Building bridges between Christians and Jews

Elizabeth Goldhirsh -- Liz to her friends -- grew up like many children from well-to-do families, with boarding schools and other of life’s finer things at her disposal.

But by age 24, Goldhirsh was faced with a challenge most young adults could never fathom -- both of her parents had died within four years of each other from cancer.

When Goldhirsh, now 25, came into her inheritance, buzz around the Mel Gibson film “The Passion of the Christ” was reaching an apex.

Struck with what she saw as a divisive and negative interreligious dialogue around the film, Goldhirsh decided to help Christians and Jews find a more constructive conversation. So she launched “Reaching Common Ground,” an interfaith essay contest with $100,000 in cash prizes, funded entirely by her money.

Raised in a Conservative Jewish home, Goldhirsh first became interested in comparative religion when majoring in history at the University of Pennsylvania. After earning a master’s degree at Columbia University’s prestigious journalism school, Goldhirsh continued to make her way through the Ivy League, landing at Harvard Divinity School for a master’s degree.

When “The Passion of the Christ” was released in February, Goldhirsh was unpleasantly surprised by the charged tenor of Christian-Jewish discussions.

“I saw the divisive dialogue and charged debates between religious leaders,” she said, “I felt no one was talking about common ground.”

“The Passion of the Christ,” depicts the final 12 hours of the life of Jesus. The film, to be released Aug. 31 on DVD, prompted charges of anti-Semitism from some Jewish groups that argued that undue blame for Jesus’ death was placed on the Jews.

Goldhirsh’s project attracted the attention of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies, a Baltimore-based organization that works to promote interfaith dialogue and is a partner with “Reaching Common Ground.”

The Rev. Christopher Leighton, a Presbyterian minister who is executive director of the institute, welcomed the opportunity to bring young people into the conversation.

“There are not enough young people who are fluent enough to recognize our differences and emphasize our commonalities in constructive ways,” he said.

Goldhirsh’s project, which solicits essays from entrants ages 16 to 22, might just be an antidote to the problem, he said, taking the opportunity to use the film as a starting point for good, real dialogue -- even if that means disagreeing on fundamental points.

“If we don’t learn how to interact in creative ways beyond tolerance, we’re in a great deal of trouble,” he said.

The contest, which Goldhirsh presents in honor of her parents, will accept submissions until July 30. Goldhirsh said the contest website, www.reachingcommonground.com, had received more than 8,000 hits.