Peace. Sometimes it can feel like peace is a bit like the weather. Everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it. Yet, as elusive as peace can seem to be, we are not allowed to give up on it. One of the set blessings in the morning liturgy which we sometimes call the “obligations,” highlights examples of mitzvot that benefit us both in this world, and whatever follows. Among these special mitzvot is that of bringing peace between two people.

The Torah is called a tree of life and, every time it is replaced in the ark, the song we sing not only affirms that but tells us that “all her paths are peace.” In that very scroll, we are commanded not just to seek peace but to pursue it (actively), literally to run after it.

Even the Kaddish prayer, which tugs at the hearts of those in mourning, ends as a prayer for peace. One could say that it is ultimately a plea for wholeness in a world torn asunder.

We might then ask how does one make peace? In the same way that it has
been said that Jewish-Christian dialogue proceeds - one person at a time. When Hisham Kullab, from Interns For Peace, spoke after services, he pointed out that he and the few other “peace workers” trained by IFP had touched the lives of 30,000 people in Gaza. Who can estimate how many people may listen to those 30,000?

How was it that Hisham, born in Khan Yunis (a refugee camp) in Gaza, came to be trained as a peace worker? It started with a simple act of respect.
He sought work in Israel (somewhat fearfully), and the Israelis he worked for treated him as a human being. He discovered they were also human beings. One on one, the enemy, the other, the demon became a human being endowed with the same Divine Spark. So it was that seeds of peace were planted.

Locally, there is a camp called Creativity for Peace (CFP). It brings together small groups of Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, and Palestinians, here in New Mexico. They learn that a martyr on one side is a suicide bomber on the other. They come to see that all sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are in pain. After the camp session, some of them stay in touch with their new-found friends, human beings really, on the other side.

All of this adds up to fulfilling the highest principle in Jewish Law: Saving a Life, Pikuach Nefesh. Would you like to save a life? Perhaps many lives?

Make a donation to Interns For Peace, or Creativity for Peace Camp (contact the office for details). Donate frequent flyer miles to me, so that I can pass them on to these organizations to offset their travel costs. Remember, one who saves a single life, it is as if that person saved an entire world.

B’shalom,
Rabbi Marvin Schwab