I’m writing this one from Amsterdam, where we are waiting for our connecting flight to Imam Khomeni Airport in Tehran. Our delegation has spent the last day and a half in Nyack NY at the Fellowship of Reconciliation offices, participating in sessions that reviewed Iranian history and politics, civilian diplomacy and interfaith dialogue. It’s a wonderful group and we are enjoying getting to know one another. That’s us in the pic above, taken outside the beautiful FOR house office on the mighty Hudson river. As you can see, the women in our delegation used the group photo as an opportunity to practice tying on their hijabs.

As far as group demographics go: there are fourteen of us: ten Jews and four Christians. (It’s by far the most Jews that FOR has ever sent on an Iran delegation). It’s a wonderfully diverse group generationally, ranging from ages 24 to 79. Our only major disappointment is that six original members of our delegation are not able to attend due to visa problems – including the two Muslim participants. We are holding out hope that two of the six might still be able to join us later, but prospects are looking increasingly grim on that front, alas.

At any rate, we are on our way and it’s safe to say that we are uniquely thankful this Thanksgiving day for having the opportunity to participate in this incredible trip. As I wrote earlier, I will do my best to blog whenever possible along the way. Please keep checking in.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m off to Iran tomorrow on a two-week interfaith delegation sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. If you’ve been reading my blog even semi-regularly over the years (check out the “Iran” category) I’m sure you know I’ve long felt that as Americans and Jews our opinions of Iran are too often based on fear and ignorance. I’m especially concerned that unless our two countries make the effort to get to know one another, we may well be headed on a tragic collision course.

Our delegation, made up of Jews, Muslims and Christians will engage in civilian diplomacy and interfaith dialogue to help lay the groundwork for common understanding and create constituencies for peace in both of our countries. This is FOR’s eighth Iran delegation, and we’ll be building upon the significant relationships that have already been created and deepened over the years. We’ll be traveling to Tehran, Shiraz, Qom and Esfahan – I’m particularly excited that we’ll be spending significant time with the Jewish community of Iran.

I hope to blog some during my travels, but I’ll certainly post more significant descriptions of my experiences upon my return. Stay tuned for more…