Fall / Winter 2006
'Jerusalem Stories' Humanize the Other
Carol Grosman
In an interview published last December in The Jerusalem Post, CJP masters student Carol Grosman described an innovative project she has launched to increase understanding in the Middle East and abroad and to help transform conflict.
Called “Jerusalem Stories," the project is built around personal stories and portrait photographs of Israeli and Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.
The stories focus on residents’ experiences living through recent years of conflict as well as their connections to the extraordinary city of Jerusalem.
“Seeing the other as human is something that’s important after you go through this kind of conflict. It’s hard for people to deal with the other - even nice, politically correct people," Grosman told The Jerusalem Post. “Personal stories enable people to step into the shoes of the ‘other’."
Photos are Agents for Positive Social Change
Shimon Levy is an Israeli-Jewish manager of a convenience store in Jerusalem. He was born in Iraq.
Grosman is a writer, storyteller and conflict resolution practitioner who has lived in Jerusalem since 2001 and pursued her masters degree at EMU mainly through summer study. She uses photographs and stories because she believes they move people deeply, making them agents for positive social change.
The material that Grosman has collected will be used to create a book, educational programs, a performance and photography exhibit, all of which will be presented in American, Israeli and Palestinian communities.
The striking portraits in “Jerusalem Stories" have been taken by award-winning photographer Lloyd Wolf of Fairfax, Va., who says he hopes that viewers will recognize their friends and neighbors, whether Muslim, Christian or Jew, in the photos.
“I’m trying to help create empathy for the people portrayed, not judge them, either good or bad, but help to give a sense of an intimate experience of the humanity of a person," he says.
To read sample stories and see more photos, visit www.jerusalemstories.org.