Moment for Mission Archive

I want to give you an invitation—and some questions for which I don't have answers.

When New York Presbytery set up a Task Force for Jewish-Christian Dialoque last fall, I asked, "why now?" I learned that the task force is our presbytery's response to the anger that many Jews have expressed over several actions that our General Assembly took last summer. In New York, there are 18,000 Presbyterians and one million Jews—they are our neighbors. The chief offense at the Assembly centered around the vote to consider divestment—selective, phased divestment of Presbyterian investments in global corporations which profit from trade related to violence carried out by Israel. An example is the Caterpillar Corporation, which sells bulldozers to Israel specially built to destroy buildings, which the Israeilis use to knock down Palestinian homes. Like many people, I am appalled by the way civilians are being killed, by both Israeilis and Palestinians, so I joined the task force.

This Assembly action raised a slew of thorny questions. Our church's goal is to help find peace for these two people. But do we know how to do this? What kind of peacemakers are we, if we issue a statement that accuses only one side of committing violence? The conflict is so polarized that one cannot criticize any action of Israel without being antisemitic, or any action of the Palestinians without being accused of blaming the victim. How, in light of such opposing extremes, can we, a suspect third party, be peacemakers?

What is our interest as Christians in a matter between Israelis and Palestinians? To what extent is it self-interest? After all, we claim property and access to OUR holy places, now threatened by the seemingly endless violence in the Holy Land.

Those are just some of the questions that Presbyterians are struggling with. Now for the invitation. Faced with this daunting task, the Presbytery Task Force urged its congregations to initiate contact with Jewish groups here in New York—just as Rutgers is doing with West End Synagogue. The task force further decided that the presbytery needed to educate ourselves about the conflict in the Holy Land. We offered lectures by two American rabbis, an Arab political scientist, and an Israeli Arab Christian. We learned a great deal about Middle East politics. But we realized that we were not getting to the heart of the matter. Underneath the politics lay a vast sea of human suffering that appalled us. We needed to learn from the people who are suffering, especially those who, despite their suffering, are working for peace.

So we have invited two women from Israel/Palestine to speak to us. Both are from the Bereaved Families Forum of Jerusalem, both have lost a member of their immediate families to the violence. Robi Damelin's son, who had worked in the peace movement, was killed while on duty with the Israeli army. Nadwa Saranda's sister, a health worker, was murdered on the street in Jerusalem. These are women for whom the need for peace is personal. In their grief, these two women found each other; they now travel together to promote dialogue, tolerance, and reconciliation. So, we invite you, come for an evening, not of political debate, but of reaching out and healing. Come to hear Robi and Nadwa.