Center for Healing and Conflict Resolution

Interfaith Work

Our Center is deeply committed to interfaith work and several related projects in Jerusalem and the US. Shems has studied the mystical traditions of Kabbalah and Sufism extensively in Jerusalem, Istanbul, and the U.S. and is dedicated to the work of returning these traditions to a place of mutual respect and coexistence. The Center supports the United States branch of the Interfaith Encounter Association, the Sulha project, the University of the Middle East, and most recently, the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a Washington-based lobbying group whose vision is to develop well-funded coexistence projects for groups that continue to do major peace work regardless of the political conditions of the day. Information about these organizations is below.

By joining our virtual community, you will receive regular mailings about upcoming events and reports on the activities in New York, Washington, Chicago and Jerusalem. If you would like to subscribe to this group:

1. Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/interfaithwork/join

-OR-

2. Send an email to interfaithwork-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

 

Upcoming Events

NOVEMBER 8, 2008:  Join us in NYC for an Israeli Palestinian Concert for Peace. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Shems directly at conflictres@optonline.net or 212-316-5383

Related Links

ALLMEP (The Alliance for Middle East Peace) - www.allmep.org:  This is a non-profit organization dedicated to lobbying congress to allocate more funds for coexistence and reconciliation work in Israel/Palestine. In July 2005, as a result of our work, congress passed a bill allocating 12 million dollars for such activity. ALLMEP is a professional, competent organization based in Washington DC The Interfaith Encounter Association and the University of the Middle East are participating members. Our office is actively involved with ALLMEP in DC. If you are interested in volunteering to help, please contact Shems directly at conflictres@optonline.net.

Interfaith Encounter Association - www.interfaith-encounter.org:  The Friends of IEA is always looking for regional coordinators in the US to sponsor events and raise money for the IEA in Jerusalem.

Sulha - www.sulha.com

University of the Middle East - www.ume.org

Alliance for Middle East Peace:

Article:  An American Jew in Palestine

I want to tell you all a story.

Once upon a time there was a Jewish woman in her thirties who went in search of her roots in Israel. She had heard about a holy man who lived in Jerusalem and, being a life-long spiritual seeker, she decided to pay her respects to him while she was there. Little did she know that his home was in the Palestinian territories and that in fact this holy man was a Sufi shaykh. Naively she had assumed he was a Buddhist monk or some such spiritual teacher from an eastern tradition. She did not realize that this man was a Muslim until the cab driver crossed the invisible line and drove more deeply into the West Bank. Her Jewish ancestry began to rise up with fear and trepidation about where she was heading. But upon arrival at this teacher’s home, she was immediately embraced by the family and deeply touched by the loving warmth of the people towards her. She was also quite shocked. Many of her stereotypical ideas began to drop away quite rapidly as the family and community welcomed her with open arms and sincerity.
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