Dialogue vital when searching for Mid-East peace

Dialogue essential for Mid-East peace This past Sunday I had the privilege of standing with Imam Ismail Nur and the Anglican Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee in an act of solidarity and hope at a gathering for peace in Israel/Palestine. I was the first speaker at the vigil, and while I was thinking about acknowledging the un-ceded lands of the Lekwungen speaking peoples, I reflected on the harsh reality of dispossession.听听Dispossession of land, culture, economics.听听How many of us have recent ancestors, grandparents, great grandparents who needed to flee home to arrive to safety in Canada.听听The answer is too many.听听This is not a story that is specific to a geography or a specific culture, this is a very human story and I am afraid that with the impact of climate change this story is only going to ramp up and constantly hit closer and closer to each of us.听听I know that the conflict in Israel/Palestine is current and holds lots of emotions and I want to share some of my thoughts regarding the conflict through the lens of Jewish spirituality.听听I also want to stress the deep present need for听Tikkun, cosmic repair that leads to Shalom, reconciliation that is overdue to our First Nation鈥檚 siblings.

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Jerusalem is. called in Bible,听Ir Shalem,听the 鈥淐ity of Peace,鈥� and it is anything but peaceful.听 A mystical understanding of Shalom, one of the names for Divine Source, is not simply the absence of violence, it is about wholeness.听 God is called Shalom because God in God鈥檚 unity is the force in our universe that balances opposing forces, like water and fire.听 When there is a lack of Shalom we feel fragmented.听 We learn from the second century sage Ben Zoma, that the person who is powerful is the one who can control their anger and emotional impulses. 听

The vacuum of leadership in Israel and Palestine seems to feed on an ongoing victimhood narrative and ensuing competition of who is the biggest victim must stop. It only feeds the conflict and allows for a false sense of righteousness that often enters the realm of 鈥渨hataboutism.鈥澨齀t forces people to take sides and either become pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian and this manifests as an obstacle to being pro-peace. 听听

It is clear to me that Israel will not be truly free until Palestine is free. Controlling others, even if there is a just temporal reason to do so, is a form of oppression. The oppressed, like flowing water cannot be stopped and will some day rise up.听

Nationalism in its extreme forms is gaining a grip on our planet and has a grip on Israel/Palestine.听听This kind of nationalism is a desecration of God鈥檚 name because it allows for an ideology or in this case holy land to become an idol.听听It is a form of desecration because it negates hope and it negates seeing the other through the eyes of Divine Source as a being created in God鈥檚 image.听听Each human is deserving of infinite dignity because we are all emanations of the Divine.听听Extreme nationalism needs an enemy and an enemy is someone who must be other for one鈥檚 own sense of safety and it is impossible to see an enemy as a fellow human traveller created as you are in God鈥檚 image.听听It is clear to me that Israel will not be free until Palestine is free.听听

It teaches in Psalm 29 that in God鈥檚 sanctuary we all say 鈥淜avod,鈥� honour, respect and glory.听听Unlike other cities where people allowed themselves to get caught up in the escalating conflict and in some cases resorted to physical violence and deep anti-Semitism and islamophobia we as spiritual leaders in Victoria are working towards dialogue and relationship building that fosters connection, understanding and ultimately Shalom.听

Dialogue essential for Mid-East peace Rabbi Harry Brechner听is Rabbi of Congregation of Emanu-El in Victoria, B.C.