Water along the Way

Sabeel is an Arabic word meaning “way” or “source of water.” The two are connected, because they come from an ancient tradition in the Middle East of establishing drinking places along the paths people traveled (anyone who has traveled in the Middle East, understands the importance of water here).

It is also the name chosen by Rev. Naim Ateek for the Palestinian Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem (http://www.sabeel.org/).

Sabeel carries out various activities, in the areas of humanitarian work, seeking justice for the Palestinians, and interfaith dialogue with Muslims.

The heart of their work, the passion of Rev. Ateek, is for Palestinian Christians to do theology, to interpret the Bible, in their context – to learn what God has to say to them, through the Bible, in and for their situation under Israeli occupation. He comments that “Jesus lived under occupation” (and thus, the New Testament is very relevant for Palestinians today), and “we read the Bible through Palestinian eyes.”

A common theme of Sabeel is justice. One of their volunteers quoted a verse from the prophet Michah (6:8),

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

He made the statement that “reconciliation is not possible without peace, and peace is not possible without justice.” When questioned about justice might mean for Palestinians in their context he replied, an application of international law. (This, as mentioned previously, coincides with the fact, pointed out by Rabbi Ascherman, that in Hebrew, “justice” and “law” are synonyms.)

On an interesting side note, at one point in the conversation Rev. Ateek made the statement that “our God is an inclusive God, not an exclusive God.” I understood him to be emphasizing the fact that God’s arms are wide open to humanity, and that Jesus came for all people, not just for Christians. When asked if he thought that Muslims and Christians worship (or are talking about) the same God, his response was that there is only one God, but the way we understand and relate to God is different.

I bring this up because one issue in seeking peace between people of different religious communities (e.g., Christians and Muslims and Jews) is how people of faith deal with questions of truth claims, rightly knowing God, etc. Rev. Ateek seemed to be saying that for him, he has found the way, life, the truth, in Jesus; but that he can’t say that Muslims or Jews (or anyone else) are unacceptable to God. In his view, and practice, we must be true to our faith, to what we understand, and we must also embrace others of different faiths, leaving judgment to God.

I think the members of our group were challenged by Rev. Ateek, in several respects. His language is not typical of western “evangelical” Christian ways of talking. Some of his concepts and perhaps his approaches, do not feel comfortable to us. But that, I think, is good, and is the point of our meeting with him and others. We are outsiders to the conflict, to the context. We need to meet and listen to and learn from the insiders to the situation, those for whom this is their life and struggle, day in and day out, year after year. And perhaps our understanding, not just of peace and peacemaking, but also of faith and of God, will be challenged and expanded in the process.

For further insight into the work and thinking of Rev. Ateek I would recommend his books, Justice and Only Justice, and A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation.

         

"What is a blessing for us, should be a blessing for others"

“If what is a blessing for us is a disaster for others, that’s a problem.” 

So began Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights (http://www.rhr.org.il/index.php?language=en), with specific reference to the 2008 commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of Israeli statehood, which Palestinians commonly refer to as “the Catastrophe” (see http://www.alnakba.org/).

Rabbi Ascherman quoted the words from God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” and commented that “what is a blessing for us should be a blessing for others.”

As their website says,

“Rabbis for Human Rights gives voice to a Jewish and Zionist tradition of concern for Human Rights. RHR sounds the shofar of alarm on issues of human rights in Israel and in territories for which Israel has taken responsibility.”

As with other posts, I will not go into all the details of what RHR are doing, but focus on a few ways in which our meeting with Rabbi Ascherman impacted me personally, in thinking about what it means to work for peace.

He quoted Ben-Gurion’s vision for the nation of Israel at it’s founding, reflected in the Israeli Declaration of Independence (http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Establishment%20of%20State%20of%20Israel), e.g., in the paragraph:

THE STATE OF ISRAEL … will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

His (their) approach is not to chronicle or dwell on the failings of the the Israeli people and government, but rather to ask them, what did we dream we were doing, in founding this state? Where have we succeeded, and where have we not yet succeeded? I.e., their work is to call people to strive for a vision of themselves as a nation, what they could be, what they want to be.

Part of their mandate in RHR is to try to roll back human rights abuses, in part by promoting a different way of understanding Judaism than what is becoming widespread in Israel, and what is being promoted by the ultraorthodox community (in which, he said, “people are being socialized into a narrow understanding of Judaism”). RHR are asking questions like, what did the prophets have to say about freedom, justice and peace? What does Jewish tradition say about property rights of non Jews in the state of Israel? What do Jewish texts have to say about human rights?

A central question being debated now, he said, is whether Jewish teachings about how to treat human beings refer to all people, or just Jews (“our own community”)? Are all people created in God’s image, or just Jews? (Note the fact that B’tselem, the name of “The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, means “in his image,” from the Genesis account of the creation of mankind).

One of the inspirations of RHR is Rabbi Heschel, who is quoted as saying, “In a democratic society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” Thus, they act. (I should note that Rabbi Ascherman clearly stated (and I’ve heard RHR spokespersons say this before to American groups) that Israel is more democratic in some ways than the U.S., and that Americans, with all the unsolved problems of our society, have no business “throwing stones” at Israel.)

Rabbi Ascherman made the interesting point that in Hebrew, “justice” and “law” are synonymous, which forms an interesting connection to a point that one of the Palestinian Christians we met with said, when asked what he thought would be a “just” solution to the conflict. His answer was to have international law applied.

Other points the Rabbi emphasized:

• He quoted as motivation for their work the Jewish saying, “one who saves a single life – it is as if he has saved an entire world”
• Never write anyone off. Never discount the possibility of the truth in our hearts speaking to others.
• There is a Midrash about God providing the spring for Hagar and Ishmael, after they had been driven away. The angels said, “no – what are you doing? Let them die, it would be better…” but God said no, and let them live, even though He knew what problems would come between the descendants of Isaac and those of Ishmael. In other words, it is not a solution for Israel to try to get rid of the Palestinian people – they need to learn to live with them.
• It all comes down to hope, and people on both sides have lost hope. The majority want to compromise, but a larger majority don’t believe the other side wants peace.
• You can be victims and victimizers at the same time. Neither recognizes themselves as victimizer.
• “This work is not fun!” (dealing with the deepest darkest corners of life)
• “If you really want to break down stereotypes, there’s nothing like getting beaten up together.”
• There has been enough destruction. We want to contribute to co-creation (including coexistence).

I close with one of the Rabbi’s stories. In 2004, Rabbi Ascherman was called out to a confrontation between Israeli border police and Palestinian youth, in which a twelve year old Palestinian boy was tied to a jeep as a human shield (there are various accounts of this incident, e.g., http://www.fromoccupiedpalestine.org/node/1193 or http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0404/S00179.htm). Rabbi Ascherman tried to intervene, was head-butted by on the of the police, and also tied to a jeep. After the incident ended, the Israeli human rights group B’tselem (http://www.btselem.org/English/) interviewed the Palestinian boy, to get his account of the story. After detailing what had happened to him, and his fear of the soldiers, he concluded his account by saying, “and then a tall Jewish man wearing a kippa came and rescued me.” Making a difference, even for one Palestinian young person, is what keeps RHR going.