These words, which I entitled "Our Fears, Our Dreams", are what I said at the rally and service for peace yesterday at the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire. (The Manchester Union Leader published a very positive article about the program, quoting extensively from remarks by Israel's Consul-General in Boston, Nadav Tamir.)
At a time of great trouble and danger, we are here reaching out to our fellow Jews, our sisters and brothers in Israel, the Palestinians who share our ancient land, and also to our neighbors here in New Hampshire. We are here because we have dreams, and we have fears, and this gathering is about both. Especially to our Palestinian neighbors, we have to speak about our dreams and our fears.
We have for so long dreamt of living as Jews in peace and justice on this earth, anywhere, and in our homeland.
We fear there are those in the world who don’t believe us, or who won’t let us.
We dream of an end to killing, and more positively, we dream that Eretz Yisrael, which you call Palestine, and the holy city of Jerusalem, will be once again be historic places of inspiration for the entire world.
We dream that all our Arab neighbors will see us as human beings, see us for our deep human values
But we fear that you are coming to know us only by our weapons or our mistakes.
We dream that your leaders will finally say yes when we extend our hand in peace – not yes but, or yes if, but yes.
We fear this won’t happen; we fear what will happen to us and to you if it doesn’t – that we will become, forever and irreversibly, statues of hate.
We fear that our peace offers and our withdrawals, and the flexibility Israeli leaders have shown -- in 1947 at the UN, in 2000 at Camp David, in 2005 on the way out of Gaza -- will make us foolish in our own eyes and in yours.
But we dream that you will imagine what we have come to learn, perhaps with difficulty – that the blessing of peace will only be ours if we share it with you.
We fear that you don’t share these dreams. But we dream that you do – no, we have faith that you do.
Mekor Hachayyim, Adon Hashalom -- Source of all Life, Master of Peace, we pray that you calm our fears, and bless our dreams of peace. Amen.
At a time of great trouble and danger, we are here reaching out to our fellow Jews, our sisters and brothers in Israel, the Palestinians who share our ancient land, and also to our neighbors here in New Hampshire. We are here because we have dreams, and we have fears, and this gathering is about both. Especially to our Palestinian neighbors, we have to speak about our dreams and our fears.
We have for so long dreamt of living as Jews in peace and justice on this earth, anywhere, and in our homeland.
We fear there are those in the world who don’t believe us, or who won’t let us.
We dream of an end to killing, and more positively, we dream that Eretz Yisrael, which you call Palestine, and the holy city of Jerusalem, will be once again be historic places of inspiration for the entire world.
We dream that all our Arab neighbors will see us as human beings, see us for our deep human values
But we fear that you are coming to know us only by our weapons or our mistakes.
We dream that your leaders will finally say yes when we extend our hand in peace – not yes but, or yes if, but yes.
We fear this won’t happen; we fear what will happen to us and to you if it doesn’t – that we will become, forever and irreversibly, statues of hate.
We fear that our peace offers and our withdrawals, and the flexibility Israeli leaders have shown -- in 1947 at the UN, in 2000 at Camp David, in 2005 on the way out of Gaza -- will make us foolish in our own eyes and in yours.
But we dream that you will imagine what we have come to learn, perhaps with difficulty – that the blessing of peace will only be ours if we share it with you.
We fear that you don’t share these dreams. But we dream that you do – no, we have faith that you do.
Mekor Hachayyim, Adon Hashalom -- Source of all Life, Master of Peace, we pray that you calm our fears, and bless our dreams of peace. Amen.
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