Interfaith birthday celebration
Eliyahu celebrates his birthday every year in Jerusalem. This year, this Jerusalem Peacemaker invited not only his Orthodox Jewish friends from the Jerusalem area, some coming from the settlement of Bat Ayin, but also his Palestinian friends from Ramallah were there, having received a special permit to come into Jerusalem to celebrate with him. As well, Palestinian musicians from Sawahare, outside of Jerusalem were also granted permits for this evening. There was a Jordanian couple there, who were studying at the Hebrew University - he is researching the Jewish community of the Jewish quarter in the Old City and claims he is the first Jordanian doing any research on Jews in Israel.
The special guest that evening was a Moslem visitor from Iraq, who was here because his young child needed urgent medical treatment and he received a special visa for this. He is very grateful that his kid was healed here and hopefully he will bring that thankfulness over to his country and tell his people we in Israel aren’t all ogres (we are sure they hear that over there). People were curious, and asked him all sorts of questions like “did he meet any Iraqi Jews while he was here?” “Did his view of Israel change now” “What did he think of Israel beforehand”.
The organization that brought his child here is called “Shevet Achim” translated as “tribe of brothers”. Once the child is found to be operable, the organization obtains visas for the child and one parent.
Representatives of the organization were recently in Jordan meeting about 30 families whose children desperately needed medical attention of the kind that could only be found in Israel, with their advanced medical techniques and, well, Jewish doctors. You can’t find Jewish doctors in Saudi Arabia so one’s gotta go where one’s gotta go!
There was a woman from Bustan Leshalom an environmental justice group, based in the Negev, working mostly with Bedouin communities. The group seeks to restore an environmental balance together as well as fight injustices such as home demolitions which are rampant in the Negev as many Bedouin live in unrecognized villages and are forced to move into townships. Often their homes get razed if they don’t move.
Palestinian representatives of Combatants for Peace were there. Eliyahu remarked how it is easier for Suleiman to be a head of a Palestinian peace movement as he was in an Israeli jail for 10 years and therefore, he wouldn’t be considered a collaborator, as some are considered by their own if they join up with Israelis for some activity or another…
And of course there was food. You can’t have Jews and Arabs together without food. Pasta salads, fruit, popcorn, cakes, baklava, pizza - it was a potluck and a potpourri of all sorts of things you can shove in your mouth. The music was great - Jewish musician Rebbe Soul provided the Jewish side of tunes and Mohammad and Mochi performed wonderful oud music.
I wondered out loud if there was a way we could not only gather together for Eliyahu’s birthday - but wouldn’t it be nice if we all lived in the same apartment building together. Where’s Arkady Gaydamak when you need him to buy up apartment buildings and put Jews and Arabs in them together to make beautiful music together. We saw tonight it can be done.
Video:
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This is the best and one of the most hopeful posts I’ve read here in a long while. Thank you, this is really great and inspiring.
The ending of that video was a bit funny, hahah.
Great coverage.
It is very sweet…..and very hopeful….and a dream we all pray for….
I have a question….what is the relevance of the excavations taking place around and beneath Al-Aksa Mosque? It really would be a shame if it gets additionally destroyed, and besides if it collapses, it will be an everlasting obstacle in the peace process as it means alot for Muslims.
so if the escavation is to go on….and if the Israeli authorities think it is worth the risk…then it has to be for a good reason…and i’d like to know it…
Dahlia,
The excavations taking place are not endangering Al-Aksa. though I disagree alot with the Israeli government on alot of its policies, I really do not believe they would do anything to harm an Islamic holy site, knowing how volatile the situation will get. Another issue is the ramp going up to Al Aksa which is adjacent to the Western Wall and that neeeds to get fixed. The Wakf is up in arms about that too. It’s an overreaction. I really believe it’s an excuse for Islamic extremists to incite all Palestinians to another intifada. And where will it get the Palestinians then? Not to their state, that’s for sure. I hope people will see right through this. If it were a danger to the mosque, the archeologists would not go through with it. When the Wakf cleared out the area below Al Aksa a few years ago, they horrified archeologists by digging up carelessly many ancient byzantine and Jewish artifacts. Israeli’s didn’t want to protest too much because of the sensitivities and some Jewish groups took the “dirt” marked for garbage and dug out some of the historical artifacts… But there were no Jewish riots and upheavals.
Leah,
I really hope that you are right. But it just seems that Israel, along with the rest of the world are not respecting the Muslim holy sites, customs, and people. Wasn’t the last intifada the result of Sharoon’s arrogance when he rejected all warnings and stepped into Al-Aksa Mosque with his shoes on, defaming a Muslim site and custom?
Didn’t France ban Muslim women from wearing the veil in public places, despite that most Muslim scholars and clerics emphasizing on it not being a mere optional tradition, and thereby depriving Muslim women from their right of practicing a religious duty?
Didn’t a Danish newspaper publish a series of cartoons that insult Islam’s holiest human being?
I just hope this is not an additional disrespect to Islam. It really isn’t a pleasing feeling to know that your religion, or anything that is affiliated to it, is somehow, somewhere being targeted.
Let me add that i DID NOT mean to generalize…..its just a speech habit that contradicts mental thoughts….surely not the whole world and not all Israeli’s dissrepsct Islam, but yet many of the international officials have some grudge or injust phobia againsts Islam and thus try to impose a leash of some sort on all of its followers.
I’m just very upset at religious leaders stirring things up when they don’t have to. I look at our modern-day history and see that every tragic massacre happened not because something terrible was done, but because of the FEAR that something horrible WILL happen if they don’t riot/kill/murder the other first. Two examples: 1929 massacre of Jews in Hebron - because the muftis were telling everyone that the Jews were about to murder all the Arabs so they should rise up first, and the tragedy of Baruch Goldstein murdering 39 men and boys because he was (again) afraid that if he didn’t, then those very same people in the mosque will kill Jews during the upcoming holiday of Purim. I could go on. It’s all because of what “they were told” and the fear instilled in people.
So everyone should just - stop and think. Did anything yet happen to Al Aksa? No. Then should there be stone-throwing and riots? No. And everyone will see that nothing will happen (God willing) to any Islamic holy sites.
Leah — Amazing, hope-filled post. Some of the most incredible moments I have spent have been when Israelis and Arabs get together for music, food and fun. So glad to hear that there are dedicated people making it happen still in Israel, despite what can often seem like a desperate situation.
Thank you also for sharing information about organizations like “Shevet Achim” — unfortunately, positive groups on both sides of the Israeli/Arab divide get far too little attention.
I’m going to be humming and singing to myself all day (and longing for some good Middle Eastern food)!
Hey Dahlia,
What’s up ???? How you doing???