Community Building for 1000 Jews & Muslims 2023-25

October 24, 2021

We met to establish the group at the Beit Hakerem community center, with 23 participants, led by Omer. This is the first time we are establishing such a group in the Association and we allow ourselves to try different directions.

We started with Omar playing the Santoor and Muhammad, the Oud. We spent most of the evening of the first encounter getting to know the members of the group, using different methods in which the participants told about themselves.

During the process it became clear to us that due to the language gaps it would not be possible to have a classic storytelling process and we decided to try a slightly different model. Each session opens with some useful proverbs or sentences in Hebrew and Arabic. Afterwards we enjoy some music and most of the session will be dedicated to four personal stories - two in Hebrew and two in Arabic - of the participants, with their translation into both languages.

November 14, 2021

We met for a second encounter of a group of storytellers at the American Center. After hearing greetings from our hosts at the center, Omer and Muhammad did some warming up for a session with music.

Afterwards, participants shared personal stories. Rafat told about his work in picking olives, Jews and Muslims together. Meir made everyone laugh when he told a story from his childhood in Jerusalem in the 1950s. Muhammad and Ibrahim also told about their experiences from school, and Tzipi shared a story about her relationship with her grandmother, who would always say that "when luck knocks, you have to open the door." Omer concluded the meeting with another story of his own, and we agreed that we would be happy to continue to develop the art of storytelling together.

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