The Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism

[Philip Bliss]

Begin forwarded message:

From: <off...@beit-daniel.org.il>

Date: 12 March 2010 12:00:55 AM AEDT

To: <phili...@philipbliss.com>

Subject: The Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism

Dear Friends, Just recently the Oscar-nominated Israeli movie, Ajami, co-written and directed by an Arab and Jewish filmmaker, was released in North America. The movie is predominately set in Jaffa´s multi-ethnic neighborhood of Ajami; a place that the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism knows well. Weitzman elementary school, which is one of the local schools of Ajami, is where we now run the kindergarten and next year will expand into first g rade.   Much as in the movie, Weitzman families, both Jewish and Arab, face crime, poverty, and cultural hostilities, with recent political tensions only deepening the Arab-Jewish divide. The DanielCenters’ work is a daily struggle to built trust and friendships. But we are making an impact.   Next year we expect to create two Daniel kindergarten classes, with this year’s class continuing into a Daniel Centers’ led first-grade class. Our future plans are to manage the entire elementary school – an ambitious endeavor to create a foundation for helping to rebuild this broken community. Our most recent school-wide activities included a Universal Holiday program which celebrates holidays like Children’s Day, Earth Day, Mothers’ Day with the entire community - children and parents, Arabs and Jews. The premise of this program is that in order to live together we must find positive shared ground. Our events have been fully attended by all families of the kindergarten and first grade. When we saw Arab families attending our Purim celebration last week at Mishkenot Ruth Daniel we felt tremendous success. Ajami is a fictional and highly compressed account of the problems facing the community.  In fact,Jaffa is a beautiful and delightful place to visit.  When you are in Israel do visit us or even stay at Mishkenot Ruth Daniel, which is being refurbished to serve as a three star hotel.  You can also experience on e of the educational tours we offer of Jaffa. Our co-existence tours, led by Arab and Jewish guides, provide a unique opportunity to understand the strikingly different historical narratives of Jews and Arabs in Israel.   Jewish and Arab tour guides lead a Daniel Centers´ Coexistence Tour in Ajami To learn more about our work in Ajami and the Weitzman school or support the school, go towww.beit-daniel.org.il, or click on the Donate Now button below. Donate Now Click to donate to promote Progressive Judaism in Israel

אם ברצונך להפסיק לקבל את העיתון, יש לשלוח מייל לכתובת: off...@beit-daniel.org.il ולציין בו את הדואר אלקטרוני שרוצים להסיר. www.beit-daniel.org.il

---

Message protected by MailGuard: e-mail anti-virus, anti-spam and content filtering.
http://www.mailguard.com.au/mg