Canadian Muslims & Jews Walk for PeaceMay 5, 2004 September 11 and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East may have polarized many Muslims and Jews, but the same events have inspired thousands of others to work for peace, mutual dialogue and understanding. After a large and successful event in Philadelphia last Sunday, the Muslim-Jewish Peace Walk, sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, takes its message to cities and towns in British Columbia, Canada. The next Peace Walks will be held this coming weekend in Nelson, BC, in Vancouver on June 6, and in Los Angeles on August 9, during the Fellowship of Reconciliation National Conference. “All of us, Jews and Muslims alike, are looking forward to these encounters with great excitement,” said Rabbi David Mivasair of Ahavat Olam Synagogue in Vancouver. ‘”We will live out the rabbis’ teaching of ‘seek peace and pursue it’ by getting up out of our place of comfort and creating opportunities to change the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We all feel God’s presence moving us toward this search.” Committed to peace building and a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Muslim-Jewish Peace Walk has inspired a growing movement of Jewish-Muslim peace action based on shared faith traditions of compassion, justice and reconciliation. Five hundred Muslims, Jews and members of other faiths marched in Philadelphia on May 2 under banners proclaiming “Salaam” and “Shalom.” Symbolically, they began at a mosque, walked by a church and ended at a synagogue. The Canadian events, organized by the FOR’s newest Kootenay, British Columbia chapter, will begin on Friday, May 7at 7 p.m. in Castlegar. Peace Walk founders Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb of the Nahalat Shalom Congregation of New Mexico, and Abdul Rauf Campos Marquetti, general secretary of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, will lead a joint Muslim-Jewish event at the nearby Brilliant Cultural Centre. Called “Journey to the Heart of Sorrow and Hope,” the evening includes Muslim and Jewish music and storytelling, with the aim of restoring the long-standing connections between Jews and Muslims and illuminating a path to reconciliation. On Saturday, May 8, Gottlieb and Campos Marquetti will lead a 9 a.m. interfaith service, “Under the Tent of Abraham” at the United Church of Nelson. The service will explore Jewish and Muslim texts dealing with peace building and will be followed at 11 a.m. by a Jewish-Muslim Peace Walk of Interfaith Solidarity. To demonstrate the unity of the children of Abraham, walkers will carry the Hamsa sign, used by all faiths in the Middle East. On Monday, May 10, in anticipation of the upcoming Muslim-Jewish Peace Walk in Vancouver on June 6, two Vancouver synagogues and a mosque (Congregation Beth Israel, Ahavat Olam Synagogue and Masjid-ul-Haqq) will host a lunchtime teaching and evening dialogue with Rabbi Gottlieb and Muslim leader Abdul Rauf Campos-Marquetti. The lunchtime teaching, “Jewish and Muslim Teachings of Non-Violence,” will be held at Congregation Beth Israel, from 12.30 p.m. to 2 p.m. The teaching is open to the public and will be preceded by a kosher vegetarian lunch ($15) from 12-12.30 p.m. Reservations must be made by calling (604) 731-4161, At 7 that evening, Gottlieb and Campos Marquetti will host “An Invitation and Introduction to Muslim-Jewish Dialogue” at Masjid-ul-Haqq Mosque. Contacts: For events in Nelson and Castlegar, call Isaac Romano, at (250) 229-4002. romanoprogram@uniserve.com For May 10 events in Vancouver, Hila Russ-Woodland at (604) 868-3758 or Rabbi Mivasair at rabbi@ahavat-olam.ca Jennifer Hyman
©2004 Fellowship of Reconciliation |