Tuesday Jul 14, 2009
Posted by Sherri Mandell
Yoga for peace
Filmmakers for peace
Sumo wrestlers for peace
Surfers for peace
Mountain climbers for peace
Runners, bikers, tennis players--for peace
Jeeps for peace
Quilts for peace
Plays for peace
Songs for peace
Diets for peace
Is there any word more degraded than the word peace?
Peace seems to be leaking all of its meaning, a catch word for getting money from the European Union (it seems that any co-existence group is ensured funding). The peacemakers seem to think if you bring Israelis and Palestinians together in the same room, then there will be peace. And the world apparently buys this idea. Oprah is going to run an article on a group of Israel and Palestinian women in a diet club.
I am reminded of Peter, a man I met in East Hampton, New York who harangued me when he learned I was from Israel. "You people have to be in dialogue with the Palestinians. It's your fault that you don't have peace." When I asked him about himself, he admitted that he was living with a friend because his wife had kicked him out of the house.
Monday Jul 06, 2009
Posted by Sherri Mandell
I am the problem. I am the one. The head of the free world referred to
me, personally, my family, as the reason for the unrest in the world .
With a broom in my hand, trying gamely to clean up the popcorn from my
son's movie party, I am the reason that there is no world peace. Obama
handed me the world's destiny. He told me - 'if you stop building,
stop growing, all will be right in the Middle East. Don't even think of
Iran or Darfur or the honor killing of the women in your region. Your
home renovation is the cause of war.'
I am a settler. If I
move 8 kilometers to Jerusalem, then I cease being a settler, I
suppose. But then I am an Israeli. And that too is a problem.
Thursday Jun 18, 2009
Posted by Sherri Mandell
I met former US president Jimmy Carter on June 14th and left the meeting profoundly unsettled.
It was a cordial meeting: Shaul Goldstein, the mayor of Gush Etzion had been approached by Carter's staff because in 30 years of peacemaking, Carter had not visited any settlements. I imagine Carter wanted to improve his tarnished image. There was seemingly a dialogue, and yet the meeting revealed the chasm between us. I suspect that the chasm has to do with divergent basic assumptions that are grounded in religious belief and are very rarely discussed. It is not so much the idea of peace that separated us at that meeting as the idea of grace, a Christian belief that as far as I know has no parallel in Jewish thought. Carter didn't talk about grace yet somehow I suspect that we can't understand him, a proud Christian Baptist, until we understand that idea.
Sunday Jun 14, 2009
Posted by Seth Mandell
For the first time in years, probably since Israel invited Yasser Arafat and his minions back into the West Bank in a march of folly that resulted in the death of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians including my 13-year-old son Koby Mandell, the sanctity of the "two states for two peoples" concept is being challenged. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu [Bibi] so far has refused to utter the phrase and his Likud backers are begging him to resist the temptation. Conjecture about his Bar Ilan University policy speech touted as a response to Obama's Cairo address centers almost completely on whether he will utter the two state formula.
Not that anybody really thinks the idea is a good one.
Thursday Jun 04, 2009
Posted by Sherri Mandell
Dear President Obama,
This week the entire country of Israel performed a security exercise. At 11:00am a siren sounded and all of us, every man, woman and child had to take shelter. At a home for seniors who are Alzheimer's patients, it took much longer than the allotted 3 minutes for the staff to help find these patients protection. (They were pushed in their wheelchairs to sit next to an interior wall.) This whole country is a target for attack. All of us are imperiled.
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About this blog
Heart-Earned Wisdom
Seth and Sherri Mandell on living with loss, establishing the Koby Mandell foundation, spritual healing and becoming authors.
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Recent Comments
Jen USA: Elise, I would trust the Justice Department before the CIA, any day. The first is held accountable for their actions. The second rarely is. The lack of response to Sherri's email is sad. Whether Koby's case has been shelved because it is cold or if there is simply a communication breakdown, someone should be available to talk to family members about any case that remains unsolved. I do not think that Sherri should expect the JD to contact her. I would suggest that she write her congressman or congresswoman. If she is still a tax-paying, voting American, her representative will listen.
Shahab Mohd Altaf INDIA: Justice is equal treatment.It means desire for your brother/sister, what you desire for yourself, this is the Islamic concept of Justice.Further the victim is given the right to decide the nature of punishment.This is called Qasas or blood money.The loss of life cannot be compensated but atleast the pain can be reduced.HumanLife is more important than human rights. Terrorists have no religion.
Elise: I am sorry for the loss of your child. I do not understand why you are confused that the Obama administration has refused to list your son as a victim of terror. This would go against their belief that Jews have no right to live where you do. This is a Justice Department that seeks no justice and is so politicized that they ended a probe into voter intimidation by Black Panthers and attacks those that keep us safe(CIA). This is a State Dept. that is inherently anti-semitic even before the advent of the Obama Admn. Justice will not becoming from this Adminsitration. Why are you surprised?
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