War will not rend interfaith project

Omaha World-Herald 01/14/2009, Page B07

MIDLANDS VOICES
War will not rend interfaith project

BY RABBI ARYEH AZRIEL, WENDY GOLDBERG, NASER Z. ALSHARIF AND THE REV. CANON TIM ANDERSON The writers, all of Omaha, are board members of the Tri-Faith Initiative. Azriel and Goldberg are senior rabbi and program director, respectively, of Temple Israel. Alsharif is secretary of the American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture. Anderson is canon for development of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska. Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” In 2006, a group of Omaha leaders made a bold decision to form a partnership with the goal of co-locating to an interfaith campus. Temple Israel, the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and the American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture signed a mutual agreement of understanding to create the Tri-Faith Initiative of Omaha. We remain committed to this goal. Our dialogue actually began nine years ago. From its inception, we knew the day would arrive that would require us to gather at a table in the midst of war in the Middle East. How would we continue building our friendships of mutual understanding? It took place at a meeting involving the emotional sharing of personal narratives of three leaders of the Tri-Faith Initiative — an Israeli-born Reform Jewish American rabbi; an American Muslim professor born in Palestine; and a native Nebraskan Episcopal priest. The tearful conversation was the kind of honest exchange that is necessary to reach peace. The initiative, one said, “gives us all strength to have each other and to each respect our individual relationships with God. To understand and to know each other will move us forward.” Another added: “The pain is so great. What is really at stake in our Holy Land? We are suffering. Who is scoring political points? Is this about geopolit ical struggle? What is the value of every human life? All people are victims. The violence must stop. The violence will not bring safety. “This ongoing war has decimated my entire family. I no longer have a family. Just tears. There is no monopoly on pain. We all have people being killed. Will we strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being? Our response is, ‘We will, with God’s help.’ ” Our stories are woven together with threads of pain and love for our people and the land. We shared stories of loss of friends and family. We acknowledged our mutual regard for human life, especially those who have died as a result of the ongoing struggle. We heard each other’s memories of war — pain and fear, dreams for the Holy Land. We cried. We hugged. Our years of conversation and education had clear rewards as we witnessed and felt the pain of the others. The participants said, “We stand together in condemnation of the violence, pain and suffering. We hope for peace and coexistence in the Holy Land. We understand that politics alone will not end this conflict.” The Holy Land is more than borders and settlements. The tragedies reach beyond Gaza; our message must be a global one. In Omaha, we are privileged by our influence and freedoms. Yet we feel guilty; our selfishness and greed have desensitized us. Are we assuming our responsibilities? Today we, the leadership of the Tri-Faith Initiative, call upon ourselves to honestly reawaken our consciences, including progressive change to build relationships, to honor a nd respect the other. We raise our voices to work toward peace. Recognizing the challenges ahead requires hope, faith and a commitment to work hard, together, to solve the many problems of our generation. TriFaith gives us hope — hope for the future in the midst of despair. Despite the strong feelings roused around our table by the crisis in Gaza, the initiative continues to move forward and remains committed to its first public event, “Dinner in Abraham’s Tent: Conversations on Peace,” featuring the national leaders of each of our movements: Rabbi Peter Knobel, Dr. Ingrid Mattson and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the U.S. Episcopal Church. The event, set for Friday, March 27, at the Qwest Center, will feature a worship service followed by a dinner and a conversation among the faith leaders on the theme of “Shalom, Salaam, Peace.” In the words of Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, “May our courage match our convictions and our integrity match our hope.” How can we still attempt the Tri-Faith Initiative when there is a war going on in the Middle East? How can we not? For more information about The Tri-Faith Initiative contact 402-934-2955 or 888- 934-9955 (toll free), or info@trifaith.org.

Where are we getting our information about Israel?

From Jane Rips’ inbox
Blog for Israel
Reform Movement Blog

Stacey Rockman read and watched
Rabbi Hier’s Op-Ed in Today’s Wall Street Journal

Michael Blumberg on CNN

Sally Kaplan is reading
Shalom, Shabbat, & Shibboleth

Katherine Finnegan is reading
Haaretz
HonestReporting.com
Daily Alert

Rabbi Azriel’s inbox includes
Israel’s Progressive Movement Provides Emergency Assistance During Gaza Operation
Subscribe to the Israel Religious Action Center e-Newsletters

Maya Wertheimer suggests
Take Action Now! Support Israel’s Right to Defend Its Citizens

Wendy Goldberg checked out
US Jews, Muslims Need New Playbook
Proposal to the President-Elect for the First 100 Days: On the Arab-Israeli Dispute and and the Crisis in Gaza

Ben Nelson on MSNBC about Israel

From extended family in Israel

This is from Jordana Glazer’s Cousin in Israel

I hope you’re not answering this mail to be polite. I do feel that when I send you these e mails that I am sharing my feelings, fears and frustrations with you. You probably understood that  by now. So take it as my alarm system contacting you. I just had nothing to ‘really’ say. You don’t have to answer.

And at times like these when half the country live in shelters for days on end, and my son is now in the army, the economy is my last, last and least priority.

Worst is, that whatever the outcome may be ‘they’ will not go away and we still have the other maniacs up north. Our problems will not be solved yet.

I always knew that when hell breaks loose here, we could run. But now we can’t. Ari is in the army and he is on his own – legally – but not in my book. I fall asleep at night designing an escape plan, to fly out with all the kids…..this is a real nightmare, for all of us here, North and South, all over Israel. The feeling of unity is very high among Israeli’s and it’s the most pulsating feeling. We all know –except for a small number of delusional left – that this is once again, a war of survival. All these soldiers are my kin, and I feel for all of them, what hell they are going through. I don’t know if any American can understand this. It is the unique characteristic of Israeli life. People are quiet, everything slows down as if functioning in slow motion. You can see it on everyone’s face. The worrying, the automatic movements, and the fear. I listen to the radio and television all day, I pray, I pray and pray (Tehilim כ’) for this to stop and I pray for the young men fighting for our country.

Maybe, just maybe, I can’t take this pressure.

I do have a small request. Don’t be indifferent. Look up Hamas on Wikipedia, hard to comprehend that they are considered human beings. Spread the word of who these people are, write on blogs supporting us, write on blogs throughout the world. Write to the TV stations and newspapers that report bias misconceptions. Write to your congress rep. If there is a Israel support rally; go to it, be another statistic in the count for support. Many countries have displayed their support for us and a few arab countries have implied their support (Egypt).

It’s at times like this that Jews around the world have to wake up and help, each in their own way. You cannot preach the liberal approach; democracy and peace agreements are not among these maniac’s agenda. It’s not even an issue of land for peace, and not a two state solution. They want annihilation, destruction, and death to all Jews, and then to all that are not muslim all over the world. That’s their goal. That is their principleof existence. It’s a matter of time how the Us and Europe will continue to deal with this, on 9/11 you had a taste.

Yes, I am a voice from Israel

Yes, I am a voice from Israel but aside from political views which have been hashed over we have little more to offer than what you see in the US – assuming that you watch more than one TV channel, preferably including international channels AND that you are updated from internet sources from Israel.

Interestingly, when my wife Line and I met up with a group from Omaha on the first day of the war (it was a Shabbat afternoon), it was Jon Meyers who told us that the bombing had begun!

What you don’t have access to however is the feeling that we do, and more so, our neighbors and friends who have children called up and serving in the heart of the Gaza strip.  This war is different from all of the previous (and I’ve been here still prior to the Yom Kippur war in 1973!) – the press has been locked out and the soldiers, our children mind you, have been stripped of their cell phones to call home with updates from the front line.  Too many mistakes were made with both the press and errant phone calls during the last Lebanese incursion and the army moved quickly to stomp out these leaks.  Nobody has up to date and/or accurate information as to what is exactly happening on the front lines.  It will takes months to filter out when the fighting stops and the kids start to speak of what they saw and what they did.  I am sure it will be ugly unfortunately as the Hamas, like their brethren in Lebanon drag the fighting into residential areas using civilians as shields.  This is not new.
All of our sons have been through the army in one capacity or another and our middle son, Dudu, has also been called in to do his job now in the war effort.

We hope for a quick end to the fighting.  What happens next is anybody’s guess.  I can’t say that establishing “trust” with such a cruel, terrorist organization will work; I’m not optimistic.  The Palestinians however have to be given the strength to throw out these lower life forms, terrorist elements,  from amongst their people and try to build a viable state and economy with a future based on peace and commerce and not warped religious zealotry.

I don’t know if anything that I have said makes the situation any clearer.

We count our blessings for the security which we enjoy in Jerusalem and only pray that the well being of those citizens in the south of Israel will improve shortly.

Give our warmest regards to Rabbi Azriel and of course Jon Meyers and his wife and everybody else from the Omaha Jewish community.

If we can be of any further help – please be in touch.
Dan & Line Bleicher
Jerusalem

War at Home

Tamar Halevy, Israeli emissary
Jewish Community Center of OmahaLast night, at 1:00 am, I got a phone call from my mother in Israel: “I felt the explosion” she said with trembling voice, “a missile just landed outside our house, and I heard it so close”. Obviously, I couldn’t go back to sleep last night.
My name is Tamar Halevy; I’m a 23-year-old volunteer in the Jewish Community Center of Omaha, representing The Jewish Agency for Israel.
I’m from a small village in Israel called Kibbutz Hatzor, located 22 miles from the Gaza Strip and 29 miles from Tel Aviv. This is where I was born and raised; this is where my whole family lives today, 4 generations of Halevys.
My home is under attack now.
Last Saturday, December 27th 2008, I’ve joined a group of 2 millions Israeli civilians that have no safe place to live; I’ve joined a larger uncountable group of people, who cannot sleep at night anymore, spending hours worrying about their closest loved ones, asking “will they survive the day?”
Last Saturday morning, the Qasam’s alarm was heard in my home for the first time, announcing: “code red, code red”. My family didn’t even have a shelter to go to because who would have thought that this area, the heart of Israel, only 29 miles from Tel Aviv and 39 miles from Jerusalem, will ever be attacked?
For the first time since Israel’s Independence War in 1948, my home was under attack again. My father, Michael, who was a baby in 1948, was evacuated to a safe place in the Tel Aviv area during the Independence War. Now, 60 years later he is not going anywhere, “this is my home”, he says, “and I’m sticking to my home”.
But, like my father, 60 years ago, my newborn nephew, Noam, now 8-weeks-old, and my sister-in-law, Noga, have left the Kibbutz to a safer place. Noam’s father, my brother Ram, an officer in the Israeli Army, left home on Friday to protect our country.
In my Kibbutz, again – for the first time in 60 years of independence – all the pre-schools, the kindergartens and the schools are now closed. The community dining room was evacuated. They hear the rockets falling all around them; they hear the alarms and pray for luck.
Three years ago, when the 2nd war in Lebanon broke out, and the northern part of Israel was attacked by thousands of rockets by Hezbollah, I was in the army, a young and determined border police officer. Although I was not fighting in the front lines, I felt that I’m contributing to my country and protecting my friends and family.
It has been 4 month since I took off my uniform and returned my military ID. It seems so close, and yet, I’m so far away right now. Today, here in Omaha, thousands of miles from my family, and my country, I feel guilty for being safe and so distant. I feel guilty watching my friends on the news, fighting and defending my country without me. I feel guilty knowing that they’re in danger and I’m here.
My family was lucky in the last three days. Not so lucky was Irit Sheetrit, a 39-year-old mother from Ashdod, Beber Vaknin, 58, from the city Netivot was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza hit an apartment building in the city; Hani al-Mahdi, 27, from Aroar, a Beduin settlement in the Negev was killed when a Grad-type missile fired from Gaza exploded at a construction site in Ashkelon; Warrant Officer Lutfi Nasraladin, 38, from the Druze town of Daliat el-Carmel was killed by a mortar attack on a military base near Nahal Oz.

Israeli civilians in Southern Israel are being attacked by the Palestinian terror organization Hamas, constantlyand deliberately for 8 years. 2 weeks ago, after 6 months seize-fire, Hamas had renewed its attacks on Israeli communities in the range of 25 miles from Gaza Strip, including major cities such Be’er Seva, Ashqelon, Ashdod, Sderot & Netivot.

In response to the hundreds of rockets and mortars that have been fired into Israel over the past 21 weeks, on December 27th, Israel launched as a self defense measure a series of airstrikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Imagine rockets being shot from Council Bluffs to Downtown Omaha. While a rocket travels those 15 miles, how much time will you have to protect yourself and your loved ones? What if those rockets were shot at you non-stop for the past 8 years? How would you defend yourself? It’s not easy to be an Israeli who lives overseas these days, worrying for friends and family who are under constant rocket attacks from Gaza.

“The Qasam rockets fired by Hamas deliberately and indiscriminately target civilians and this terror is intolerable. Israelis should not have to live in danger in the homes and schools. America must always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself against those who threatened its people.”
Elected-President Barack Obama, July 2008.

I didn’t experience first-hand any news about the conflict with the Palestinians until about 4 weeks ago

I arrived in Israel in September to do a postdoctoral research fellowship at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva.  I didn’t experience first-hand any news about the conflict with the Palestinians until about 4 weeks ago.  Two of my ulpan classmates travel to class by bus from Sderot, a city that has sustained heavy rocket fire from Gaza for years. Our ulpan teacher remarked to the class that their situation was terrible with all of the rockets Hamas was launching into Sderot.  The first day of the Israeli air attack on rocket launching sites and other strategic targets in Gaza, my girlfriend who was visiting from the U.S. and I heard the sound of jets flying overhead in the morning.  The following day, the mood around townin Beer-Sheva had grown tense.  Rockets from Gaza had already landed in Ashdod and people realized that Beer-Sheva was the same radial distance from Gaza as Ashdod.  Monday we left Beer-Sheva to visit Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv on a trip that we had planned earlier.  I found out that two friends of mine had been called up for reserve duty: one for navy intelligence, and the other to work receiving the families of injured soldiers at Soroka Hospital in Beer-Sheva, southern Israel’s main hospital.  Wednesday morning in Tel-Aviv I got a text message from my friend in Beer-Sheva that two rockets had fallen in Beer-Sheva, but that everyone was okay.  Some very close family friends in Tel-Aviv convinced me to stay with them in Tel-Aviv until the situation calms down.  I was concerned about how my friends in Beer-Sheva would view my “running away” from them and from my home at the first sight of danger.  Later I learned that most Israeli friends of mine in Beer-Sheva whose families lived elsewhere in the country had returned to to their families.  Israelis have told me that the population traditionally shifts away from problematic borders when conflicts erupt.  University courses have been cancelled until further notice, although the university remains open for research activity and staff.  I have been in Tel-Aviv for 5 days now.  Yesterday (Monday) two rockets fell in Beer-Sheva, and two more fell today (Tuesday).  No one has been injured in Beer-Sheva, but several people area treated for shock each time a rocket lands in town.  There are advantages to being outside of Beer-Sheva right now.  The threat of being injured by a rocket may be small, but there is palpable tension from living in a city where rockets are falling.  The tension is stressful, and it affects everyone’s mood and behavior.  I know that it puts my family and friends in the US at ease knowing that I am outside of Beer-Sheva.  In Tel-Aviv, it is easy to forget that there is a military campaign going on in Gaza.  I have been out swing dancing the past two nights here.  Last night I went to a studio where I taught a swing dance workshop a month ago.  An Israeli woman my age who attended that workshop told me: “I am against the war in Gaza, but I am for it if means that you will come out dancing more in Tel-Aviv!”

Jonathan Rathsam

Shalom

It is so nice to know that I’m still being thought of and will be glad to help you with what ever I can. The thing is that I got called to the reserves last Sunday when the Gaza situation began. I’m serving at the Gaza headquarters these days and not very available. I did get some days off and got back to my apartment in Tel Aviv (where I’m writing from right now). I’m still not sure when I need to be back to Gaza. It might be today or tomorrow.

Can you focus me on what kind of information you and the congregants will be interested in? That might help me be to the point and helpful to you guys.

In any case I’d love to help with whatever I can.

How are you doing? How’s the family?

We’ll be in touch,

אורי לוין

Uri Levin

Hello from Omaha

Today in our staff meeting we discussed how to provide accurate information about the situation in Israel.  Because of your unique connection to both Israel and Temple Israel, we would love if you would share your  thoughts about the situation in Israel.  If you have suggestions of resources for our congregants those are welcome too!

Interested?
Comment on this blog, or email Program Director  Wendy Goldberg and I will post it for you.