To Stand on Holy Ground

We go on pilgrimages. Since the dawn of human experience, individuals have trekked to holy places. Perhaps the impulse to sojourn to a sacred spot foreshadows a final spiritual destination.

The increasing ease and decreasing expense of air travel allow more people to make pilgrimages. A sharp upsurge in Christian pilgrimage is expected in the next year as the approach of the millennium attracts those wanting to visit the land Jesus walked.

In this time of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Ramadan, Monitor middle-east correspondent Ilene Prusher interviewed five individuals who made the journey to Jerusalem. They shared with her how their lives were changed as a result of their journey to this crossroads of three of the world's great religions. Their stories begin on page 18.