August 2012 – Pilgrims of Ibillin

Viral Fundraising: Cutting the Dreds, Running the Race – for Peace

Following his 2011-12 Hebrew College year in Israel, rabbinical student David Fainsilber committed himself to supporting grassroots organizations working for a non-violent resolution to the conflict in Israel and Palestine. To fulfill this promise, on August 14th David launched a fundraising campaign: “Cutting the Dreds, Running the Race – for Peace.” He’s working toward a goal of $3600 to benefit Mar Elias Educational Institutions this fall. Thanks, David!

Why? David was inspired to visit Mar Elias after his Boston-based group of students spent an electrifying hour with Archbishop Elias Chacour during their year of studies in Haifa. Abuna’s story of Building Peace on Desktops made David eager to see the school and meet the people. Once in Ibillin, a conversation with Elias Abu Ghanima, Mar Elias’ spokesperson, sealed David’s commitment to work after he returned home to support this school where the dream of overcoming differences and finding a neighbor in “the Other” is lived out every day.

As a result: On September 1, 2012, David will run his first ever competitive race in the Lake George Triathlon (upstate NY) to raise funds and awareness for Pilgrims of Ibillin in the USA and Peace it Together in Canada. Both organizations support programs in Israel that bring young people together across religious lines to cultivate peace and mutual understanding. Later in September, he plans to cut his dreds, which have been 13 years in the making.

Want to know more about what David’s doing and why he’s doing it? Check out his blog at http://www.twominutesiren.blogspot.ca. Or read his story (and then make a donation) on his MEEI fundraising page.

Watch David’s video — and please respond generously! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdj4Plg0l98.

Hailing from Montreal, David Fainsilber currently lives with his wife, Alison, and toddler, Adar, in Jamaica Plain, MA, where he is entering his fourth year at Hebrew College’s rabbinical school. David has been involved in social justice and interfaith work for many years as a Kol Tzedek Voices of Justice Speaking Fellow for American Jewish World Service, and as a Spiritual Mentor at the Interfaith Youth Initiative. David has also served as a Hebrew College-Andover Newton CIRCLE Fellow, developing and implementing an Interfaith Hospitality initiative for seminarians of various faiths. Working in the Jewish community for more than a dozen years, David has led High Holiday services at Kolot Chayeinu in Brooklyn and MIT Hillel, and will bring in this coming year with Tufts Hillel. He is currently the rabbinic intern at Nehar Shalom, with a focus on community organizing and creating musical, soulful prayer experiences for the community.

Check out his fundraising site: https://bos.etapestry.com/fundraiser/PilgrimsofIbillin/cuttingthedreds_runningtherace-forpeace/. Better yet, make a contribution! It will directly benefit the students of Mar Elias. Then invite your friends and family, through emails or your own social networks, to join you in supporting this worthy cause!

We’ll keep updating David’s results through comments on this page. So come back often!

With Technology, Seeing is Believing!

Over the last 2 years, Mar Elias High School’s science labs have been radically improved, thanks to generous grants through Pilgrims of Ibillin from F.I.S.H. Foundation, Inc., of Plainsboro, NJ. One major grant for technology upgrades came from F.I.S.H. Foundation through the Clinton Global Initiative. Pilgrims of Ibillin offers heartfelt thanks. But the most important gratitude comes from Mar Elias teachers and students themselves:

THANK YOU! — From a Teacher:

Mr. Ehab Far, a Mar Elias High School science teacher, warmly thanks Pilgrims of Ibillin for providing the technology he needs to teach his students. “Before,” he said, “I used to have to make a drawing on the board and say to the students, “Imagine a piece of electronic equipment that looks like this…‟

Mr. Far illustrated on paper what he used to draw for his students to depict the lab equipment so he could verbally describe the result it produced. Now the students in his lab can observe directly using state of the art tools. He says with a laugh, “With religion, we praise believing without seeing, but with science you must see.”

And From a Student:

“I am being fully equipped with all that is needed for university life while I am still in high school. I tell my friends who graduated from MEEI about the labs we have now. They say that I have nothing to worry about when I am enrolled in university because of the simple fact that I’m already familiar with most of the equipment.”

Girls’ Sports = Leadership Development in Bethlehem

When Pastor Mitri Raheb of Bethlehem’s Christmas Lutheran Church launched a Young Adult Leadership Development effort in 2007, he didn’t yet have program funding, but he knew training young leaders was important. Pilgrims of Ibillin provided early and ongoing funds to help with this highly successful program which helps young leaders develop both personal and professional strengths.

For the first two years a group of 25 young adults met weekly with Pastor Raheb and other community leaders. Then the 25 were challenged to go out into the community to use what they had learned — to BE leaders in some-thing creative they care about.

One member of this group, Honey Thaljieh, applied her newly minted leadership skills to developing a women’s soccer program in the Bethlehem area through the Diyar Consortium’s Dar al Kalima Health and Wellness program. Through Diyar, in turn, Honey has also helped launch a national women’s soccer program in the West Bank. In May 2011, the Diyar Women’s Soccer Team won first place in the first-ever Palestinian national women’s soccer tournament!
Honey’s initiative laid the groundwork for key successes in the last two years:

A trip to Germany gave the Diyar soccer team a chance to play against German teams and enroll in an in-tensive athletic leadership program.
A return visit by German coaches trained local coaches—not only to improve players’ skills, but also to organize and coach soccer programs for kids from refugee camps and the streets.
Many Diyar team members also play on Palestine’s first-ever na-tional Women’s Soccer Team, thus contributing to Palestinian women’s success in international sports.
The German soccer team paid a return visit to the Bethlehem soccer team in June 2012 (see photo above)

In 2011 Honey and the other Diyar Young Leaders met together again — to reflect on their leadership experiences, and dream of next steps.

Honey, however, left in mid-2011 to become the first Arab woman ever accepted into FIFA’s prestigious Master’s Program—a 9-month training program set in Europe. She graduated this summer and brings her considerable skills home to Bethlehem. Congratulations, Honey! (Watch “Captain Honey” on YouTube!)

The program Honey launched 2 years ago has borne fruit, even through her absence. Coaches trained through the women’s sports program of Diyar now run basketball and soccer programs for girls: sixty 6-9 year-olds, and sixty 10-12 year-olds.

Diyar asks, “How can you bring people together? How can you build bridges? How can you witness great communication among humans? SPORTS Indeed!”