Mosques,
synagogues "twin"
(and)
Palestinian-Jewish
Dialogue in Houston
Friday, 28 November 2008
This season
of Thanksgiving 2008, we can be grateful for...well, today.
Friday, 28 November 2006, is the first annual NATIONAL
DAY OF LISTENING, brought to life by StoryCorps
and National Public Radio (NPR).
http://www.nationaldayoflistening.org/
"This holiday season, ask the people
around you about their lives it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or
someone from the neighborhood."
It could be your adversary - someone you don't
get along with, you fear, you don't know well enough.
"By listening to their stories, you will be
telling them that they matter and they wont
ever be forgotten.
"It may be the most meaningful time you spend this
year."
"Every story matters" said the front
page headline of today's San Francisco Chronicle print edition.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/28/MNOC14C67K.DTL&hw=every+story+matters&sn=001&sc=1000
More and more around Earth is this tradition of listening
to life stories -- the great healer of people and relationships, and source
of wisdom to invent our future.
Here are living examples.
SIXTY YEARS SIXTY VOICES
SIXTY
YEAR SIXTY VOICES: Israeli and Palestinian Women - http://60voices.org/ - is
a new book publication giving voice to Holy Land women who know war and know
peace.
It is another great contribution to life by PEACE X
PEACE: Connecting women for peace - http://peacexpeace.org/content/ .
Between June 2007 to June 2008,
PEACE X PEACE brought together Palestinian and Israeli women from a variety of
backgrounds to share their wisdom, experiences, points of view, wounds and joys
in relation to their daily realities.
HEAR the voices, SEE the videos, ORDER
the book:
http://60voices.org/
NORTH AMERICAN MOSQUES
& SYNAGOGUES "TWIN"
WEEKEND
OF TWINNING is a new Muslim-Jewish tradition birthed last weekend in North
America.
The seed was planted by The Foundation for Ethnic
Understanding - https://ffeu.org/article_twinning.htm
.
During November 21-23, 2008, over 40 mosques and
synagogues "twinned" to share spiritual traditions and exchange food
and various social activities together.
READ who they are and their inspiring list
of initiatives:
https://ffeu.org/twinnings_participants.doc
One
inspired rabbi e-mailed:
"We (Beth Shir Sholom of Santa Monica) were one of the 50 synagogues that
twinned with a Mosque (the Islamic Center of Southern California) this past
weekend.
"It was a marvelous experience with people from
the Mosque invited to our Shabbat celebration on Friday (including Muslim call
to worship, Muslim prayers, Muslim teachings and a symbolic spiritual exchange
in which we took responsibility for the welfare of each others
children!).
"On Sunday we were invited to the Islamic Center
for prayer (in which many Jews, including me, participated), a meal and
discussion about Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
"We intend to continue our relationship with a
Muslim-Jewish Chavurah, a multi-religious exchange
program in our Religious School, an exchange with the local Muslim preschool, a
blog and a musical event."
For more information about the Santa Monica
twinning, contact Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels ( RabbiNeil.Comess-Daniels@bethshirsholom.org ) or Jihad
Turk ( Jihad_Turk@yahoo.com ) Director of Religious Affairs for the Islamic
Center.
WATCH Canadian television coverage (8-1/2 min.:
Weekend of Twinning: Muslims
and Jews come together in Toronto
Interview of Samira Kanji
and Rabbi Debra Landsberg
http://ca.video.yahoo.com/watch/3987929/10806647
And matching news
comes from the Holy Land:
Published in the Jerusalem Post - 26 November 2008
Jews, Muslims band together to fight ignorance of
each other's religion
http://jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702334530&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
JEWISH-PALESTINIAN
DIALOGUE TOUCHES HOUSTON
A week
in November, 2008, four participants from the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room
Dialogue in northern California flew to Houston, Texas.
After 16 years and 199 meetings together, it was
another of their several hundred outward endeavors to expand the citizen,
face-to-face public peace process.
http://traubman.igc.org/dg-prog.htm
During the week in Houston, the four
Dialogue activists:
1. Engaged hundreds of U.S. social studies
educators at the 2009 annual convention of the National Council for the
Social Studies - NCSS.
2. Met with the 3-year-old Houston
Palestinian-Jewish Living Room Dialogue, to help plan their first public
outreach event.
3. Facilitated a public Dialogue workshop -
CROSSING LINES - for Houston's diverse adults and youth, sponsored by
church participants and the Center for Healing Racism.
http://traubman.igc.org/houstonnight.htm
4. Conducted a large, public event - A CALL TO
DIALOGUE - sponsored by the city's first Palestinian-Jewish Living Room
Dialogue.
http://traubman.igc.org/houstonevening.htm
5. Provided an interview for a local journalist:
Published in the Jewish Herald-Voice - Houston, TX - 28
November 2008
Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group: Listening In
the Midst of the Storm
SEE PHOTOS of each event at the bottom
of http://traubman.igc.org/dg-prog.htm
Or simply Google "Jewish
Palestinian Progress"
These and hundreds of other
stories of human success are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm
.
Or Google "Jewish Palestinian Success"