Overlapping Jewish, Muslim Holidays Prompt Cooperation In Jerusalem
Peace is possible.
Michele Chabin— Religion News Service
JERUSALEM (RNS) An interfaith group gathered in a private home Monday (Sept. 21) to head off potential tensions over how Jews and Muslims celebrate Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha, two holidays that overlap this year.
The meeting of the Abrahamic Reunion took on added significance in Jerusalem, where more than a week of violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians on the Temple Mount have spilled into the streets of East Jerusalem.
Advertisement
Two dozen people of various faiths heard a rabbi explain the laws and traditions of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and a Muslim sheikh explain the laws and traditions of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday that honors the willingness of Ibrahim (the biblical Abraham) to heed God’s order to sacrifice his son.
The day culminated with an interfaith peace walk between the eastern and western parts of the city. Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and considers it part of its capital. The Palestinians say East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
When the holidays coincided last year, “it was a source of tension between some Jews and Arabs,” said Eliyahu McLean, the group’s coordinator. “Muslims were out celebrating and Jews, who were fasting, felt the celebrations were insensitive. Some violence ensued and we want to prevent that from happening again.”
Advertisement
McLean, who is Jewish, noted that the Abrahamic Reunion was launched at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2004, during another tough period: the tail end of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
The coordinator said that many of his Jewish friends ask him why he continues to meet with Arabs at times like these.
Occasionally he asks himself the same thing.
He recalled how, during last summer’s Israel-Hamas war, he was riding in a bus with his wife and children in northern Israel when Arabs pelted the bus with stones and firebombs.
“It was a miracle the bus didn’t explode. And then, the very next day, a group of Jews drove up in a van and tried to kidnap the son of my Muslim partner, Sheikh Ghassan Manasra. Both of us had reason to say, ‘Revenge is the only answer to this conflict.’”
Advertisement
Instead, the men organized a festive iftar dinner during Ramadan with kosher food so Jews could participate. In all, 250 people attended the dinner and participated in a peace walk through the streets of Nazareth, a Christian and Muslim city afflicted with rioting at the time.
“It was a day when Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians were killed in Gaza, but we came together for a jihad of peace. We walked arm-in-arm. This was and is our battle against fear and hate.”
John Dabis, an American-born Palestinian peace activist who attended the Abrahamic Reunion meeting, said hating Israelis will not bring either people closer to peace.
“If Jews and Arabs don’t get to know each other on a grass-roots level, nothing will change,” said Dabis, who recently co-founded “Home,” a Jewish-Arab outreach organization. He lives in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. His Jewish co-founder, Inon Dan Kahati, lives in Jerusalem.
Advertisement
Dabis has suffered from a progressive neurological condition since 2001, when, he said, Israeli soldiers fired gas at his car when he inadvertently entered a closed military zone. He uses a wheelchair.
Putting aside bitterness and engaging in coexistence work, he said, helped him emerge from the two-year depression he endured immediately after being injured.
“Just yesterday Inon and I went to a beer festival in Taibeh,” an Arab town, “and talked to Israelis. I think we showed them that Arabs are people, just like they are.”
A terrorist attack prompted Elana Rozenman, Abrahamic Reunion co-founder and founder of TRUST-Emun, a multifaith peace organization for women, to engage in coexistence work.
In 1997, her son, Noam, was badly injured in a bombing in downtown Jerusalem. At the hospital, she was whisked into the emergency room.
Advertisement
“I was approached by this doctor, who told me his name was Dr. Khoury. I said: ‘That’s an Arab name. One Arab tried to kill my son and you’re trying to save him.’ I realized that I could go in the direction of ‘All Arabs want to kill us,’ but instead I saw that every person is a human being and some are good and some are bad.”
All too often, Rozenman said, “we see religion being used as a pretext for violent acts and violent words. Religions are not in conflict. People use religion to create conflict.”
Rozenman said the 15 years she has spent working with like-minded Muslims, Christians, Jews and Druze is her way of “strengthening the forces of sanity and nonviolence so other mothers do not have to suffer what I suffered.”
Also on HuffPost:
Religious Calendar 2015
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
It's Another Trump-Biden Showdown — And We Need Your Help
The Future Of Democracy Is At Stake
The Wartime Updates You Need To Know
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
HuffPost is dedicated to covering the devastating war between Hamas and Israel. We've broken news on the famine in Gaza, the State Department's turmoil, as well as what Hamas is thinking now — and we're far from done. HuffPost is committed to bringing you the critical updates you need to know. Would you consider contributing as little as $2 to support our reporting? Thank you for your support.
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.