16, Interfaith Scholar and vice president of Students Supporting Israel at Augsburg College. In the piece, Kritz discussed his experience traveling to Israel with a diverse delegation of Minnesota legislators and community leaders.
He remembered the diversity of the group — which was bipartisan, interfaith and intergenerational — as being particularly impactful as they toured sites of importance to Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
“As a Jew, seeing Israel through the eyes of the Christian members of our delegation was a moving experience which greatly added to my understanding of why so many people care about this small piece of land,” he explained.
Kritz was selected for the trip due to his work as an intern with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC) and his travel was sponsored by a grant from the Minneapolis Jewish Federation. The JCRC was asked to plan the trip, which included meetings with key figures in Israeli and Palestinian politics and tours of religious sites, centers of business, and locations of political importance.
On September 26, alumni Martin Sabo ’59 and Jim Pederson ’56 will lead a conversation among state legislators and others who played a critical role in reforming and transforming Minnesota’s political and governmental landscape during the 1970s. Sabo and Pederson will be joined by Lyall Schwarzkopf, former Republican state legislator and former chief of staff to Governor Arne Carlson, as well as former Democratic state legislators Ray Faricy and Bill Kelly. The panel will be moderated by Gene LaHammer, former Associated Press reporter.