From the Roots- Lights amidst the Darkness

Lights Amidst the Darkness
We are writing this update in a difficult and tense time. With yet another round of
violence and tragedy, the current atmosphere of tension and suspicion has
renewed the sense of urgency in our work and served to highlight the uniqueness
of what we are: Israelis and local Palestinians, supporting each other through
difficult times and planting the seeds of a positive future for all of us.
To be sure, the current climate has served as a challenge - we are all in the grip
of fear, suspicion and anger. Gunshots have been heard from the Field, several
Roots members have narrowly escaped attacks, young people have been
imprisoned and our communities are mourning lives painfully cut short. These
serve to remind us what is entailed by NOT be walking the path that Roots seeks.
At Roots we have weathering this storm honestly, openly and above all together.
Despite the fact that some members have felt they could not express their
solidarity publicly in the current climate , there has been a powerful clarity that
"the 'us and them' is not between Israelis and Palestinians, but rather between
those for or against violence."
In spite of our internal clarity the climate of fear, mourning and anger makes this
not the time for wide outreach and public displays, and therefore our focus has
been primarily on behind the scenes efforts. We know that this period will come to
an end, and that our communities will still be faced with the same questions and
challenges as before. When this time arrives the place of Roots' work and
message will carry an even clearer call. For now, it is a time for us to refine our
message and evaluate our programming, invest in our organization and make
clearer our strategy. This has included staff workshops and the intensifying
efforts to build a US-based working board- both of which you'll find more details
about below.
Our New Vision Statement:
“At Roots we envision a social and political
reality that is founded on dignity, trust and a
mutual recognition and respect for both people’s
historic belonging to the entire Land.”
This, our new Vision Statement, was collectively written in a meeting of Roots
staff and advisers which included our special guest Mubarak Awad, founder of
the Palestinian Centre for Non-Violence. It is a step towards the new discourse
evolving in our work - what we feel will be a critical contribution to the larger
process of conflict resolution.
Winter Warmth:
The security situation has meant that many
Palestinian Roots supporters are not receiving work
permits into Israel, and are therefore unemployed.
To support them, we have set a fundraising goal of
$7500 to provide firewood to heat Palestinian
homes during the winter months. Please donate generously - and use
FIREWOOD as a reference.
A glance at what is keeping us
busy:
Workshop by local psychologist,
Izzy Kalman at Roots
Our First Grant: We have received a $20,000
grant from the GO Campaign for our Dual
Narratives Program! Thanks to the hard work of
our recent intern Eric Green, our 5 month pilot
program for Israeli and Palestinian youth is ready
to launch.
Uniting in the face of the current violence: We have met several times to
address our approach to the current situation. In our first meeting, with our group
reeling from fresh tragedies of the violence, we began to gather ourselves to face
this together. You can read Hanan’s blog about this meeting here.
Speaking and Fundraising Tours:
This quarter has seen Roots speakers touring the US, India, Qatar and Geneva:
US Tour: Ali, Hanan and Khaled toured North America in November, where they
spoke at universities, synagogues, community centers and churches. Local
media covered their visits, and you can view these and listen to their interview
with a local radio station in Boulder here. In addition, the team was accompanied
Mordechai Vardi, rabbi of Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim, Roots acvitist and director of an
upcoming documentary about co-existence activities in our area.
Qatar: Ali was the keynote speaker at the Annual Conference of the Qatar
Foundation where he was received warmly by over 700 delegates.
India Tour: Rabbi Hanan represented Roots at a four day "Leaders Quest"
retreat of international social change agents and business leaders, developing
useful connections for Roots.
Geneva: Ali partnered with Jean-Marc Liling, a Roots advisor since the beginning
of the project, for a whirlwind lecture series in Geneva, organized by our
wonderful supporter Mehra Rimer. Packed with inspiring speaking engagements,
the tour also included a successful fundraising lunch with local businessmen. We
do not yet have a final figure raised but have been delighted at the response so
far. Great thanks to Mehra and David Rimer for their work. Media from the tour,
including an interview with Ali, can be found here.
Workshops and Seminars: Roots has been running numerous workshops and
seminars with both adults and young people, including several Compassionate
Listening workshops, a seminar entitled "Turning Enemies into Friends" with local
psychologist Izzy Kalman and an interfaith seminar with Rav Avi'a HaCohen that
was part of the V'Nislach initiative.
Spreading the message locally: Roots has continued to undertake multiple
weekly speaking engagements and Q&A sessions to open our approach both to
locals and international visitors.
Mid-November we hosted a delegation from Partnership for Peace, who
toured the Land and met with members of the Roots staff. We are looking forward
to our partnership with them and are indebted especially to the individuals who
were able to stay and provide organizational support for us. We hope to report
more on this partnership.
"The Delusion of Jerusalem of Gold": Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger’s moving blog
addressed the enshrinement of our exclusive narratives about this land in our
dearest cultural artifacts. He shares his personal challenge in realizing that he can
no longer share this view . You can read Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger's moving post
here.
Friends of Roots in the USA was established as a 501c3 several months ago,
and we are now creating both a working board and an advisory board for the
organization. The working board will oversee publicity, speaking trips and
fundraising in the United States and will also develop educational curricula and
activities for implementation in American communities. The advisory board will be
made up of high-level influence Americans who will lend their names and their
wisdom to our efforts. Both boards will be composed of Jews, Christians and
Muslims, Israeli -Americans and Palestinian-American's. We are also creating
local committees in a number of American cities, to work in tandem with the
national board.
A core of about 10 people are devoting themselves to this project, and another 30
have shown significant interest and are waiting to be contacted and brought into
the efforts. If you would like to join this project or can help in any way, please
follow the instructions in the letter from Carey Fried below.
Haled and Hanan on Boulder radio
Roots staff members in a workshop
Upcoming events:
Roots’ Spring 2016 US Tour is almost fully booked. For more information and to
schedule an event check our website. We are particularly interested in
opportunities for fundraising, so if you would like to plan an event with potential
donors who are able to donate significantly please get in touch with us right away.
You can find more information here.
Website: our website is receiving an upgrade from our hardworking intern Oriel,
and we hope that the site is more user friendly. Our greatest thanks to Pastor
John Moyle who built the original template of the website and continues to work to
keep it up to date.
Building the Roots land site: we are hoping to shortly undertake development
at the Roots site to enable us to host more people and events in comfort,
particularly over the winter. Developments will include better toilet facilities,
insulated and waterproof meeting areas, guest rooms, drainage, sewage and
increased solar power.
Donations!
Roots is a project sustained by the giving of individuals who see the power in the
work we do. As well as all sustaining all our usual projects and costs, this month
we are also looking for donations to help us with our firewood supply to keep the
Roots building warm during the winter - so please give generously.
PayPal - Click here And if you do not have a PayPal account you can still
give with a credit card (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover).
Friends of Roots, an American 501(c)3 is a tax-deductible channel for
donations from the the US. Monies can be transferred by:
Check - made out to "Friends of Roots" and sent to: Friends of Roots c/o
Oakbrook Church
1700 Reston Pkwy
Reston, VA 20194
From anywhere in the world, donations can be transferred directly
to the account of our Israeli non profit, for info/ address please
contact: [email protected] or visit our website
A letter from our board:
Dear Friends of Roots,
It’s my honor to share with you that we are actively building the American Friends
of Roots Board. The Roots message resonates with so many of us in the US who
want to get involved and support the unique, important work of Roots. The Board
and its Committees will provide the infrastructure to support regular US visits,
raise money and get our message of peace and hope out to the world. Of course,
this is a volunteer board. So, we need your help. If Hanan and Ali have moved
you with their vision and commitment to peace, we have lots of ways for you to
get involved. If you have the time, resources, and energy to get involved and
support Roots we need your help!
Right now in the US we are planning Hanan and Ali’s visit to LA & NY in
March/April 2016. There is A LOT of work to do to make these visits successful.
We need writers, artists, shleppers, organizers, bloggers, photographers,
accountants, lawyers and others to help us build Friends of Roots. We need
people in New England, NY/NJ/CT, CO, TX, LA, SF, Chicago, and Boston to help
build Friends of Roots into an effective, well-funded, high profile organization. I
hope you will help us make that happen.
How do you get involved? Right now, visit the donate page on our website and fill
out the volunteer survey at the bottom of the page to let us know how you want to
get involved. We will reach out personally to everyone who completes the
Volunteer Survey.
Wishing you all the best of the holiday season,
Carey Fried
Acting Board Secretary
[email protected]
©2015 Shorashim- Judur | The Holy Land
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