5. Ramadan Karim, Shabbat Shalom

“Sometimes peace is not a treaty.
Sometimes it is a greeting.”

One evening during that extra week, a close friend of mine—very religious, deeply observant—took us to the Old City of Jerusalem. It happened to be the first day of Ramadan.

Jerusalem during Ramadan is intense. The Old City becomes crowded, energetic, and a little unpredictable. Walking through the narrow streets, you can feel the layers of history, religion, and tension all pressing against each other.

At one point, we were walking toward the gates when a group of young Arab men approached from the opposite direction. I’ll be honest: in that moment, I felt nervous. Maybe it was everything we had heard during the fellowship. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the Old City. Maybe it was just the natural instinct people feel when encountering a large, unfamiliar group.

But what happened next was simple and unexpected. As we passed each other, my Orthodox friend smiled and said: “Ramadan Karim.” A young Arab man immediately answered: “Shabbat Shalom.” And that was it. No tension. No confrontation. Just two greetings exchanged in the middle of Jerusalem. The moment lasted maybe three seconds, but it stayed with me.

Because sometimes coexistence doesn’t look like grand peace agreements or carefully designed programs. Sometimes it looks like two groups of people acknowledging each other’s holidays and continuing on their way. It’s small. Ordinary.

But maybe those small moments are what real coexistence actually looks like.