By Dr. Yehdua Stolov | Executive Director
March 2024
Members of the Spiritual Leadership cohort met this month to check in during these challenging times, hear about the delegation’s trip to the U.S, and plan for our panel at the Safed College Interfaith Conference next month. We were fascinated to hear of the group’s experiences in the U.S., and especially heartened to hear about how our three representatives – Muslim activist Ghadir Hani, Father Saba Haj, and Rabbi Or Zohar – bonded even more during their trip.
We found it especially interesting how tensions between Muslims and Jews seem so high in the U.S., whereas for us in our group, we find our connections have grown even stronger. Polarization among Muslims and Jews seems much stronger in the U.S. now than it does here in Israel.
“I was surprised at how the younger generation especially, but not only, has no grasp of the complexity and no knowledge of the ‘other’”, said Father Saba. Yet, he was impressed with the way equality is so important to them and hate speech and actions are not tolerated.
“So many people did not understand that there are Jews and Palestinians here who recognize one another’s rights to be here and who prefer to live here together in peace than to kick the other out,” said Ghadir. “This introduced for them a whole new paradigm they had not considered before and did not know was possible.”
April 2024
Between the Muslim Holiday of Eid El-Fitr and the Jewish holiday of Passover, and between the Catholic/Protestant and the Greek Orthodox celebrations of the Christian holiday of Easter, group member Dr Ithamar Theodor organized an interfaith conference at Safed Academic College, where he is a professor.
Spiritual Leadership panelists discussed the following questions: Should activism have a place in religion? Should politics have a place in religion? Should religion be a way to escape reality? Deal with it? Or influence it? Should religion bring us closer together or further apart?
Ghadir spoke about how activism became a big part of her life, and how she began to see it as part of her responsibility as a devout Muslim—especially when people commit violent acts of hate in the name of religion. Yair spoke of how political disagreements should not turn religious, and how democracy cannot be mixed with theocracy. Azar spoke of how even a small minority within a minority (the status of Christian Arabs in Israel) can have a significant influence on society. And Leora spoke of how we of all faiths in the Galilee can influence and support one another.
Rabbi Or, who facilitated the panel, pointed out how all religions have particularist strains and universalist strains. “What we need today is for the universalist strains that affirm life and spread love, to become more dominant—in this region and in the rest of the world.”
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