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Lights Of Peace אורות של שלום. An educational project Through Partnership with Israel Connect to the Western Galilee. Lights of Peace.
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Lights Of Peaceאורות של שלום An educational project Through Partnership with Israel Connect to the Western Galilee
Lights of Peace “Orot Hashalom”, Lights of Peace or in Hebrew: אורות של שלום, is a program of the Educational task force of the Partnership with Israel (Partnership 2000), a program of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the UJC. The Partnership promotes people to people relationships between 15 Jewish communities and Israel’s Western Galilee through cultural, social, medical, educational and economic programs. Akron, Canton, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio; Indianapolis, Northwest Indiana and South Bend , Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Austin, Dallas, Forth Worth and San Antonio, Texas are linked with the Western Galilee, the most northern part of Israel on the Mediterranean coast.
Peace as A Target From Yitzhak Rabin's final speech, delivered at the Tel Aviv peace rally, November 4, 1995: “…For Israel, there is no path that is without pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war… I want this government to exhaust every opening, every possibility to promote and achieve a comprehensive peace… This rally must send a message to the Israeli people, to the Jewish people around the world to the many people in the Arab world…that the Israeli people want peace and support peace!”
Peace as a central value in Judaism In Jewish tradition, peace is a central, prominent value, as may be inferred from the appearance of the word shalom in various declensions some 237 times in the Jewish Bible , or Tanakh! The blessing of peace is described as the ultimate blessing in Leviticus 26:6: “ I will grant peace in the land so that you will sleep without fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and the sword will not pass through your land.”
SO.. What does the Torah mean? No where is there an explicit requirement that the Jewish people bring peace upon themselves or pursue it; they are, rather, exhorted to walk in God's path, as a result of which they will merit the peace that God will give them. This represents a meaningful difference between the Western paradigm in which man himself is responsible for seeking peace, and the Jewish perspective, in which conflict between people is a basic fact of existence, but faithfulness to Torah values leads to the emergence of peace and security.
How can I help bring about peace? A few important questions that each of us should ask himself: 1. Do I want peace? 2. What does peace mean for me, in my immediate environment and in the world? 3. What can/should I do to bring about peace? 4. What can/should my class, as a larger group, do?
Let’s talk a little about Tolerance As a Jewish value capable of bringing about peace
The aspiration for peace is based on the ideas of tolerance and reconciliation. Tolerant and respectful behavior toward the other who lives in my immediate environment is one example of my ability to create change in my own, limited, world. Similar behavior on the part of all individuals would lead to overall peace.
Central idea The fewer the things that bother us in life, the less we suffer. Distressing phenomena (activities of others) need not be removed from our environment; we can simply re-learn our reactions to them. The less we suffer from external factors, the less we will need to limit others in their activities, and the truth is that we will no longer need to be “tolerant” since there will no longer be any actual suffering to tolerate.
Classroom activity: The right to be respected, the obligation to show respect The classroom activity will deal with the topic of tolerance as a mean of achieving peace. The basis for this activity is the understanding that peace is a goal and that the way of making it real is through tolerance. Tolerance is a process that each and every one of us has to learn, internalize and apply within our own individual space. Tolerant behavior stems from the understanding that each of us is entitled to be “different” and to hold opinions that conflict with our own, and that it is nevertheless possible, even desirable, to coexist peaceably with him.
The classroom activity has three stages: 1. Study and discussion 2. Work on tolerance 3. Final product
Study and discussion It is important that the class discuss the concept of peace and the advantages and possible disadvantages of living peacefully. The class should discuss the ability of each of us to have a peace-promoting impact; in the context of the general discussion the teacher should guide the class toward the conclusion that peace is achievable through greater tolerance of others.
Practical implementations of Tolerance Every pupil should come up with ideas about how he can display greater tolerance toward his family, friendand classmates. Ultimately the entire class will choose one particular task that reflects tolerant behavior, and carry it out.
The final product Each class will produce a final product of a mural that expresses what the pupils learned about tolerance and/or how they have acted on what they learned. The main idea is to produce something that reflects the children's attitude toward the topic. The mural creation must be one dimensional on a white canvas cloth (6’x9’) which will be sent to each participating class. The mural can be created of drawings, photographs, painting, etc. as long as it can be rolled for subsequent shipping to Israel.
Lights of peace and Partnership - lets tie things up…. The main goal of this project, is to strengthen the feeling of partners between children from the Consortium among themselves, and between them and children from Israel. The last stage of the project is producing a mural creation which will eventually be a part of one big exhibit under the title: Lights of Peace.
The schedule 1.October 15th 2007, each principal will send Galit an e-mail galit.nevo@gmail.com with the number of classes that are going to take part in the project with the teachers’ contact information and grade. 2.November 5th 2007, the list of all the schools and communities participating in the program will be published on the Partnership website. www.westerngalilee.org.il 3. November 2007 to March 2008 each class will work on the project. (Twinned classes may work in coordination.) We highly recommend that each teacher will have at list 2 sessions about peace and tolerance, and the class will work on the mural creation. 4. March 31st 2008 the products from the Israeli side must be in the Partnership office, and the products on the American side must be nearing completion. 5. Israel Independence Day, May, 2008 – Joint exhibit of the murals of your community and murals from children in Israel.
