Multi-faith Hanukah Celebration in the West Bank

Beautiful Abrahamic Reunion Hanukah gathering in Mt. Grizim/Har Bracha. Welcomed by the Samaritan community on the Biblical ‘Mountain of Blessings’, over 120 people, we came on three buses – Israeli Jews from West Jerusalem, Palestinians from East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron, joined by Israelis from Samaria, Itamar and Shilo, and Palestinians from the wider Nablus area. In the community center, Samaritan leaders spoke in Hebrew and Arabic about their village as an oasis of peace and a model for the larger region.

The governor of Nablus, Akram Rajoub and the high priest of the Samaritans came to address us with a message of hope and unity. We then broke up into dialogue circles upstairs, while downstairs, Elana Rozenman arranged for the women to have a separate private meeting with Nawal Cohen, Samaritan women’s leader, to discuss the special religious customs and rituals of their women.

We then went up to the archeological ruins and site of the ancient Samaritan Temple, where in a large circle, Gaby Meyer led us in chants in Hebrew and Arabic, ‘Ein K’eloheinu, La’illaha illAllah’…we ascended the lookout point overlooking Joseph’s Tomb and Balata refugee camp, where we held hands and shouted “Allah-hu Akbar!! and “HaShalom Yinatzeach!!”, meaning respectively “Allah’s name which is peace” and “Shalom will prevail.”

A Samaritan teenager escorted us to the site of the annual Passover sacrifice, where he shared his community’s ancient customs. Yefet Cohen, brother of the high priest, gave a passionate presentation in the Samaritan museum, about his people’s and town’s role as a model of how the Children of Israel and Ishmael can live together in harmony and respect. Some of us went to the Samaritan synagogue to observe the community chant prayers in ancient Hebrew, dressed in white robes.

We closed with a Hannukah lighting ceremony, where Sheikh Ghassan Manasra spoke of the concept of light, ‘Nur’, in Islam, Catholic Sister Lucia spoke about the same concept in the New Testament and the Christmas holiday. Baruch Erdstein, from Itamar, taught about the Hannukah miracle, then, while Yerachmiel Ziegler sang the Hannukah blessings, we lit the Menorah.

We closed with a reading of Rav Kook poetry by Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein about the ‘brotherly love of Isaac and Ishmael’, an Islamic peace prayer by Sheykha Ibtisam Mahameed, and me sharing “may the blessing of peace from the Mt. of Blessings, spread from this point to all over the Land of the Prophets”.

This unique gathering was featured in Dec. 22nd’s Yediot Acharonot newspaper, the largest print paper in Israel.

Coverage from Haaretz also came on December 26th:

Signed, Rodef Shalom Eliyahu McLean, with Sheikh Ghassan Manasra

Thanks for support from Rising Tide International and the German Global Hope Fund.

https://vimeo.com/117173491