The situations in the Middle East are causing anguish for so many. I have had conversations with Melkite Archbishop Cyril (Bustros) and Maronite Chorbishop Joseph Lahoud, both of whom are from Lebanon. Carol Flett, Fr. David Michael, and I were invited by the Jewish Community Relations Council to have a closed-door meeting with the Israeli consul general, Meir Schlomo, last week. We voiced the concerns we have been hearing from the Christian community about the humanitarian tragedies in Lebanon and Gaza resulting from the military action; our concern for the loss of life wherever that is occurring because of the violence; and the need to redress all the destruction of infrastructure when the fighting is over.
This morning I received the following information from Carol Flett. The suggestions are good ones, and so I am sharing them with you. I am confident that Church World Service and your own denominational overseas mission agencies also are appropriate places to provide aid.
Rev. Dr. Diane Kessler, Executive Director, Massachusetts Council of Churches
From Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Dear Friends,
Jews, Christians, & Muslims are all the children of Abraham. Now they are dying at each others' hands -- in Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine as well as Iraq. Last week a rabbi wrote me asking for ten suggestions on how to protect lives in the present Middle East explosion. I wrote this list – which can be used by individuals or by religious congregations of any tradition.
Just beneath it you will also find a Mourners Prayer -- Kaddish -- for Use in Time of War. It is rooted in a Jewish prayer, but the English interpretive version could be used by anyone.
10 WAYS TO SAVE THE LIVES OF ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN
1. Ask your US Senator to urge an immediate cease-fire and the creation of a strong UN force guarding against attacks in either direction across the Lebanese-Israeli boundary. For convenient letter-writing, go to --
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/tsc/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4668
2. Send money to support Physicians for Human Rights in Israel in their work to take medical supplies to Palestinian hospitals in crisis. You can click to --
http://www/shalomctr.org
Then click on the blue Donate Now button and be sure to write "Hospitals" in the "On behalf of" box.
3. Send money to two trustworthy Lebanese relief organizations struggling to deal with the disaster:
A -- Beneficiary: Lebanese Red Cross (Lebanon)
Bank name: Audi Bank, Bab Idriss
Account number: 841500
Swift: audblbbx
Website: http://www.saveleb.org/
B -- Beneficiary: Hariri Foundation Lebanon Relief Fund (the money will be wired from the US to Lebanon; the foundation honors the Lebanese statesman who opposed Syrian domination and was assassinated.)
Bank Name: Citibank
8001 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
Account #: 240 70249
ABA#: 254070116
4. Donate to Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, to heal those wounded in attacks on Israeli cities. Go to --- www.magendavidadom.org/
5. Start receiving information from at least one of the American Jewish organizations dedicated to seeking peace through achieving a secure Israel, a viable Palestine, and an independent Lebanon. This list represents a wide spectrum of approaches within that understanding. Even if one disagrees with some aspects of their policy positions (and The Shalom Center often does), they carry valuable information.
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom (Jewish Alliance for Justice & Peace)
http://www.btvshalom.org/
Tikkun Community / Network of Spiritual Activists
http://www.tikkun.org/
Americans for Peace Now
http://www.peacenow.org/
Israel Policy Forum
http://www.ipforum.org/
Meretz USA (affiliated with a peace-oriented Israeli political party, Meretz).
http://www.meretzusa.org/
The Shalom Center -- subscribe to the free on-line SHALOM REPORT: click to --
http://www.shalomctr.org/subscribe
Jewish Peace News. On-line reports sent by Jewish Voice for Peace, more critical of Israel than those groups listed above, but conduit for useful news reports.
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/jpn.shtml
6. Read two quite different Israeli news sources: One is the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on-line in English. It has a mildly dovish view of Israeli policy, and often carries reports of life in the occupied Palestinian territories. Check it out on – http://www.haaretzdaily.com/. Second: Subscribe (free) to Uri Avnery's vigorous English-language on-line commentary on Israeli-Palestinian relationships. www.gush-shalom.org, uri-avnery@list.avnery-news.co.il
7. Subscribe (free) to the on-line news service of Israeli-Palestinian Center for Research & Information (IPCRI), a Jerusalem-based source for a wide variety of news, analysis, and ideas. IPCRI is rooted in concern for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
Go to -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPCRI-News-Service/
And click on "sign up."
8. Donate to support independent Israeli grass-roots organizations through the New Israel Fund. http://www.nif.org/
9. Use the book The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Muslims, and Christians (Beacon Press, 2006) as a guidebook to bringing American Jews, Christians, & Muslims together for discussion and after deep connection, possible action for peace. You can buy the book at 10% discount and free shipping by clicking to --
http://www.beacon.org/tentofabraham/
10. Begin planning now for the shared sacred seasons in the fall of 2006 that include the Jewish sacred month of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, & Sukkot); the Muslim sacred month of Ramadan; the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi ; and Worldwide Communion Sunday for Protestant and Orthodox Christians -- bring the three Abrahamic communities together in prayer, learning, conversation, and if possible shared action. Look at --
http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1117
and
http://www.tentofabraham.org
11. (Like a baker's dozen:) Pray for peace, making explicit that you mean not only peace in general but also specifically peace among the families of Abraham. For example: In the Jewish prayer of the kaddish, the last sentence traditionally asks for peace "among us and all the people of Israel." Some communities have been adding also "for all the children of Ishmael and all those who live upon this planet," thus –
Oseh shalom bimromav, hu yaaseh shalom alenu --- v'al kol Yisrael, V'al kol Yishmael, V'al kol yoshvei tevel – v'imru Ameyn!
A Pastoral Letter to Palestinian Friends and Partners from the Rev. John H. Thomas General Minister and President United Church of Christ (USA), July 17, 2006