Muslim-Jewish-Christian Dialogue
is growing and more vibrant than ever, in North American and the Middle
East.
In Jerusalem, "Love your neighbor
as yourself" was explored in depth last month by young women and men --
Jews, Christian, Muslims -- from the Nablus Youth Federation and the Interfaith
Encounter Association in Israel.
December 2004 marked the last of their 12 seminars
over 3 years, faithfully sustained after being born at the height of military
invasions and suicide bombings.
The youth were not to be denied understanding of one
another and great teachings from different religious perspectives.
Organizer Yehuda Stolov ( msyuda@phys.huji.ac.il
) urges to see their inspiring story and photos at:
The newborn Canadian Association
of Jews and Muslims continues coming to life, building bridges to one
another and sharing rituals.
Barbara Landau ( BLandau@rogers.com ) and Shahid
Akhtar ( shahidakhtar1@rogers.com ) are co-chairs in Toronto, Canada, where
they increase the numbers of Canadians who are building bridges to one another,
sharing ritual events, and recently joining hands to work together at a Food
Bank.
Vancouver,
BC Canadian Muslims and Jews (CAJM) are actively working together to continue
the holy journey of bringing their two communities into a positive,
supportive and knowledgeable realitionship -- "inshallah, be-ezrat
ha-Shem, with the help of God, -- step-by-step, person-to-person,
heart-to-heart," from three approaches, writes Rabbi David Mivasair ( Mivasair@aol.com
).
1. Religious
learning and sharing -- Imam Fode and Rabbi Mivasair will offer three
monthly Sunday afternoon opportunites to learn and explore Muslim and Jewish
teachings about "Hearing."
2. Open dialogue among us to learn about
one another's life experiences and points of view.
3. Serving others together, wishing to
come together to meet the needs of people around us to provide meals and
companionship for others, get to know each other in a different context. Their
models are the sisters and brothers from Masjid ul-Haqq Mosque who have
prepared and served meals in a shelter at a United Church in the Downtown
Eastside on Eid ul-Fitr at the end of Ramadan.
Visit CAJM's new Web site at http://www.salaamshalom.com/
.
Jews,
Muslims, and Christians in Kansas City, Kansas were the subject of this
weekend's newspapers, in the Middle East and U.S.A.
With unprecedented community interest, they are
planning a grand "Salaam Shalom Celebration" around food to
accelerate their relationship-building activities.
It is exclusively a collaboration of individuals
and not sponsored, endorsed, or funded by any single organization.
They are inviting citizens who believe quite simply that
the long lasting road to peace is built by developing relationships and
understanding between different cultures.
Co-chairpeople are Muslim Mahnaz Shabbir (
Mahnaz@shabbiradvisors.com ), Jewish Gayle Krigel ( GKrigel@kc.rr.com ), and
Palestinian Christian, Nick Awad ( Awad@earthlink.com ).
Local press coverage of this breakthrough moment for
Kansas City is at:
Now read what made its way to the Israeli press
today.
What is done in one soul, one home or one community
travels and affects everyone, everything.
All is truly one -- interconnected and interdependent.
And more and more people are beginning to live that
way.
Published in Ha'aretz newspaper -- Israel -- Sunday, 16
January 2005
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/527774.html
Arab-Jewish coexistence turns
moveable feast in Kansas City
By Orna Dickman, Haaretz Correspondent
Coexistence between Arabs and Jews can be a
supreme challenge. Or it can be a party.
In fact, a moveable feast.
Adhering to the belief that peace is built on
understanding between different cultures, a group of Jews, Muslims, and
Christians in Kansas City is organizing an interfaith dinner aimed at building
bridges and relationships.
The celebration is modeled on an annual
Arab-Jewish "hafla," or party, held outside the mixed Israeli town of
Ramle for more than a dozen years, its participants undeterred by the wars and
uprisings of the region.
Eric Morgenstern, a volunteer organizer of the Kansas
City event, says the Salaam Shalom Celebration, scheduled to take place
in Leawood, Kansas on January 30, will be a testament to the power of
individual relationships.
The impetus for the Celebration came when members
of Kansas City's delegation to the General Assembly of United Jewish
Communities visited a restaurant in Ramle last year. While dining at the Ramle
eatery, they heard about an annual party which brings Jews and Arabs
together, hosted by the restaurant owner, Samir Dabit, and his friend, educator
David Leichman of Kibbutz Gezer.
Dabit, originally from Jaffa, and Leichman,
originally from Brooklyn, New York, met in 1981, and have thrown haflas
promoting peace and coexistence for the past 13 years.
What began as something held in Leichman's backyard on
the kibbutz has blossomed and expanded into a huge celebration held in Pinat
Shorashim, an educational park on the kibbutz, with some 500 people attending
last year's gathering.
The Kansas City metropolitan area has had a unique
relationship with Ramle and its surrounding environs for over a decade. Kansas
City, Missouri and Ramle are sister cities, as are Leawood, Kansas and the
Gezer Regional Council. More than 1,000 Kansas Citians have visited the region
in recent years.
Organizers of the Salaam Shalom Celebration will be
flying Leichman, Dabit, and Dabit's son-in-law, Fouad Salman, to Kansas City,
to take part in the event and to spread the concept that Leichman terms
"people dialoguing." The three will also meet with local civic
leaders, and are scheduled to attend a clergy breakfast.
Leichman says that the annual parties that he and
Dabit host aim to break down barriers and bring about the recognition that,
"We are one people, and one community, no matter what part of the
community we identify with."
He encourages people to look for the unifying
forces that community members have in common, while celebrating their
differences. Leichman believes that people can bring peace, and that
the concept of "Shlom Bayit," or domestic harmony, can be achieved
by people and not necessarily by the government.
'No better way'
Organizers of the events in both Kibbutz
Gezer and Kansas City stress that the parties are not sponsored or funded by
any organizations, but are the private initiative of people who want to
reach out, spend time together, and build relationships.
Dabit noted that Leichman's father helps fund their
parties on Kibbutz Gezer. In explaining why he provides the money for the
annual haflas, Gil Leichman said he feels that "I can think of no
better way to spend my money than to help bring Arabs and Jews together."
According to Morgenstern, the public's response to
the Salaam Shalom Celebration has been overwhelmingly positive. In addition to
financial donations made by various individuals, Leawood Mayor Peggy Dunn
announced that the municipality would be donating the use of the Alpine Lodge
at Leawood Ironwoods Park for the event.
The Palestinian-owned Jerusalem Cafe in Kansas City
will provide the use of its kitchen, in which Dabit will prepare Middle Eastern
cuisine for the event.
In addition to the Middle Eastern cuisine and music
that will be offered at the Celebration, Morgenstern said that various
discussion topic questions would be introduced, as a means of encouraging
people to communicate their ideas on a number of relevant issues, including
interfaith relations.
Salman, who works for the United States Agency for
International Development for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said that he is
excited about taking part in the Salaam Shalom Celebration, noting that it is
very important that Jews, Muslims, and Christians are coming together and
acknowledging that certain problems need to be addressed.
"I appreciate the fact that they recognize the
problems and want to help," says Salman, stressing that even if various
problems aren't solved, dialogue is extremely important.
"The least we can do is talk. Even if we don't
agree, we must listen to and respect one another."