July 2002
Listening Shop
July 2002 e-Newsletter
Compassionate Listeners Report Back
Deborah Flick in Boulder, Colorado, writes:
Since returning from the Syria Lebanon trip I have had two public engagements. One, at presentation on dialogue entitled "Listening for Peace" for Seagate Technologies, was planned before the trip. However, poignant examples from our Compassionate Listening experiences formed the foundation of the talk and provided a wonderful opportunity to break down stereotypes of Arabs and Arab countries. One of the participants was Palestinian. His presence and eloquence deepened the impact of the workshop, as did the thoughtful participation of everyone else.
I was also interviewed by our local public radio station about our trip to Syria and Lebanon for a program called Hemispheres that airs every Tuesday night. Feedback has been great. As with the talk for Seagate, challenging stereotypes and offering what are apparently fresh perspectives on the Middle East has been very rewarding, especially during these days of tragedy.
Just today I was invited to speak to the staff from Office of Student Affairs at the University of Colorado, Boulder, on Israel and Palestine the last week in June. I certainly don't consider myself an expert, but what I feel I can offer is a compassionate approach to understanding the different voices in this conflict. Of course, there are also the personal conversations and emails with friends and family about the conflict that offer new opportunities on a daily basis for me to practice listening and remembering that more often than not "holding the space for inquiry" is more fruitful that finding answers.
Cantor David Serkin-Poole of Temple B'nai Torah in Bellevue, WA, has
been very active since his January Compassionate Listening delegation
to Israel and Palestine. He writes:
"I commit myself to building bridges right here in our own community so that we can plan for a world where these kinds of wars, a September 11th, fear and hatred in general are all stilled. Rabbi Latz has spoken to our local burgeoning mosque. A few weeks ago, their leader, Mr. Jawad Khaki, was our Shabbat guest speaker and shared his vision of Islam at peace with its neighbors. At numerous local churches I have spoken of peace and reconciliation between faiths and cultures (Mr. Khaki co-presented at two of them and we are developing a warm friendship of great reassurance that 'the coming together' is possible). And IMAN (the Bellevue Mosque) has invited our members to share in the building of some new homes for the poor to begin on September 11 (between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur).
Just imagine, Jews, Christians and Muslims - many of them Palestinian - building something together in our own area. This is my sacred task. I want to spend so much time building, learning, talking with our neighbors that fear, strife and hatred will be completely shoved out of our lexicon of life. I don't have a lot of influence on Washington or Jerusalem, but I have a lot to say about what kind of model I set for my own community. To live in this blessed country, to have the freedom to share with our neighbors in brotherhood and sisterhood as very few nations can, is an opportunity that I must not pass up. With all my heart, as we wait hopefully for a speedy end to the violence inflicted upon Israelis and Palestinians, I pray to God that you will join me in working hard, right here at home, to influence our piece of the planet, to find each others' common humanity."
Andrea Cohen of Seattle, Washington, writes:
I am now a fully certified Compassionate Listening Project trainer, and I am engaged in many projects:
I am working with Congregation B'nai Torah in Bellevue to integrate Compassionate Listening into Jewish high school curriculum on the Middle East;
I was a co-planner of the May 25th Interfaith dialogue event at Town Hall, attended by more than 200 people. The evaluations - both written and as reported by facilitators - indicated that a number of people found this event powerful in its ability to "hold the space" within which they felt heard/supported in their process of understanding and healing.
I will be co-facilitating a Compassionate Listening training in five three-hour sessions with fellow trainer Karen Bonnell in July/August in Bellevue;
I am consulting with Beyond Borders Mid-East Dialogue steering committee to develop the framework for launching successful dialogue groups this fall;
I am also co-facilitating the German-Jewish Compassionate Listening Project in Germany this fall with Leah;
I will be presenting at Unity Day on September 11th in Seattle. People interested in any and all of this should E-mail me at cohencomm@attbi.com or feel free to call at (206) 523-6018
Niki Landau from Toronto (who healed some of her own pain during her 1999 Compassionate Listening delegation, stemming from the loss of a best friend in a HAMAS terrorist attack) writes:
I received another email yesterday from someone who had read the Dvar Torah I gave to my synagogue about Compassionate Listening after my trip. This time, the message was from a sixteen year-old Israeli girl named Gal. Gal had attended a Building Bridges For Peace camp in Denver and had made a best friend -- a sixteen year-old Palestinian girl. She said that, although it was hard, she and her friend had managed to stay best friends through this incredibly difficult time. But it seems that, with external tension building, the friendship is really being tested. The Israeli girl wrote to me: "Can you tell me how to remove this stone from my heart?"
It is so heartbreaking, but also beautiful, that these girls love each other so much despite the nightmare affecting both their communities. It shows what peace work can do.
Rabbi Phil Bentley of NY presented a Compassionate Listening workshop
at the Fellowship of Reconciliation's recent conference, to an overflowing
room of participants.
Erik van Prague (trainer and organizational development consultant) writes from Amsterdam:
I will travel with a colleague to offer an empowerment training at Hope Flowers School in the West Bank in June (on their request). Of course one of the goals will be to strengthen hope and faith. It is amazing how Hind, Ibrahim and Ghada Issa and the other teachers stick to their convictions, that the only way to lasting peace is through communication.
Jamie Zimron in San Diego, California, is on the steering committee of the Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue groups, which are flourishing. Jamie wrote in about a recent experience presenting at a local high school together with a Palestinian man:
I received an invitation from a teacher at San Clemente High School to come talk to students there about the Middle East, Dialogue and Compassionate Listening. (He did a web search, found The Compassionate Listening Project and then to me as someone willing to come speak.)
A wonderful Palestinian man, Nasser, and I drove up together. Two of the teachers managed to organize 250 kids into an auditorium. Nasser and I each spoke for about 10 minutes, sharing our own stories (he grew up in Cairo, after his parents left Palestine after the 1967 war) and some broad historical information. Then we showed the first half of Children of Abraham, which was really great because the kids got to see & feel real Jews/Israelis and Palestinians and the land itself, and start considering the power of listening and understanding even one's "enemies."
The students then asked lots of great questions, which gave Nasser & I a chance to convey more information and to interact with the kids. The last 15 minutes I led some Aikido demonstrations/exercises, so that we could all consider new responses to conflict and the truth that "True power is peaceful, and peace is truly powerful."
Many students and teachers are already talking about forming dialogue groups, with perhaps different focus-topics for certain periods of time. They went off on a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance in LA for the rest of the school day!
The website is working!
Children of Abraham is working!
Dialogue is flourishing.
Now - May Peace Prevail!
Rabbi Andrea Cohen Kiener in West Hartford, CT is leading our 18th citizen delegation to Israel and the West Bank from June 26th - July 10th.
She is busy with all kinds of Compassionate Listening activities. She
appeared as a panelist on a CBS special which aired in NY on June 23rd.
And she will be introducing Compassionate Listening to Europeans at the
Leading To the Edge conference in Holland in late July.
Cantor Robert Scherr wrote in about a recent event at Wellesley College:
small audience come out on a terrible rainy night just before finals for a showing of Children of Abraham and discussion on Compassionate Listening and the potential to use the model to help ease tensions in the Wellesley College community.
The film was inspiring to them. Two younger women said, "all year long I've been hearing one side argue with the other. I had hoped that something like this existed somewhere."
An older student organized this event. She was inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh, who had been to campus last fall. She researched "compassionate listening," found our website, and contacted me.
We're hoping to work on some models over the summer to try to offer some kind of group for folks next fall in which to learn about ways of listening to each other. I've suggested they look into funding to bring someone here for a week to do training. I think it's possible.
I get teary & goose-bumped watching the film. It's so exciting to share it with new people, and wonderful to feel the reconnection.
Pam Derby of Ashland, Oregon, writes:
Carol Hwoschinsky and I spoke at Peace House to a group of about 15
and were very well received. Out of that I was asked to do an interview
on the local TV station. Peace House also asked for a Compassionate
Listening training. On May 31st Carol and I taped an interview
again for the local TV on Compassionate Listening. People respond very
warmly and keep saying, "You've got to get your story out."
I wrote an article on our Syria/Lebanon trip and am now trying to get
it published.
News from Portland, Oregon Compassionate Listeners
Ann Kasper continues her work with the Kurdish community and went to Washington, D.C. in June for conferences related to the Kurds as well as the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. She hopes to meet with Senator Gordon Smith while she is there. She and Yehudah continue to work together and, recently, spent time with the director of the Oregon Consumer League who gave them hints on grant writing which she has applied to a number of grants she submitted this Spring.
Bob Nelson will be showing Children of Abraham and discussing his
Trish Nelson founded Spirit Moves Peace Center and is sponsoring several series of on-going classes at her home. Check out the website: www.onepeopleoneplanet.com.
Jessica Schurtman writes:
Since returning from the Compassionate Listening Delegation to Israel/Palestine in March 2001, I have had much cause for joy and also personal sorrow. In the past year I have lost 3 of my grandparents and my 16 year old dog, Misty. I try to tap into this grief as a way of connecting to others grieving (and these days, who isn't?) Still, life goes on: I have been busy teaching, ESL last spring, and 3rd grade this spring. I participated in the Jews United for a Just Peace Conference in Chicago last April, assisted with a one day Compassionate Listening Delegation led by Leah and Yehudah in Portland last November, and just recently took the Training for Trainers Compassionate Listening Workshop with Carol and Leah, which I found very enriching. Just recently, I hosted an event, "Stories of Humanness, Stories of Hope", as a fundraiser for Spirit Moves Peace Center. Also, several of us Portland Compassionate Listeners got together for a potluck, to share ideas and support each other.
Yehudah Winter writes:
I went on the Syria/Lebanon Delegation - my second delegation. I'm very thankful to Ann Kasper who was also on the trip and lives near me. She arranged meetings with assistants to Senator Wyden and Congressman Blumenhauer, as well as guest lecturing at a two-hour class in Mid East Studies. I was asked to speak at the annual meeting of the Oregon Peace Institute and had a huge impact. They are reorganizing their group and would like to plan a weekend workshop in Compassionate Listening. I'm working closely with them.
Dr. Pritam Rohila, President of the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia, had to leave during my talk, but later invited me to address his Board of Directors who are now interested in being part of a workshop and in doing a listening session between Indians and Pakistanis living here in Portland. (The population of East Indians has increased from 2000 in 1990 to over 8000 in 2000!)
I attended the 5-day Compassionate Listening Training for Trainers workshop in Indianola and am excited about honing my skills. In addition to speaking every chance I get, I joined a Toastmasters group at 6:30 AM every Thursday! I'm interested in developing a syllabus for a college level class and proposing it to local community colleges and universities.
I've done one listening session about the Middle East Conflict for my Jewish Renewal community and will start doing more in June. The next one will be with my Rabbi. Other rabbis and friends will be invited. It's called "What Breaks My Heart About the Middle East Conflict: A Time to Listen, A Time to Speak." We hope to bring together disparate voices in the Jewish community which has recently been painfully split by a number of events.
I continue to work as a volunteer mediator with the Neighborhood Mediation Center and will be proposing workshops for the Oregon Mediation Association annual meeting as well as the Peacemakers conference for high school students, both happening this Fall. Some of the middle and high schools were unable to train peer mediators this year, so I may be able to work with them as well.
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