Israel: So Many Stories of Cooperation and Sharing

Note: Many people have asked me about this program, which you can take yourself through by using all of the links below. I am placing it on my blog so that people think about these many initiatives that cross so many divides. ISRAEL: SO MANY STORIES OF COOPERATION AND SHARING Dr. Saundra Sterling Epstein Director, BeYachad – Bringing Jewish Learning and Living Together shulisrose@aol.com

There are so many stories and organizations committed to sharing across lines of religious, ethnic, and national identity in Israel at the present time. While too many people focus on extreme positions pitched far to one side or the other, the reality is that there are hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Israelis, Arabs, Palestinians, Jews, Muslims, Christians and others working together for the betterment of all. Why can’t we focus more on this aspect of the reality that is Israel? We should be aware of these in thinking about a collective model of cooperation and sharing.

Here is just a small sampling of these many efforts and realities bringing together Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others:

I. Yad B’Yad School System- BiLingual School system in Israel that brings together Muslims, Jews, Arabs and Israelis and so many other to learn, play and live together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H_jCWJb4yo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74aEijqoYDg

II. Givat Haviva – A wonderful learning community in which children and students of all ages share art, food, languages, dance, history and so many living experiences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMEcoCeTusw

III. Haifa, a Community of Co-Existence and Sports (for fun) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15BIKfcb1eo Note: The Circassians (Circassian: Адыгэхэр, Adygekher) are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia, many of whom were displaced in the course of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, especially after the Russian–Circassian War in 1864.

IV. The Galilee Circus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa-KUCDNPL8

V. A Muslim-Jewish Wedding – notice the different sides…. This is included here just to show that there are other issues, in this case, intermarriage amongst faiths that people have strong feelings about. In 2014, it was estimated that one in ten marriages involving a Jewish partner are intermarriages with those of other faith traditions. While this is a separate issue with its own challenges, it should be noted as another way in which people are indeed crossing identity lines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs5yYFOvt9E

VI. Just Jamming Through food, dance, art, relaxing and just jamming people from different religious and national/ethnic identities come together and have a blast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rJ_RB3Iwws

VII. Muslim – Jewish Dialogue in Israel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly0niHW-zRA

VIII. Combatants for Peace and Circles of Bereaved Families https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uULjkeTYv2A

IX. Shorashim, an Orthodox Rabbi and a Muslim colleague bring together the members of their respective communities for shared experiences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wy7vnnv1VY

X. The Arava Institute is one of many environmental institutes that allow people with shared concerns about our planet to come together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmbiKimLDkc

XI. Project Wadi Attir, a joint effort between Bedouns, Israelis, and the Arab community http://www.sustainabilitylabs.org/wadiattir/home/

Centers for Cooperation across lines of faith and nationality in Israel are numerous, here are just a few:

• International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (Rabbi Ron Kronish, Reform) • Sholom Hartman Institute (Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, Orthodox) • Rabbis for Human Rights (Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Reform) • Israeli Religious Action Center (Anat Hoffman, Reform) • Alliance for Middle East Peace • Mosaica Center for Inter-Religious Cooperation • Center for Jewish - Christian Understanding and Cooperation (Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Orthodox) • Interfaith Encounter Association • The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies • Middle East Institute (Environmental Cooperation) • Center for the Study of Relations between Jews, Christians, Muslims

Read these articles for additional perspective: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/11/israel-jews-arabs-palestinians-work-together-peace https://www.allmep.org/members/ http://investinpeace.org/peacemakers/ with introductory words by Shimon Perez

Millions of people are crossing lines of religious belief, national loyalty and ethnic identity to work together for a world of peace in Israel and in Palestine. This should be duly noted and heavily publicized. So, can we stop ignoring these important and wide-spread initiatives, that involve SO MANY individuals?

Let us think about that as we have finished the Festival of Lights in the Jewish community, are in the midst of Advent in the Christian community, on the precipice of a new secular year and engaged in so many opportunities to heal our fractured world.