Happy Sukkot!
If you weren't able to make the Sukkot gathering last Sunday, you missed out! But, don't fret (do people say that anymore?). You have another opportunity this coming Sunday. Drop by between 11:00am and 1:00pm. Shake the Lulav. Smell the Etrog. Eat some treats. Details are listed in the Beineinu Happenings.
This week's Little Torah is actually BIG TORAH and was sent by my dear friend and colleague, Rabbi John Linder. This is a fantastic and inspiring example of moving back to "We" because we have tapped into the best "Me". The youtube videos are worth watching (even if you don't understand Hebrew). Leonard Cohen's "Halleluyah" is featured in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach,
Laurie
A letter from Rachel Tzvia Back who is involved with an extraordinary movement of Israeli and Palestinian women, Women Wage Peace.
Dear Family & Friends,
I wanted to share with you this link - from a Women Wage Peace
presentation/event in Acco that Talya & I had the privilege of being part
of two evenings ago. 20 Arab women and 20 Jewish women sitting on chairs
across from each other - on the main street of Acco (during the Acco theatre
festival), looking in each other's eyes in silence (a 2-hour presentation).
It was for us a powerful experience, inexplicably moving. It was for
passers-by intriguing and provocative, in all the right ways.
You'll see Talya at once (and throughout) sitting beside her red-headed
friend Naama. And that's my green-t-shirt back at the end, hugging Abir -
whose name I did not know but with whom I had shared something very
intimate, so much so that we both cried for most of the time we sat in
silence looking into each other's eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The next morning Talya travelled down to the Dead Sea for the early March -
where 1000 Palestinian women joined the 4,000 Israeli women. Talya said it
was extraordinarily powerful.
You can see an image of that part of the march at 1:20 in this link (which
is almost the entire demonstration).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Dead Sea participants then travelled up to Jerusalem, and met up with an
additional 100 bus-loads from around the country. (Yoni and I were on one of
the two buses from the Misgav region. There were buses from Sachnin, Iblin,
Dalyat el-Carmel, and other Arab villages- which was very moving). We
marched from the entrance of the city by the Knesset, past the President's
house and then to Netanyahu's residence. It felt like we were many
(reporting of numbers ranged from 10,000-20,000). The speakers were
exquisite.
Those of you who can understand the Hebrew, listen to Michal Fruman (13:30
in the video). She was exceptional, inspiring - her words so exact and wise,
filled with compassion and, of course, that she spoke them made them even
more impactful. For the non-Hebrew speakers - one of her closest friends was
killed at the doorway of her house a year ago and Michal was stabbed - five
months pregnant with the baby she is holding. She says: "We must stop
blaming each other; we must, each one of us, start taking responsibility. I
choose life, and to choose life is to choose to see the complexity of the
reality here and start working hard for peace."
Another very powerful speaker was Hoda abu Arkov from Hebron (53:50) - her
words so very strong and thrilled the gathered crowd. (When she says "This
morning you saw [you have a partner]," she's referring to the Palestinians
that came to the Dead Sea meeting point).
Lema Gbowee - guest of honor, Liberian activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner -
starts her speech at the one hour mark.
The song that was written for the March of Hope, "Prayer of the Mothers,"
and which we have all learned by heart (Hebrew, Arabic & English), comes on
right at the end, 1:18. We love it.
(If anyone is interested in the words, let me know - we have them - and
Talya has translated the Arabic for us).
There was much hope in the day. And a feeling that ending the violence and
bloodshed and occupation is not impossible...
Hoping the images fill you with hope too, hope for this region and for
repairing the brokenness of our world.
Please send these links around to people in your communities who might be
interested and might support the group, in any and every way.
Please consider joining the group - easily done at the link here
http://womenwagepeace.org.il/e
Support from around the world is needed, as the work ahead is great.
Right after sukkot ends, the next activism is seven days of shifts of women
- 2 at a time - standing in white and barefoot outside the PM's house -
until the Knesset reconvenes on the 31st (when there will be another
demonstration of women outside the Knesset). I'll go up to Jerusalem to
take two shifts of this on the 27th.
The women leading this movement are modern-day heroes - inspiring and
seemingly of endless energies. Another reason for hope - their presence in
the world.
Chag sameach & love -
Rachel
I wanted to share with you this link - from a Women Wage Peace
presentation/event in Acco that Talya & I had the privilege of being part
of two evenings ago. 20 Arab women and 20 Jewish women sitting on chairs
across from each other - on the main street of Acco (during the Acco theatre
festival), looking in each other's eyes in silence (a 2-hour presentation).
It was for us a powerful experience, inexplicably moving. It was for
passers-by intriguing and provocative, in all the right ways.
You'll see Talya at once (and throughout) sitting beside her red-headed
friend Naama. And that's my green-t-shirt back at the end, hugging Abir -
whose name I did not know but with whom I had shared something very
intimate, so much so that we both cried for most of the time we sat in
silence looking into each other's eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The next morning Talya travelled down to the Dead Sea for the early March -
where 1000 Palestinian women joined the 4,000 Israeli women. Talya said it
was extraordinarily powerful.
You can see an image of that part of the march at 1:20 in this link (which
is almost the entire demonstration).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Dead Sea participants then travelled up to Jerusalem, and met up with an
additional 100 bus-loads from around the country. (Yoni and I were on one of
the two buses from the Misgav region. There were buses from Sachnin, Iblin,
Dalyat el-Carmel, and other Arab villages- which was very moving). We
marched from the entrance of the city by the Knesset, past the President's
house and then to Netanyahu's residence. It felt like we were many
(reporting of numbers ranged from 10,000-20,000). The speakers were
exquisite.
Those of you who can understand the Hebrew, listen to Michal Fruman (13:30
in the video). She was exceptional, inspiring - her words so exact and wise,
filled with compassion and, of course, that she spoke them made them even
more impactful. For the non-Hebrew speakers - one of her closest friends was
killed at the doorway of her house a year ago and Michal was stabbed - five
months pregnant with the baby she is holding. She says: "We must stop
blaming each other; we must, each one of us, start taking responsibility. I
choose life, and to choose life is to choose to see the complexity of the
reality here and start working hard for peace."
Another very powerful speaker was Hoda abu Arkov from Hebron (53:50) - her
words so very strong and thrilled the gathered crowd. (When she says "This
morning you saw [you have a partner]," she's referring to the Palestinians
that came to the Dead Sea meeting point).
Lema Gbowee - guest of honor, Liberian activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner -
starts her speech at the one hour mark.
The song that was written for the March of Hope, "Prayer of the Mothers,"
and which we have all learned by heart (Hebrew, Arabic & English), comes on
right at the end, 1:18. We love it.
(If anyone is interested in the words, let me know - we have them - and
Talya has translated the Arabic for us).
There was much hope in the day. And a feeling that ending the violence and
bloodshed and occupation is not impossible...
Hoping the images fill you with hope too, hope for this region and for
repairing the brokenness of our world.
Please send these links around to people in your communities who might be
interested and might support the group, in any and every way.
Please consider joining the group - easily done at the link here
http://womenwagepeace.org.il/e
Support from around the world is needed, as the work ahead is great.
Right after sukkot ends, the next activism is seven days of shifts of women
- 2 at a time - standing in white and barefoot outside the PM's house -
until the Knesset reconvenes on the 31st (when there will be another
demonstration of women outside the Knesset). I'll go up to Jerusalem to
take two shifts of this on the 27th.
The women leading this movement are modern-day heroes - inspiring and
seemingly of endless energies. Another reason for hope - their presence in
the world.
Chag sameach & love -
Rachel
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