A blog by Abed Elsalam Manasra, Abrahamic Reunion (AR) Israel Programs Director, following the October 2019 AR program in Ein Karem, which Abed organized. Watch the video of the event here.
Seven o’clock in the morning we set out from Nazareth, the beautiful bride of Galilee, to Jerusalem, the capital of religions, Jerusalem, where the congregations of angels flock to raise the prayers of the humbled to God from all religions and languages. In Jerusalem you will get a feeling that you can’t get anywhere else on Earth, a feeling mixed with love, awe, peace, and fear. All this contrast is for you to know that you are in the most sacred and beautiful place.
I really regret that there are people who do not care about all this beautiful sanctity, nature, and the breathtaking energy that carries you to the worlds of love and beauty—they replaced it with hatred, racism, and fanaticism that obscure the voices of the humble.
This is what prompted us to take a stand and strengthen the peace process with social programs that bring men and women together with their fellow men and women. Together, we fight the rhetoric of racism and hatred with words of love and peace.
As for life on the ground with dignity and security, it is only possible through the acceptance of man by his fellow man, and extending a helping hand to form relationships based on respect, freedom, pluralism, aesthetic difference, and diversity.
Without the different forms of the flowers and their different fragrances, we would no longer care about them. We need diversity to create a creative society.
This is what we strive to do in programs such as Knowing The Other.
Human nature fights against the unknown, but when you open the curtain and help someone look deeply, they can know that the unknown is a reflection of themself, and that commonality is greater than the barriers of fear and distance.
This work is our responsibility and the responsibility of everyone who loves to live in peace.
The Program
We arrived in Jerusalem, specifically to the displaced town of Ein Karem on which the new town of Ein Karem was founded, to meet with the program participants from the Old City of Jerusalem. Here we were all received by Sheikh Ghassan Manasra, the International Director of the Abrahamic Reunion, who gave a welcoming and introductory speech.
The participants consisted of 65 Jewish, Christian and Muslim youth, men, children, women, elderly and families. It is amazing and interesting that a large proportion of our group was women of all faiths, and especially Muslim women from Jerusalem. That means a lot to us, it means that we are making more of a difference because when the women of Jerusalem join us we are changing the methodology and mentality of families, not just individuals.
In the Church of St. John the Baptist, Father Nour from Iraq received us with wonderful words derived from the teachings of Christ, the messenger of love and peace, highlighting the importance of coexistence and the importance of respect.
We took a tour of the church and experienced Christian prayer together, to learn that prayer, no matter how different the form, is of the same message. This was the most important lesson to learn and I could see the beautiful interactions between the sons and daughters of other religions and the Christian house of worship.
After we finished our wonderful meeting with Father Nour, we went to lunch in the church restaurant. There, Sheikh Jamaluddin from Jerusalem gave a wonderful speech to call for love, brotherhood, and coexistence. He also talked about the approach of an important Islamic occasion, the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him.
We always emphasize to offer our participants food: first, it was usually the habit of our father Abraham, long ago, and second, in order to gather representatives of all the religions at a single table where they can eat and talk together, as this creates affection and mercy amongst them.
The Journey
After our wonderful meeting in the church under the title of “Knowing The Other Deeply,” we set out to continue the second part of our program, the journey.
Through our programs, we have learned to include some events that attract participants, like seeing some sights, nature, and interesting activities.
The program of our journey was an educational trip into the local nature of the town of Ein Karem, and visits to very interesting places locally. We decided to walk to the Mosque of Omar and Mary’s Spring, which is pouring out of the mosque, a mosque which is now closed for painful reasons. How beautiful it is to see the beauty of places of worship, and how painful to see them empty without spirit, without the voices of worshippers and their angelic hymns.
We arrived at the Mosque and Mary’s Spring and met Rabbi Schlomo Dov Rosen.
Rabbi Rosen is descended from a line of senior Jewish Scholars; the Rosen family is one of the most important Jewish religious families in Israel, and is a symbol of peace and love. Rabbi Rosen’s father was one a very well-known Jewish Rabbi and his uncle, Rabbi David Rosen, is the best-known Jewish face of world peace operations.
We listened to a wonderful word from the Rabbi, who spoke of love, affection, brotherhood, and coexistence.
(You can listen to part of Rabbi Rosen’s speech in the AR’s event video – click here.)
After our meeting with Rabbi Rosen we walked through the town roads to enjoy the scent of history and the magic of the renewed present.
Next, we went on the bus from the center of the town to its beautiful mountains to visit Dr. Zohar Katzir at Essene Farm, a place for recreation, deep healing, and spiritual training. Dr. Katzir told us about the community and his wonderful and important work: why their living system is interesting, its role in the development of the internal peace process, and its impact on society.
After we finished the meeting, we went to visit the Monastery of Yohanan in the Desert to enjoy the scenery, views, and walking trails in the region.
It was a fruitful meeting and a great event bringing all these people of different faiths together, I could see all this wonderful harmony between man and his fellow man. How wonderful it is to see the smile on the faces of adults and children who are feeling at the top of joy, security, and peace.
All we are trying to offer is a society of love and a society that challenges all oddsfor the people to get the opportunity to live and express themselves without fear or wars, opportunity for self-search, an opportunity to harness the positive energy within us to form an ideal society.
The Holy Land is the focus of world attention. This land is not worth killing or violence, it deserves to be a lighthouse. Out of this land came the apostles of love, the cradle of peace and His holy incarnation.
I can only conclude with words borrowed from Sheikh Ghassan Manasra: The crowd likened the gathering to laying in a bedding of field flowers, and left “refreshed from the nectar of those flowers to spread perfume everywhere.”
10/27/2019
Abed Elsalam Manasra
Israeli Programs Director for the Abrahamic Reunion.
