Program areas at Abrahamic Reunion
2023 programs summary: Abrahamic Reunion held 113 online and in-person peacebuilding events in 2023 that reached over 8,517 participants, continuing key events and the new leadership training programs for youth, women, and a group of educators and clergy. Youth peacebuilder trainings palestinian & israeli youth met five times in 2023 with Abrahamic Reunion leaders and clergy for interfaith dialogue and discussion on multiple topics. This program was able to meet across the israel-palestine border by using zoom, and some of the cohort of participants in this program continued to take part in a 3-year young peacebuilder training program from 2022-2025, which had its first meeting in october, 2022. Youth were called upon to volunteer for the Abrahamic Reunion's in-person events including the iftar dinner and tel aviv music night. Women's peacebuilding trainings women are one of the most powerful populations when building peace, notable for their community, family, and educational influence and leadership. Abrahamic Reunion continued a monthly peacebuilder training program for women who are educators, professors, and community leaders. This program met 4 times in the spring of 2023 and went on hiatus during the war. The program is planned to continue until 2025, and is headed by Abrahamic Reunion amutah co-chairs who are, respectively, a sufi-muslim woman, and a jewish woman. Multifaith ramadan iftar peace dinner celebration ("the light of faith & peace") since 2006, the Abrahamic Reunion has organized large gatherings at a breaking-of-the-fast dinner (iftar) in ramadan. In 2023 we held a major iftar celebration which brought together over 240 people in jerusalem, in partnership with the shalom-hartman institute. The event was livestreamed, included a text-study session, prayers and speeches by prominent religious and cultural leaders from the different faiths, sheikh ghassan manasra, donniel hartman, biti roi, khalid abu ras, najah kabaha, siham halabi, and numerous other leaders and clergy from the holy land. Tzippori festival of chamber music the Abrahamic Reunion, along with nigun halev community and other regional partners in the north of israel, held a 3-part intercultural concert series to promote understanding, enjoyment of culture, connection, and dialogue. Sacred music night in neve schechter in partnership with neve schechter and ar collaborator rabbi roberto arbib, a night enjoying muslim, jewish, arabic, and sufi music and poetry was convened in tel aviv in september, 2023. This event brought together over 156 participants from all backgrounds to foster interconnection and community amidst violence that was rocking the country and provided a bulwark of hope at that time. Interfaith march in jerusalem over 100 people came together to participate in an interfaith march and prayers through the old city of jerusalem, welcoming and promoting people of all faiths to walk together in peace, harmony, and connection. This came in the wake of numerous hostile and violent prejudicial events in jerusalem, and brought participation and speakers from over 25 nonprofits, religious and spiritual communities, and groups, who spoke of the need to honor each other's place in society. Israeli nonprofit (amutah) support the peacebuilders in the holy land have a newly registered israeli nonprofit organization with a new board of directors that represents the cause of nonviolence, dialogue, and multifaith friendship. The co-chairs are a jewish woman and an sufi-muslim woman, and other leaders include druze and christian religious leaders, men, and women. Following on its registration in 2021, the Abrahamic Reunion continued to support and integrate the insights of the amutah board in israel, and organize programming in concert with their input. Online prayer vigils after october 7th, the Abrahamic Reunion convened 41 days of online prayer vigils praying for peace and safety for all people in the holy land, an end to all violence, killing, and bloodshed. Several 10 and 14-day vigils were held during the year online as well, due to simmering violence and tensions across the holy land. Prayer vigils feature leaders from around the holy land - men, women, youth, christians, muslims, druze, jews, and samaritans - to offer prayers and words for peace, safety, and connection. They were joined by religious leaders and peace leaders from the us, uk, and canada. This provided a visible forum for the many religious voices and traditions to show their solidarity with each other. Attendees joined from around the world. Online unity prayers from the holy land every two months, religious and peace leaders gathered for an hour of joint reflection, prayer, and inspiration on a different theme: love, protection, giving, forgiveness, new beginnings. These gatherings showcased the breadth and depth of religious and peace leaders that the Abrahamic Reunion is working with while building community and providing inspiration for the international peacebuilding community. Virtual reality peacebuilding in partnership with peace literacy institute and the paths to peace (p2p) foundation, Abrahamic Reunion ran another two pilot projects with a small group of interfaith youth, testing programs and the capacity peacebuilding in the virtual reality (vr) environment. Results were resoundingly positive, using the paths to peace mandala program to foster dialogue and connection. Vr offers solutions numerous issues faced in peacebuilding work, helping participants overcome geographical and border barriers to meeting, provides anonymity for those who wish or need it, and is highly attractive to youth participants. Small in-person groups gathered to experience and engage with vr peacebuilding programs from pli and p2p. Abrahamic Reunion peace summit (in-person) the peace summit brings peace leaders, peacebuilders, religious figures and leaders, community leaders, and well-known interfaith leaders together for a day of speeches, prayer, dialogue, encounter, and community building. The 2023 peace summit was postponed due to the war. Parliament of the world's religions international supporters of the Abrahamic Reunion journeyed with the ar delegation to the chicago for the parliament of the world's religions, at which the ar gave four program presentations: "stories of the peacemakers", "virtual reality peacebuilding", "elias jabbour: christian peacemaker movie screening", and "intercultural peacebuilding techniques workshop." Relational peacebuilding and peacemaking relational peacebuilding and peacemaking are integral to the Abrahamic Reunion's work in the holy land, and are happening at all times, with special emphasis during parts of the year when violence and war make in- person intercultural programming unsafe, especially in 2023 since october 7th, and also in all the tension and violence leading up to it. The Abrahamic Reunion develops, cultivates, and nourishes a wide network of relationships in all religions and cultures of holy land society - jewish, muslim, christian, and druze. This involves participating in events from other organizations, attending services and conferences, arranging meetings on the phone, zoom, and in person, making phone calls of condolence, engaging in inter-personal and inter-community peacemaking and conflict resolution, providing support for Abrahamic Reunion participants during the war, violence, and tensions, developing channels in the local, regional, and national governments to push for peace, ceasefire, and dialogue, providing intercultural facilitation at high level discussions and conversations, meals, visits, and other means. This wide network gives Abrahamic Reunion its influence, credibility, protection, and involvement from all parts of society, while also modeling and influencing more and more people to become part of a pluralistic society that honors all cultures, religions, and identities.