March 15, 2006

A Jew, few knew

I think it is fair to say that no other conflict holds such firm and fixated biases and prejudices on both sides as is the case with the Palestine-Israeli situation. No matter how open-minded a person is one tends to stick to common stereotypes and thus choking or even ignoring the voices that challenge us, that break the picture we painted up with great efforts and over a long period of time.

Rabbi Menachem is such a man. One to enter into our home of thoughts and rearrange it. I hope we all realize that there are important voices that stress the need to be objective and open-minded, but above all, open-hearted, in this painful conflict that has made lives even unbearable for many generations.

An excerpt from the article on Rabbi Menachem Froman as seen in the Telegraph:

For many religiously-driven settlers throughout the West Bank, any pull-out is a contravention of God's will that the land where they live belongs to Israel and the Jewish people.

They have already promised to put up fierce resistance to the planned eviction, repeating the bloody scenes that shocked Israel when police moved in to destroy just a few homes in the settlement of Amona last month.

But Rabbi Froman will not be among them.

"I am one of the founders of the settler movement," he said, strapping a tiny prayer scroll to his forehead. "But you can't claim to love the earth and not the people [Palestinians] living there."

6 comments:

BuJ said...

ah.. u reminded me with the oxtown days.. we would have invited him.. kept him in the best of places.. and asked him to talk to us about his experiences living on the holy land and dealing with israelis and palestinians on a daily basis.

blessed is the one that spreads the goodness

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Yes I seem to have that effect. lol

Couldn't agree more on the "spreading the goodness."

Umar said...

we need more people like him on both sides

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

We sure do Umar. Doua karna, aur kya kar sakte ho hum?

Anonymous said...

Never heard of the man? I'm beginning to see why.

Anonymous said...

I have been looking for sites like this for a long time. Thank you!
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