Encounter

Episode 2 of our partnership with Chutzpod is now available. Listen as we share stories from American Jews who found moments of humanity, mutual respect and understanding with Palestinians, helping to bridge the distance between cultures, countries, and continents. Listen now and share your thoughts at www.chutzpod.com!

Episode 1 of our special two-part series with Chutzpod is available now. Hear stories from Israelis and Palestinians that inspire us all to believe in a brighter future.

Co-hosted by actor Joshua Malina (The West Wing; Scandal) and Rabbi Shira Stutman, and distributed by public media organization PRX, Chutzpod! brings a Jewish lens to life’s toughest questions.

Listen now at www.chutzpod.com

As we prepare to celebrate Israel's historic 75 years, Encounter's Chief Education Officer Leah Solomon offers a textured perspective on this moment. We urge you to read her essay, Fear, Fury, and the Struggle for Equal Rights in Israel, in the Spring 2023 issue of the Hartman Institute’s Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas.

Read Leah's article and access Sources here: https://www.sourcesjournal.org/articles/fear-fury-and-the-struggle-for-equal-rights-in-israel

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/230576492494163

Register here: https://form.jotform.com/230605719460151

Join us tomorrow for a conversation around how we can make sense of this moment. Register here: https://form.jotform.com/230595464516158

Get your cookbook today! Encounter relies on gifts like yours to create a more courageous Jewish leadership around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are including a free copy of our beautiful cookbook, Encountering the Palestinian Kitchen: Listen. Learn. Eat. with all new gifts of $360+.

Receive a first edition copy and exclusive programmatic resources designed to explore not only Palestinian food and cooking, but also the challenges of sustaining a vibrant and robust Palestinian culture amidst the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Link to donate: http://www.encounterprograms.org/donate/

Ushpizin: Powered by Courage

Souli and Osama both grew up in the central West Bank - Osama in Jericho and Souli in the village of Hizme. As boys in the shadow of the First Intifada, they became politically activated and were drawn into paths of violent resistance. Both spent significant time in Israeli prison as young teenagers. Alongside the trauma of being separated from their families and spending much of their youth behind bars, in prison Souli and Osama each also learned to speak Hebrew and interacted with Jews for the first time, eventually becoming leading peace activists in their communities.

Souli co-founded the joint Palestinian-Israeli organization Combatants for Peace, nominated for the Nobel Peace Price. Osama is now a dedicated activist with CfP, and spends significant time working on behalf of Palestinian villages in the Jordan Valley who lack almost any infrastructure and are at constant risk of eviction.

The banana trees portrayed in the poster remind us of Jericho’s signature crop. The stones, hills and roots evoke Souli’s and Osama’s deeply-rooted connection to the land and its natural and historical landscape.

What questions might you ask Souli and Osama if they were in your sukkah?

Download Encounter's full Ushpizin resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin

Ushpizin: Powered by Courage

Sam is known fondly as “the tallest man in Ramallah” - an attribution that captures both his physical stature and his larger-than-life presence. A Palestinian-American buisnessman born in Youngstown, Ohio, his warm, friendly and jovial character exists side by side with his unapologetic, piercing, and exacting assessment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is critical of both Palestinian and especially Israeli leadership. Jewish leaders who hear from Sam often find his ideas provocative, troubling, and frequently offensive, challenging their own long-held truths and attachments even as they may see aspects of themselves in his thoughtful sophistication and intellectual prowess.

If Sam were in your sukkah, what is an opinion he might share that you would find challenging? How might you encounter that opinion productively?

Download Encounter’s full Ushpizin resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin.

Ushpizin: Powered by Courage

Lama is a teacher of English literature in a religiously and politically conservative girls school in Dura, near Hebron. She comes from a family led by strong women: her sister is the MIddle East Director of the Alliance for Middle East Pace; her eldest daughter is a dynamic young peace activist shaped by her mother and aunt; and Lama herself manifests a gentle yet fierce leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to working towards a better life for all Palestinian and Israeli children.

Lama tells a story about introducing her students to the poem “Jerusalem,” by Yehuda Amichai without initially sharing the poet’s name, and how her students assume it is written by a Palestinian. Lama relates the shock her students express at learning that there are indeed Jewish and Israeli poets, and that they too love Jerusalem.

What is a belief by the “other” that you were surprised to find you both held? What did it mean for you to find that shared belief?

Download Encounter's full Ushpizin resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin

Ushpizin: Powered by Courage

Mahmoud is the owner of the Educational Bookshop, the beating heart of East Jerusalem’s cultural center. From two branches on Salah a-Din Street and one at the iconic American Colony Hotel, Mahmoud sells and delivers books on Palestinian identity, politics, and culture to locals and internationals alike, and hosts frequent literary salons and events.

Mahmoud’s courageous leadership is reflected in commitment to not sparing his interlocutors his anger and his pointed and often provocative views, while simultaneously radiating warmth and humor, deep integrity, and an optimistic faith in the power of human beings to make a difference. Mahmoud speaks candidly of his belief that the Palestinian national project in its recent form has been defeated, and that both Palestinians and Israelis need to rethink how to move forward from that failure and consider what it means to start anew.

What do you think is required from Jewish Israelis and Palestinians to ensure security, justice, freedom, and equality of rights for all?

Download Encounter's full Ushpizin resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin

Ushpizin: Powered by Courage

Fadia and Fatima are residents of the village of Jubbet al Dhib, in Area C of the West Bank. For decades the leadership has been denied approval by Israeli administrative authorities to connect to electric and water networks and to build a school. Deeply frustrated by many failed attempts by the male leaders of the community to resolve these challenges, Fadia, Fatima and several other women founded the Jubbet al Dhib Women’s Committee. After a several-year legal battle, they won the rights to install a solar powered electric system with the help of the Israeli organization Comet-ME. They also built a tiny school.

The women do not understand why their desire for electricity and a school is viewed as a security threat; there is a growing sense that undergirding this is the dispute about who “truly owns” the land.

Where in the West Bank have you seen gross inequities? What tensions did you feel?

Download Encounter's full Ushpizin resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin

Ushpizin: Powered by Courage

Bayt Zakarya is located in the heart of Gush Etzion in Area C of the West Bank. Nestled next to the Jewish community of Alon Shvut, with its Har Etzion yeshiva that many Encounter Network Members have studied at and feel a strong connection to, the village’s proximity highlights and crystalizes an inherent challenge at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the necessary sharing by Jews and Palestinians of the physical land.

The contrast between Palestinians’ reality and the rapid construction and growth they see in nearby Jewish communities is reflected in the village’s cramped school building and unfinished minaret pictured in the poster. The five-room, metal-roofed school has a standing demolition order. Residents were prohibited from completing construction of the minaret, leaving it standing unfinished for decades.

Where in the West Bank have you seen gross inequities? What tensions did you feel?

Download Encounter's full Ushpizin resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin

Ushpizin: Powered by Courage

Sami Awad is the founder of Holy Land Trust, an organization whose name reflects the view that all inhabitants are trustees in stewarding the land which is holy to the three faiths. Sami embodies deeply courageous leadership in exploring the root causes of violence and a commitment to transforming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in ways that honor the dignity and rights of all peoples. He perseveres in the face of both internal pressures from Palestinians who accuse him of “normalization,” as well as the external stresses that permeate the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank.

He says, “Both Jewish and Palestinian communities have a history of pain and trauma that has been carried into this conflict. Peace is about being humble in listening to these communities’ needs and strengthening them to make the right decisions for their lives.”

What is a pain or trauma that the “other” experiences that you might bring into your sukkah this year? How might you approach the other’s pain or trauma more constructively this year?

Download Encounter's full resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin

For Sukkot, we are proud to share Ushpizin: Powered by Courage, beautifully designed by Elad Lifsh*tz from Dov Abramson studio - Palestinians with whom the Jewish People’s destinies are inextricably linked, and whose stories and perspectives are critical for us to engage.

Sukkot encourages us to shift our perspective - to step out of our homes and entrenched ways of seeing, to explore what’s missing or incomplete, and to reflect on what we want to take back into our lives year-round.

Each day, we will be sharing images from our Ushpizin resource to provide an opportunity for you to welcome a “guest” into your sukkah. While distance makes it impossible for these guests to be in your sukkah in person, we hope you bring their personalities and perspectives into your daily conversations and reflections. We do so as a kavanah (intention) toward courageous invitation - to invite in those who are not always welcome in our communities or who we find challenging to engage.

Download the full resource at encounterprograms.org/ushpizin/

Join us today at 9am ET for a conversation with Aziz Abu Sarah to make sense of what is unfolding in Jerusalem.

Register here: https://encounterprograms.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJApcOuvpz8iEtfst554VAvD4vbHbeso1uI7

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: For the Sake of Jerusalem: Webinar with Aziz Abu Sarah. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: For the Sake of Jerusalem: Webinar with Aziz Abu Sarah. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Join us today at 4pm ET for a conversation with Suhad Babaa to make sense of what is unfolding in Jerusalem.

Register here: https://encounterprograms.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEtd--vpjwtHdPnw-3dqVeyqByIp4t1rhxF

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: For the Sake of Jerusalem: Webinar with Suhad Babaa. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: For the Sake of Jerusalem: Webinar with Suhad Babaa. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Join us today at 12.30pm ET for a conversation with Mahmoud Muna to make sense of what is unfolding in Jerusalem.

Register here: https://encounterprograms.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0ocOirrDkpHteFUHr54co9iohaLXg-HL3y

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: For the Sake of Jerusalem: Webinar with Mahmoud Muna. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: For the Sake of Jerusalem: Webinar with Mahmoud Muna. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Join us for a week of conversations with colleagues to make sense of what is unfolding in Jerusalem these days. Links to register in the comments.

Encounter Programs – Listen. Learn. Lead. We are a diverse community of Jewish leaders ready to encounter the complex stories, people, and places at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.