Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence

Rabbi Brant Rosen’s Blog

ross — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:25:49 +0000

If you are looking for a blog written from a perspective of nonviolent Judaism, there is no better place to go than Rabbi Brant Rosen’s blog http://rabbibrant.com. Rabbi Brant is a member of the Shomer Shalom Elder’s council. He is currently blogging from Iran.

Second Peace Pilgrimage to Iran

ross — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:05:28 +0000

Shomer Shalom is cosponsoring its second peace pilgrimage to Iran with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. The orientation for the trip begins today in Nyak, New York. Below is a reflection piece and orientation schedule written by pilgrimage leader Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb that compares Shomer Shalom to a religious order.

Con su permisso:

If there be no mercy left in the world,
The doors of heaven will never be barred.
Shekinah* is an eternal river

From which flow illuminated beings,

All life, in her spirit rises.

adapted from Shalom Sharabi Yemenite poet

(Shekinah is one of the many names for the Nameless One in Jewish tradition)

Pilgrimage is the way I journey to Iran. I travel as a member of Shomer Shalom, a Jewish religious order committed to the practice of nonviolence and as a member of an interfaith spiritual fellowship known as the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Both network/organizations are sponsoring this trip, along with the Department of Inter-religious Dialogue of Iran.

Shomer shalom is a network of people who follow a path of nonviolence. We recite a daily nonviolence intention and our main ceremonial practice consists of joining peace walks dedicated to multi-faith understanding, restorative justice and reconciliation.

(A Jewish religious order? Maybe I’m the only fool to call shomer shalom a ‘religious order’. Jews can be contrarian* as a matter of religious principle when it comes to harboring an opinion about what is tradition, innovation, or ‘beyond the pale’. A Jewish religious order? Jews haven’t had a religious order since the days of the Therapeutae, a 1rst century Egyptian Jewish religious order living communally on the shores of Lake Mareotis devoted to ritual meals, study and prayer. )

I call Shomer shalom a religious order due to our ceremonial commitment to six principles of nonviolence, peace pilgrimage, interfaith convivencia, the custom of greeting all people with peace and the practice of wearing white when in pilgrimage (when possible. I have dark colors for the purpose of the journey to Iran, in respect for religious authority there).

I walk in partnership with those who share common belief in cultivating peace through multi-faith understanding, even though our expression of faith, cultural and tradition may be different in the extreme. Shomer Shalom and the Fellowship of Reconciliation hold in common a commitment to reconciliation within the framework of religious nonviolence. A shomer shalom, regardless if he or she is Neturai Karta (orthodox traditionalists who do not recognize the state of Israel because the Messiah has not come), Reconstructionist or Bundist, struggles with effort to walk a nonviolent path for the sake of peace. This is our jihad.

Many people across Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities understand the need to cultivate multi-faith understanding in order to build trust, so we can help promote restorative justice, reconciliation and well-being among our faith communities. Where there are voices clambering for war, a shomeret shalom and the Fellowship of Reconciliation along with many other groups committed to nonviolence, sound a different drum, the drum of peacemaking. In the case of war mongering, words are not enough. A shomeret shalom embarks upon a pilgrimage journey that takes her, like the prophet Aaron in Jewish tradition, and the prophet Jesus in Christian tradition and the prophet Muhammad in Muslim tradition (peace be upon them)

to forge peace with our supposed enemies, and to transform enemies into friends.

It is this sacred purpose that, inshallah, draws together a group of strangers and transforms them into an interfaith delegation to Iran. Like the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidim, who remarked while watching an acrobat moving across a slender rope tied between two trees, ‘Life is a pilgrimage journeys on a golden thread across a great abyss. As we travel, we seek our balance.’ The source of our balance is nonviolence and compassion.

As shomeret shalom pilgrim, I owe my understanding of pilgrimage to several other pilgrimage orders, as it were, with whom I have shared many pilgrimage journeys including the Atomic Mirror Pilgrimage, the Myuhoji Buddhist Pilgrimage Order, The Penitentes of Northern New Mexico, The 100 Feathers Pilgrimage of indigenous peoples, US-Canadian Border to Border Pilgrimage , Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace to Chimayo, the Muslim Jewish Peacewalk and the interfaith peacewalk communities Abdul Rauf Campos Marquetti and I helped establish throughout the United States and Canada. It is an honor to walk with you.

I would like to bring forward five principles of convivencia developed in an interfaith, multi-cultural, intergenerational setting in Minneapolis, MN with other Fellowship of Reconciliation members from Quaker, Indigenous, Jewish, Muslim and Latino Catholic communities. I have taken on these principles as part of my shomeret shalom vow. For those of us who adopt the convivencia, we apply these principles to all interfaith, multi-cultural settings in which we take part.

PILGRIMAGE CONVIVENCIA (LIVING COOPERATIVELY TOGETHER IN A GOOD WAY)

We practice the sacred rite of pilgrimage as an act of public and inner peacemaking. Only together will we build a culture of peaceful co-existence.

Our nonviolent activism is based on building multi-faith, intergenerational and multi-cultural relationships that contribute to the prevention and dismantling of various forms of structural violence.

We draw upon those aspects of the earth’s spiritual and religious traditions that promote non-violent conflict resolution, prophetic witness, restorative justice and community peacemaking and bring beauty and healing to the task of ending violence.

As peace pilgrims, we are committed to a truthful examination of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in our own traditions that may contribute to sustaining structural violence.The people that are here have chosen aspects of their culture that they feel comfortable sharing in this context, but it is not an invitation to take or use other people’s traditional ways for one’s own purposes. In honoring each other we respect the dignity and right of peoples not to share certain aspects of their tradition and to hold them sacred unto their own community.

We work for the well-being and safety of families and communities throughout the world.

ORIENTATION (FACE TO FACE)

In establishing community before our pilgrimage to Iran, we will meet face to face for twenty four hours to initiate the pilgrimage and establish a ‘convivencia’ that will guide our way during the trip. The convivencia is based on coming together as a listening council or circle to share our common heart and individual story. Sitting together in preparation for peacemaking is, for faith based communities, a ceremonial act . It is initiated with opening ceremonial acts, including opening songs, prayers and the dedication of our pilgrimage intention. In addition, we share (receive) our ceremonial name (if we have or desire one) accompanied by an honoring of our peacemaking ancestors ( thereby sharing some of our cultural and spiritual history).

COUNCIL: Council is a ceremonial time during which we create a safe space for sharing our thoughts, feelings and ideas, in which every voice is heard for an agreed upon period of time. A ‘talking object is passed around to each ’speaker’. Each speaker speaks his or her peace and finishes by reciting a common closing phrase such as, ‘al kayn yi-hee ratzon (so may it be)’, inshallah (God willing) or, in English, peace be upon you…to which the council responds with the same phrase. There is no discussion during a council, people do not comment of each other’s words. This helps create a safe space and engages us in deep listening, the kind of listening dedicated to understanding others. There may be one, two or three rounds to a council, depending on the time we have to sit with each other. The council is facilitated by someone who ‘keeps the peace’ of the council by helping everyone observe the convivencia during council.

ELDERS: The pilgrimage ‘elders’, those who have been bestowed with leadership for the journey, guide the overall process. Pilgrimage leadership is based on a facilitation style of leadership. Everyone in the pilgrimage is invited to take leadership at various times during the journey, whether in liturgy, teaching, representing the group to the people we are meeting in formal encounters, or in facilitating a council. The elders of the journey (no matter how old or young) sit in council together daily for their own reflection purposes for the sake of the journey.

When we are in council, convivencia (the way of hospitality and good living) invites us to speak from our own experience. While questions are always welcome, we frame them in ways that are meant to inquire, bring forth understanding, clarify, but not to judge or condemn. On this particular pilgrimage, we are focusing our intention toward creating bridges of interfaith understanding, gathering information and experience and building trust. This is the first stage, the threshold journey. We follow the lead of our hosts and our own leadership who has experience on the way so that we can lay the ground for future journeys.

This is the understanding I carry so far, as I make ready to embark on this second journey. Each of you also carries your

wisdom bundle, as it were, the understanding which motivates your journey and guides your way.

Time flow is different in Iran. Be here now, in the moment, see what is possible

and take the opportunity and speak to people around you. Listen, connect,

smile, show graciousness and kindness.

Be prepared, if you are a man, to kiss your brother three times on the cheek, if you are woman to kiss your sister twice on the cheek, right side, left side. Between genders, place your hand on your heart and smile. Shake your head side to side in short movements to say, what? come again? Blink your eyes hard and nod downward once with a smile on your face to indicate yes. Do not yell, show your anger, be impatient. Praise the people and cultural heritage of Iranians and show awareness of their current pride around their multi-faith community. We are our own witness, traveling together as Muslim, Christian and Jewish North Americans.

Have a poem ready for recitation, or a religious passage, or the place you were standing when Barack Obama was elected president. The poem I am memorizing (chanting with tambourine) is from Shalom Sharabi(above).

Carry one’s own medicine. Be prepared to embrace the flexible edge of your food rules for the sake of peace. Be prepared to undergo transformation in the encounter, meet the unexpected, drive the wrong way down a one way street. (That was a joke for those of you who have tried to negotiate traffic in Tehran).

Enjoy the beauty you will encounter, washing in the pools of water outside the masjid, wrapping yourself in new garments, eating fresinjan, reading poetry at the tomb of Hafez, entering a Persian queen’s palace, meeting people on the street who want to know you. You are a guest, as pilgrim’s always are, on the road. May the spirit of hospitality grace your journey, for the sake of peace.

ADD YOUR OWN INSIGHTS…bring them to share.

ORIENTATION SCHEDULE

Meal Time 6PM

Everyone helps set the table and/or clear the dishes, wash, sweep the floor, clean up, make sure everyone has the help they need.

Common Meals begins with song/ prayer and ends with song/prayer.

7PM-7:15PM LOGISTICAL CONVERSATION

Many of you will have questions.

Please be aware that there many of you will have the same question.

Therefore, hold your questions (if they can wait) until we handle questions in the collective, which we will do each morning and evening. Before asking a question, see if you can figure it out on your own, or another delegate may have the answer. This will help save the energy of delegate facilitators. Health emergencies, of course, take precedence at all times of day or night.

7:15-7:30PM clean up

7:30PM-9PM Evening Council Song/Story Opening.

Sharing Text: open heart traditions from biblical and Qur’anic sources.

Reading the Convivencia together. Community voices in response as we shape our communication way.

Final prayer/story/pilgrimage dance

7:45AM Morning prayer

8:15AM Breakfast and clean up

9:00AM Morning Council

Prayer/song opening text

Council theme: the lament I carry, the hope I carry

10-11:15AM SHARING THE VISION OF PILGRIMAGE TO IRAN

with Doug Hostetter of Mennonite Central Committee, group questions, reflections

11:15AM-12:15PM time for walk along the river with delegates you are meeting for the first time

12:15PM-1PM Lunch clean up

1-2PM Council to share what we’ve brought, what we are prepared to share,

small group selection to prepare questions and presentations during the pilgrimage.

2-3PM upon coming home: reflections on follow up, beginning to prepare for our return

THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. EACH OF YOU WILL TRAVEL WITH YOUR OWN PERSONAL INTENTION

AND PURPOSE. MAY OUR HEARTS FIND COMMON PURPOSE IN BEING MESSENGERS OF PEACE.

SEE YOU SOON,

TRAVEL SAFELY AND WELL

Lynn

Religious and political leaders hold peacemaking dialogue

ross — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:15:29 +0000

From the Mennonite Central Committee press release:

September 26, 2008

NEW YORK — About 300 international religious and political figures, including Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a dialogue at a Manhattan hotel on the evening of Sept. 25 to discuss the role of religion in responding to global challenges and building peace and understanding between societies.

Updated Nov 21, 2008: Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb’s speech at this forum is now on the Shomer Shalom website here. An article In Jewish Week about the event is available here.

Speakers included President Ahmadinejad, the Rev. Kjell Bondevik, former prime minister of Norway, and the Rev. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, president of the United Nations General Assembly.

The dialogue, which followed a meal, was sponsored by American Friends Service Committee, Mennonite Central Committee, Quaker United Nations Office, Religions for Peace and World Council of Churches in consultation with the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations.

…

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, a leader in the Jewish Renewal movement, spoke about Jewish traditions of peacemaking and nonviolence and drew upon her work for reconciliation between Muslims and Jews and Palestinians and Israelis. She also spoke about the significance of mourning the deaths of all victims of war, including the millions of people killed in the Holocaust, World War II and wars in Iran and Iraq.

“Because of the Holocaust, I learned from the rabbis who ordained and guide me, to be active in preventing further suffering of all human beings as a primary religious call to action,” Gottlieb said.

…

Welcome to the Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence

ross — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:52:41 +0000

Welcome to Shomer Shalom. For more information about us click to the links at the right. Stay tuned for information about our next delegation to Iran and other Shomer Shalom events.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb leading a Jewish Nonviolence training at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois in May 2008. Photo taken by Doug Hostetter.

Rabbi Everett Gendler discussing his work training Tibetan exiles in nonviolence. Photo by Doug Hostetter.

Ode to Iran by Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb

ross — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:06:40 +0000

Hookah smoke is sweet

like tea

seeped in saffron sugar

and rock candy.

I sit under

gently curved domes

abundant with roses

paisley leaf and pink desert swirl

bathing in a sea of blue heaven.

Gathering mountains

ride the earth like thunder

outside the city gate.

I am at your service

he smiles with his whole face

and displays a tray of

walnut-pomegranate

stew, lamb kabob and thick noodle soup.

Sahar’s dark eyes

take on intensity as

she and her business partner

show us their graphic art.

This is the Persian gulf.

Sa’di’s verses crest

like curls on

the statesmen of Persepolis

bringing their tribute

through the gate of all nations.

We combine ancient and modern elements

in our work

resolve the tension

between tradition

and modernity.

Yes

we have to wear the hijab,

but it is only a hijab.

We live with it

like the story

about the one who longs for what exists

behind the veil

as if it is an object

to be conquered

and won.

What is longed for

can only be attained

by entering the stream

swimming to the island

that floats in the middle of the river

diving deep where mud and water

yield a hidden threshold

breath

in an empty bowl.

It is said

Esfahan is half the world.

On the female bridge Khaju

that spans the Zayandeh river

light gleams from the lion’s eye

if you stand in the right place.

Young men sing choral harmonies

in the hollow of the stone arches.

Couples holding hands and families with children

stroll back and forth and gaze at shooting fountains

on the distant shore.

An old man who comes the bridge every evening

shows us a secret.

One can whisper into a particular place in the arch

and hear what is said

on the opposite side.

We climb

and hear

one after the other

a chain of listeners.

Stand here

the furthest jetty on the bridge

over the river

instructs Sahar’s sister.

Stretch out your arms

and imagine you are on a boat

moving across the waters.

Night wind blows my hijab like sails

and I learn another measure of hospitality.

O Iran

Revelation bursts forth from your soil

draped in ten thousand shades

of illumination.

You returned my people to Jerusalem

restored the Temple

provided my relatives with a Persian home for thirty centuries

and I did not know.

Now I jump over fires on Norouz

go to the garden of roses

the first Sabbath after Passover

recite poetry

at Hafez’s tomb

touch my forehead to the clay earth of Jamkaran

where the Mahdi is hidden

but everywhere present.

May 15-18, 2008 Founders Gathering in Chicago

ross — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:15:20 +0000

Celebrating and Exploring Jewish Nonviolence in a Time of Conflict and War

with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Rabbi Everett Gendler, Rabbi Chava Bahle, Rabbi Brant Rosen, and Jewish hip hop artist EPrhyme

Chicago, May 15-18, 2008

People of all faiths are welcome to any and all events.

Thursday May 15, 2008, A Rabbi’s Journey to Islam with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb 5:00pm-7:00pm, DePaul University Art Museum, inside the DePaul University Library, 2350 N. Kenmore Ave, Chicago, IL. Sponsored by The DePaul University Center for Interreligious Engagement.

Friday May 16, 2008 Evening Shabbat Service, 8:00pm-11:00pm with Rabbi Chava Bahle, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, and Rabbi Everett Gendler, at Makom Shalom, 2008 W. Bradley Place, Chicago IL, in the Fellowship Hall of Epiphany UCC.

Saturday May 17, 2008 Retreat on Jewish Nonviolence at The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation 303 Dodge Ave., Evanston, IL with Rabbi Brant Rosen, Rabbi Everett Gendler, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, and Eprhyme.

Torah study with Rabbi Brant Rosen 9:00am-10am

Morning Shabbat Service with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb and the JRC Minyan 10:00am-12:00pm.

Lunch and conversation with Rabbi Everett Gendler, 12:30pm-1:30pm.

Nonviolence Workshop 1:30pm-3:30pm

Tour of JRC’s new Green Building 3:30pm-4:00pm.

All Ages Evening Performance: Peace Tales with Rabbi Lynn 7:30pm.

Sunday May 18, 2008 Shomer Shalom Ceremony 11:30pm-12:30pm, Scoville Park, Oak Park, IL. Shomer Shalom peace walkers are welcome to participate in the Walk for a Just Peace, organized by the Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine at 1:00pm. Shomer Shalom peace walkers wear white.

Sponsors: Makom Shalom Jewish Renewal Congregation, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Peace Dialog Group, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Tikkun Olam Fund, AFSC, and the newly formed Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Nonviolence

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb is a ’spellbinding’ performance artist, peace activist, and one of the first women rabbis in Jewish history and has been a practitioner of Jewish nonviolence for 34 years.

Rabbi Everett Gendler is one of the contemporary grandfathers of Jewish nonviolence and at the invitation of the Dali Lama, has led eleven workshops on nonviolence with the Tibetan community in India.

EPrhyme is a Jewish hip hop artist who blends and juxtaposes diverse sounds and ideas into a swirling and seamless whole which is a powerful and poetic plea for justice and peace.

For more information or to RSVP write to shomershalom {at} gmail(.)com

If you require a homestay, please RSVP with your name, and contact information. Let us know if you require home hospitality (be sure to include animal or other alergies), dietary restrictons, and travel itinerary so that we can arrange rides to and from Chicago airports.

Report from Iran #1

ross — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:25:51 +0000

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb is currently leading a Fellowship of Reconciliation delegation in Iran. This is her first blog post.

—

Dear friends,

I arrived in Iran three days ago. We have met with many people from formal meetings to people on the streets and everyone expresses the same message: please urge our government to negotiate with their government.

The most moving experience for me personally has been to meet and pray with the Jewish community of Teheran. I was able to meet the current and future Jewish member of Parliment. Ciamak Morsathegh, who begins to serve his community as a member of parliment in 20 days also hosted me and several delegation members to a wonderful Sabbath meal. While at synagogue on Friday evening, I was called to address the congregation. It was a very moving experience and people were extremely warm and clapped profusely, even when I expressed a hope that I would like to someday return to Iran and meet the first ordained woman rabbi in Iran. The Iranian community appears to be doing well, worships freely, and sponsors six day schools with a population of five hundred chilren attending. The youth were very evident at services.

There is among many people a desire for more freedom and it has been difficult to wear hijab, and at the same time, I am finding Iran a very vibrant and sophisticated society composed of people who want to be seen as human beings able to determine their own future. When I am not rushed(!) I will speak at length about my experience. Of course, the food is bountious and delicious! Rabbi Lynn

By the way, the Jewish community knows of Shomer Shalom and is anxious to take part. I have invited Mr. Morsathegh to join the Elders Council, and he has accepted. We are forming a chapter in Teheran!

Welcome to Shomer Shalom!

ross — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:07:11 +0000

This is an invitation to those of you who cherish the path of nonviolence in Jewish life or are interested in further deepening your relationship to nonviolence within the framework of Judaism. You can find out about Shomer Shalom by clicking the pages to the right. Don’t miss our Founders Conference May 16-18, 2008 in Chicago.

If the sword then not the book.

If the book, then not the sword.