TRUST WIN visit to Fire Destruction and Tree Planting Activity

On Thursday, Dec 9 2010, some of our TRUST WIN leaders – Druze, Jewish and Muslim — toured the site of the destruction of the recent devasting fires in the North of our country in a jeep – traveling on recently created mountain paths where the fire-fighters had uprooted trees on either side and poured sand to stop the advance of the fire.

The smell of charred wood was in the air and all around was ashes, exposed ground, treeless hills, and destroyed homes. We drove and drove through destroyed forests reaching up on either side of the road. We were shocked, upset, humbled, angry, sickened to see the anguish all around us. When one of us burst out saying that God must be very angry with us, our Druze friend answered that God is not angry, only merciful, and we must seek to learn and rebuild. The most sobering experience was to stand at the site where there was an impromptu memorial to the forty members of the Prisons Services whose bus caught fire as they attempted to reach the nearby prison and evacuate the prisoners. They all perished instantly together – Christians, Druze, Jews, and Muslims. Among the charred and burned trees were memorial candles, the flag of the Prisons Services, and a memorial wreath.

We offered prayers from the different religions for their souls. Afterwards we gathered with other women in the Druze village of Daliat HaCarmel to discuss the suffering of the people and of the land, to offer thanks to the many nations who came to our aid, and to pray for the comfort of the bereaved, the recovery of the wounded, and the regeneration of the land. We pledged our energy and money to have a Women’s Interfaith Tree Planting in the area mid-January before Tu B’shvat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees when traditionally trees are planted. We offer you the opportunity to assist us by donating money to build trees.

Rain Women

Where’s winter? That’s what some 40 American, Israeli and Palestinian women had on their minds when they strolled down Jerusalem’s Goldman Promenade on Tuesday as part of the Women’s Walk and Blessings for Rain. The walk, led by TRUST-Emun, a Jerusalem nonprofit focused on building cross-cultural ties, included members of the U.S. Center for Religious Tolerance. “We experienced the power of combining the energies of Christian, Druze, Jewish, and Muslim women with their prayers for the blessing of rain to pour down upon our parched land,” says Elana Rozenman, the organization’s executive director. Women walked with umbrellas and offered prayers, dances and songs appealing for rain from the various traditions and ended with a blessing circle. TRUST-Emun will hold another Women’s Walk in December – rain or shine.

Originally Published in Haaretz Anglo File Rank and File section see http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/rank-and-file-1.326929 on November 26, 2010

Israelis and Palestinians join together to pray for rain

Forecasters are predicting a dry winter and expect precipitation to fall below the 30-year average.

Amidst the stalled peace negotiations and continuous regional turmoil, Israelis and Palestinians are uniting around the need for rain in the region, with groups gathering to pray for a wet winter.

Forecasters have predicted drier than average winter months – December through February – and expect precipitation to fall below the 30-year average.

“We use the term ‘a little below average,’ but it could be more than 20 percent below average,” said Dr. Henia Berkovich, Director of the Israeli Meteorological Service.

On Tuesday, over 30 Israeli, Palestinian, and Druze women took part in a silent walking meditation dedicated to bringing rain to the area. Women came out to the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem with umbrellas for the walk.

Earlier in the month, Jewish and Muslim worshippers gathered near a water spring in the West Bank village of Walajeh to pray for rain.

Originally Published In Haaretz on November 23, 2010

Trust – Emun featured at The Holy Land In Search For Peace Photo Exhibition

Trust-Emun was featured at The Holy Land – In Search For Peace Photo Exhibition, which showcased the photography of Claudia Henzler. The exhibition was at the Austrian Hospice in Jerusalem.

How is peace possible? This underlying question inspires the visitor of Claudia Henzlers exhibition to think deeper and search for ways to enhance true communication. Deeper understanding and to a growing appreciation for each other are promoted, no matter what religious, social or cultural background we come from. Read more >>

Women’s Peace Walk

On October 19, 2010, TRUST WIN (Women’s Interfaith Network) facilitated a Women’s Peace Walk on the seam between East and West Jerusalem with 100 women, Israelis, Palestinians – Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Jews.

We were accompanying Anna Halprin, the 90 year old legendary U.S. modern dance innovator, as we honored her late husband Lawrence Halprin who designed the beautiful Goldman Promenade that we walked upon.

The women came from East and West Jerusalem, and all over Israel. Anna began to clap and and move and chant and some women began drumming, the Israeli women led Hebrew songs, the Arab women started dancing and singing in Arabic, and everyone followed Anna in a joyous group dance that encircled and embraced us all. We ended with prayers for peace from the different religions.

Passport Encounter

I was home sick. It was a cold and overcast day threatening rain. I was scheduled to take a trip to the U.S to see my ailing mother but couldn’t find my US passport. My travel agent insisted I go immediately to East Jerusalem to the US Consulate to get a new one. So I dragged myself over there to stand in line pushing and shoving along with Israelis and Palestinians to get inside this small building for passports and visas.

Finally the Israeli Security Guard told me you can only get in with an appointment that is scheduled online and takes two weeks. I started arguing that I needed to take care of this immediately. He sent me to the Palestinian Entrance Guard who told me it was impossible to get in. I started calling my travel agent and the emergency line inside the Consulate to pressure the guard, and after awhile he agreed to give me a request form to complete which he said he would send inside to see if they would let me in.

Chilled and drowsy, I waited a long half hour , until I just wanted to go home. That was when I was told could enter the building. After going through lengthy security procedures, I got inside and sat in the small crowded waiting room. I was feeling weak and dizzy and wanted to lay down for awhile — but there was barely room to sit. After what seemed like eternity an American agent called me and listened to my story impassively before asking me to wait to see if they would help me or not.

Around me were various groups of people. American Israeli religious couples who had come with new babies to get a US passport. Israelis and Palestinians applying for visas to visit the US. Each in their own separate groups — the religious couples helping each other to keep the babies and children entertained, the Arabs assisting each other to fill out English forms. The agents were a mixture of Americans, Palestinians, and Israelis.

Finally I was called to another agent, a Palestinian, who to my immense relief was sympathetic and began filling out the necessary paperwork: I could see light at the end of the tunnel. When I handed him my passport photos he informed me that they were the wrong size — I choked back another protest because to my amazement I saw the agent was right: my recently purchased passport pictures were indeed too small for the space on the form. Exhausted and feeling defeated, there was only one thing left to do: cry. Through my tears, the agent he told me he would give me a pass so I could go out and get the pictures taken across the street and immediately return to him. I hurried outside into the cold.

Grateful that it wasn’t raining I rushed down the street. In the small shop, I spoke Hebrew to the Palestinian photographer and he quickly took a picture and showed it to me for my approval. I was dismayed to see how awful I looked and requested another one. On the second try, I realized it was an accurate reflection of just how sick I was and there was nothing I could do. He then disappeared into the street.

A lovely young Palestinian woman walked in and started fixing her hijab in the mirror preparing for a picture. I smiled at her and said “beautiful” in Arabic — giving her feminine reassurance that she looked lovely. She looked at me with a serious face and pointed to the ring on her ring finger. I thought that she was telling me that she was married — so I smiled and pointed to the ring on my ring finger so that she could see that I was also married. She shook her head “no” and looked at me sadly and I suddenly noticed that all of her clothes and hijab were stark black and I realized instantly that she was telling me her husband had just died.

I spontaneously put my hands on my heart and said in Hebrew and English that she had my deepest condolences, and she nodded her head to acknowledge that she understood. I asked if she had children and made a gesture of cradling a baby — she nodded her head and held up five fingers. My face fell and again I clutched my bosom and said I was so sorry. The photographer walked back in and prepared to take her photograph. Knowing that there was a fair possibility that her husband had been killed by Israeli soldiers, I nonetheless summoned the gumption to tell the photographer to ask her how her husband had died.

The photographer glared back at me petulantly and asked me why I was questioning her. I explained that she’d told me her husband had just died. When he put the quesion to her in Arabic, she replied with the Arabic word for cancer – which is the same in Hebrew — and I immediately felt relieved that he had died of medical causes. I told the photographer to give the woman my condolences which he did and to which she smiled. She showed me a document from the U.S. which indicated that she was dealing with a lawyer there about inheritance issues, and I understood the reason for her trip to the US.

After photographing her, he turned to me and said it would cost thirty Shekels for the photo. I gave him sixty and said I was paying for both of us. Another annoyed glare as the photographer asked me why I was paying for her. I told him I wanted to help a widow and began to gather my things to leave. As she opened her purse he explained to her that I had already paid for her. She looked at me with confusion.

I said “imah” and “em,” the word for Mother in Hebrew and Arabic to make her understand: I was simply one mother helping another. She smiled and thanked me and as I returned to go back through the security procedures at the Consulate, I felt transformed. I thanked God for blessing me with this encounter and realized the real purpose for me to be there at that time had nothing to do with my passport — but to have an opportunity to transcend the madness and violence of our situation and greet a sister. In a few minutes without a common language we had been able to open our hearts and communicate deeply and experience the sisterly bond between us.

I waited patiently for the rest of the passport procedures. I spotted my new friend and realized that she too had returned from the photo shop and finished her procedures and was leaving. As she approached I stood up and smiled at her. We spontaneously hugged and wished each other safe journeys in our different languages. She left.

As I turned to sit down I noticed that everyone in the entire room was looking at us and the whole room had been transformed from several disparate groups and individuals into one unit of wonder-struck people moved by the random sight of a passing encounter between a Palestinian women and an Israeli woman who embraced and wished each other well in their different languages. I again thanked God for enabling me to have this experience and to share it with everyone there so they could see a different reality and realize that peace is not a dream or vision for the future: it is available to us at any moment we open our hearts to trust instead of fear.

The Women Laugh and Sing Together

The women laugh and sing together. They visit each other’s homes and they learn about each other’s religions. They participate in each other’s religious festivals and they make pilgrimages together to the holy places. They are Palestinians and Israelis, Jews, Muslims and Christians, and they work side by side for peace and reconciliation in Israel and Palestine – This land is for everybody, they say, and we shall live and exist here together.

Trust – Emun. (meaning the same in English and Hebrew) is one of many peace groups in Israel. It started during the Lebanon war in 2006 and turns solely to women.

We live in a world dominated by men, Elana Rozenman and Rula Salameh say. Men talk, men decide, men are heads of family and men dictate the conditions for women and children. In Trust – Emun we introduce the female way of thinking and acting. Here the women are given a possibility to get to know each other and talk to each other across religious and national borders. We are mothers, daughters, sisters and wives, and we all have the same goal: that our children shall grow up in a world without violence and hatred. We don’t want to send our sons out into war

Rula and Elana – two women, one Muslim, one Jew one Palestinian, one Israeli. They come from two worlds, which we daily meet in media, but then it almost always is about hatred, violence and revenge. That Rula and Elana and many other Palestinians and Israelis work side by side in different peace projects is hardly ever mentioned. But peace groups exist and they are many. And this is where hope for a better future for everybody is.

Rula has worked with different peace projects in Jerusalem and on the West Bank for many years. She has a high university degree, she was one of the initiators of the Palestinian radio after the Oslo Agreement in 1993, and she has as a journalist covered the political situation in the Middle East many times. At the moment she is working on a film about non-violence in Palestine, to be shown in schools, at festivals and hopefully on TV. She is divorced and has an 11-year-old son who, as she says, is very proud of his mother’s engagement in creating peace.

My whole family supports me, she says. I grew up in a home with Jewish friends and I know that we below the surface and behind all conflicts are similar to each other.

Elana originally comes from the United States but is married to an Israeli and has lived in Jerusalem for many years. She is a trained social worker and has many years experience as a therapist, both in the U.S. and in Israel.

The turning point of her life came when the violence hit her own family and her 16 year old son was caught between two suicide bombers in the middle of Jerusalem.

I was laying on a mattress beside him in the hospital for many months while he was fighting for his life, she says. That is something no mother should have to experience

Elana’s son survived and today he is married and the father of twins. But he has got wounds both on his body and in his soul that he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Like many others in this divided and violent part of the world.

Elana could have chosen to let sorrow and bitterness rule the rest of her life. She could have, as so many other people in the Holy Land, focused on all the evil that “the others” had caused her and her family. But instead she chose to begin working for peace, and a couple of years ago she started Trust – Emun. That the surgeon who operated on her son was a Palestinian she interpreted as the finger of God.

Rula and Elana are deeply religious. Rula is a Muslim, Elena is an Orthodox Jew, Rula prays five times a day, Elana follows the Jewish commandments and the Jewish traditions. Both mean that the religious dimension must be included in all peace work. Elena has always been interested in a dialogue across the religious borders.

We live in a country where everybody defines himself or herself based on religious belonging, they say. Here you are a Moslem, a Jew or a Christian either you are a believer or not.

The women in Trust – Emun learn about each other’s religions. They have study groups and they visit each other’s holy places. Sometimes they invite an imam or a rabbi to explain and interpret the holy texts. Now and then a group of teenagers gather to ask a priest or an imam or a rabbi about the Koran or the New Testament or the Hebrew Bible.

Sometimes we do simple things like going window shopping together, Elana says, but we have also arranged courses in self-defense and make-up, and we have groups where mothers meet together with their children. We form bonds of friendship and attend each other’s weddings, mourn when someone has lost a relative, and rejoice when someone has a new baby.

Trust – Emun does not work politically and there are no political questions on the agenda. But politics cannot be avoided in a country so infected with conflicts – politics are here and now and everywhere.

We use an endless amount of time in applying for permits for the Palestinian women to come to Jerusalem, Elana says. We also discuss what might have happened when a Palestinian woman doesn’t turn up or comes too late because Israeli security guards have stopped her.

The Palestinian women almost always must ask permission from their families to be able to take part in Trust – Emun work, and not everybody gets it. It also takes courage and strength to associate with ”the others” and form bonds of friendship across the borders. It also happens that the Jewish women are looked upon with distrust in Jewish circles.

I have friends who don’t understand my engagement in Trust – Emun, Elana says. The leftists mean that I should go out into the streets and demonstrate instead, the rightists wonder why I meet and discuss with “the others” at all. But to me and to the others in Trust – Emun the peace work is all about trust. We cannot change ourselves or the world around us until we believe in and trust each other.

The Palestinian women learn that there are many kinds of Israelis and the Israeli women learn that also Palestinian mothers wish for their children to grow up without hatred, says Rula. We heal the wounds that Sara and Hagar, our biblical mothers, have inflicted upon us.

Translated from Swedish by Ulla Terling-Hasán

Violence and Non-violence in Jerusalem

Dear Friends, In the midst of some upsetting news of violence today July 2 in Jerusalem when a Palestinian terrorist drove a tractor down a main street in Jerusalem crashing cars and running over pedestrians and leaving 3 dead — including a small baby, and scores wounded — I am shocked and saddened for the families in mourning and the families nursing their wounded. And I would like to share a recent experience of mine in my home in Jerusalem. Last week I hosted a TRUST WIN (Women’s Interfaith Network) meeting in my home with the participation of our Muslim coordinator and in partnership with Eliyahu McLean of the Jerusalem Peacemakers . Attending was a Rabbi who is the head of an important Yeshiva in Jerusalem and a very prominent Sheik in Jerusalem — we were planning future study sessions for people to learn from the Koran and the Torah about significant topics to build non-violence and reconciliation here. At the beginning of the meeting, the Sheik was standing on our balcony which overlooks the Judean Hills stretching out to the Dead Sea and the distant Hills of Moab in Jordan. We were looking at the local Arab villages in the valley adjoining the Forest of Peace in front of my home which is on the seam between East and West Jerusalem. We were enjoying the view, and as we talked many Palestinian families going to and from the Promenade through the hills near our home were amazed to see the Sheik standing on our balcony and kept staring. A Palestinian accompanying the Sheik joked “From now on they won’t throw stones or Molotov cocktails on your balcony” — as happened several weeks ago. Fortunately the police shortly caught the young boys who were doing this to us and other neighbors. But I reflected that of course my Palestinian friend was right — the best security for Israelis is to demonstrate our love and trust for Palestinians. This is the motivation that fuels my work and my life. We discussed many aspects of our work and relationships together — seeking to build trust among ourselves as a model to the participants of the study sessions. We discussed inviting a Palestinian Christian Priest to join our study sessions. The political situation was brought up, but both the Rabbi and the Sheik said that if we all lived according to God’s will and acted according to His expectations of us, then our problems would be resolved. Then an amazing thing happened — the Rabbi invited the Sheik to come to his yeshiva to teach on the topic of Forgiveness during the Hebrew month of Elul and our preparation for Rosh Hashanah. The Sheik agreed to do it — and offered to bring his students with him! This is so beautiful — that Palestinian and Israeli students will sit together in the Beit Midrash of a Yeshiva and learn together from a Rabbi and a Sheik. Then the Sheik needed to say his evening prayers, and the Rabbi also. So I gave the sheik a clean blanket to pray on in another room, and in the adjoining corridor the Rabbi was joined by my husband, Eliyahu, and three other Jewish men who were with us. They all prayed their evening prayers separately, but together. The image of the Sheik touching his forehead to the floor in prayer while a group of Jewish men were praying together next to him was inspiring — the Jewish and Muslim women were moved to be witnesses, and I was blessed to have such holiness brought into our home. After the successful conclusion of our meeting and plans for future meetings, I went to the Kotel (the Western Wall) to give charity and to offer prayers for being given such an opportunity to serve God and my people. As I sat in the balmy midnight air in front of the Wall and shared with my religious friends about the evening in my home, one friend said I had been given a glimpse of Moshiach Times — the harmony we will all experience together one day. I pray that this will come soon and in our days.

Palestinian and Israeli Women Discuss National Identities

On the second Monday of May, TRUST WIN (Women’s Interfaith Network) held a meeting of women from varied backgrounds – Palestinians and Israelis – Christians, Jews, and Muslims -who met each other with the intention of getting to know one another as women while getting cosmetics make-overs together. We had students, teachers, mothers, grandmothers, and one seven month old baby. Even though the meeting was held in the midst of all the national holidays – Israeli Independence Day and Memorial Day, and the Palestinian Nakba – events which generated strong reactions, there was no tension felt at the table. Instead, women were eager to share their feelings about these complicated times. After a brief introduction we began to talk about our experiences. Stories poured forth into the accepting arms of the sisterhood. Some women never went for their make-over because they didn’t want to leave the discussion. One Jewish Israeli woman told of her fears of her son’s budding desire to be a soldier, while at the same time expressing an understanding of the importance of a strong national identity. An Israeli Arab told us that, in her opinion, Israelis must accept the Arabs right to a separate feeling and identity, so that they need not be ashamed to sit during the Memorial Day siren. In her eyes, it is the acceptance of the legitimacy of another person’s feeling, without the denial of your own feeling that will bring understanding on both sides. Palestinian women explained to the Israelis about the Nakba commemoration of the “Disaster” they experienced at the founding of the State of Israel. A Palestinian woman laughed as she told of her experience trying to find a taxi in Tel Aviv on Israeli Independence Day that did NOT have Israeli flags flying on it. An Israeli woman shared her sadness to see Arab boys dancing on the street during the siren for Memorial Day. One young Israeli woman told how different it had been for her in the past three years when she was a soldier and was aware on Memorial Day of her friends and comrades who had died or were currently in combat zones. We listened and accepted each other’s feelings and experiences. We also laughed and enjoyed the beautiful transformation that took place as the women were made up as you can see in the attached photographs. People walking by stopped to look at the strange spectacle of Arabs and Jews together. Imagine – twelve women sitting and enjoying each other’s company! Why is this strange? We understand each other’s grief as mothers, sisters, aunts, and friends. We understand each other’s wish to end the conflict and act in a non-violent manner. We understand each other’s hopes, as women. We are an example of the normal behavior which can be practiced in our society.

Interfaith Meeting Despite Tensions

At a time when tensions are strong and much suspicion and vengeance exists between Israelis and Palestinians, TRUST – Emun in partnership with the Jerusalem Peacemakers organized an evening of study and discussion about religious perspectives on “Non – Violence” in Judaism and Islam in light of recent violence in Jerusalem and our region. There was some skepticism and resistance within both communities to our event– Israeli Jews saying that this was not the right time to meet because of anger about the massacre at the Jerusalem Yeshiva and Palestinians saying they couldn’t meet with Israelis because of anger about on-going killings and oppression in Gaza.

Fifty Palestinian and Israeli residents from East and West Jerusalem, as well as from Ramallah, Hebron, and Bethlehem joined us to hear the teachings from Rabbi Daniel Landes, the Director and Rosh Yeshiva of Pardes Institute, and Sheik Izhak Taha, the Deputy Mufti of Jerusalem. The meeting took place in Abu Tor, a mixed neighborhood on the seam between East and West Jerusalem. Joining us were Ultra-Orthodox Jews in black hats sitting with secular Jews and Muslims in hijab and modern dress, from all age groups. After an opportunity for people to introduce themselves to each other in one on one encounters, the invisible walls and barriers in the room disappeared.

Rabbi Landes taught how Aaron would resolve conflicts by going to both wronged persons in a conflict and telling each how badly the other felt for what he did and how much he regretted it. Then when the two would meet, they would embrace and econcile immediately. The Rabbi said that today we have the opposite of Aaron because we have the media and our leaders continually telling us how much the other side hates us and wants to kill us and doesn’t want to reconcile. He emphasized how important it is for each of us to share our experience here with our own communities, that members of the “other side” do feel badly for what has been done to us and wants to reconcile.

Sheikh Izhak Taha said that the basic teaching of the Quran is a message of love and tolerance and that this love extends to all creatures and all humanity. Those who do turn to violence are not true Muslims, they are choosing the path of darkness rather the light that the Quran offers. He also spoke about how his grandfather told him stories of a time when Jews and Arabs lived together here like family, how his grandmother even wet-nursed a Jewish baby. Though he hears most often the pain of his own people, the sheikh sees that two nations in the Land are suffering. We should eat and dance at each others celebrations, this will build trust and love between us, he said. We have forgotten how we used to live together.

Participants shared in small group listening circles about their pain, fears, frustration, as well as positive memories of a shared past and hopes for a better future. Both Israelis and Palestinians spoke of frustration and despair about the extreme attitudes in each society and the reluctance of the majority to work together non-violently to find solutions. Both spoke of the need to hear the other side acknowledge their own violence and express regret. Possible ways to do this were discussed.

One Israeli mother spoke of her fears for her son about to enter the army. One Palestinian with tears in his eyes spoke of his hope for the time when Israeli and Palestinian children will play together and grow up together in harmony.

The evening was ended with a circle of spontaneous prayers for peace. People were reluctant to leave the warmth of our oasis of trust that had been created. The desire for continued dialogue led to plans for a series of study sessions beginning in May.