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Report (November 30, 2014)
On Sunday, November 30 the Abrahamic Reunion hosted an uplifting trip of 60 Jews, Christians and Muslims to the Galilee town of Shfar’am. In the days after the Har Nof massacre, and the morning after the arson attack on the Hand to Hand school in Jerusalem…our journey of solidarity and brotherhood was a powerful response.
We were a diverse group making the trip from Jerusalem together-among the Jews, rabbis: a ”Yerushalmi’ ultra-Orthodox rabbi from Mea Shearim and another from Gush Etzion, and a mother with 2 daughters, among the Palestinians, a sheikh, an Evangelical minister from Bethlehem, a PA employee from Hebron, from East Jerusalem were men, women and children, from Shuafat, Wadi Joz, Ras al-Amud, Sur Baher…on the way north we picked up a journalist from Germany, and in the north, more Israelis joined us from Tsfat, Haifa and Ma’alot.
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We met up in Shfar’am for a tour of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Druze holy places. Father Andres Bahouth welcomed us at the courtyard of, and inside for some, the St. Peter and Paul Greek Melkite church. From there we walked to the square outside the ancient synagogue of Shfar’am, where Jews had lived since the time of the Sanhedrin until the 1920’s. The Chief Rabbi of Acco, Yosef Yashar and Sheikh Abdel Salaam Manasra called for harmony between the religions, for us to come together in respect and friendship.
The Ja’afari family, Muslim keepers of the keys of the ancient synagogue opened it up for us. Elias Jabbour, Director of the House of Hope, welcomed us to Shfar’am and spoke about the town as a model of inter-religious harmony for centuries.
Rabbi and historian, Eliyahu Kaufman shared the Jewish history of Shfar’am and the Galilee.The exterior of the synagogue was recently firebombed, in an act of religious extremism, however local Muslim, Christian and Druze teenagers stepped forward immediately to help fix the damage and renovate the synagogue.
We proceeded to the central ‘Old Mosque’. There Sheikh Abdel Majid Abu Hija welcomed us into the spacious mosque, spoke about the history of the 300 yr. old mosque said “it is through our differences, that we can come together for peace”. The Muslims in our group lined up and prayed as the rest of us observed. At Druze community center, Sheikh Yusuf Abu Ebed and others welcomed us warmly, then he spoke about the tenets of the Druze religion and their relationship with the State of Israel, in a first such encounter for most of the Muslims and Jews there.
At the House of Hope, after sharing a meal offered by host Elias Jabbour and his wife Heyam, we held a ceremony where each religious leader present signed a group statement. We read it aloud, in English, Hebrew and Arabic, huge applause when we got to the Arabic. As Elana Rozenman and Um Raed embraced, Elana spoke about the role of women as natural peace partners.
We closed with prayers for peace, Sheikh Abu Amin said “its up to us to build the peace, meetings like this are part of the path”. On the way back to Jerusalem we stopped at Sidna Ali, an Islamic holy place on the beach of Herzelia, where we enjoyed the setting sun and expansive view of the sea…. the Imam was amazed to see such a unique group travel together.
Shalom, Salaam,
Rodef Shalom Eliyahu McLean, and Sheikh Ghassan Manasra,
Coordinators, the Abrahamic Reunion
