August, 2018 | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Cultural Competency within the Haredi community?

When we talk about cultural competency, it’s usually about helping service providers serve a range of minority groups better. Or it’s about one minority group learning to work better within the majority’s ‘system.’ But what about one minority group within itself?

This was our focus when we held a cultural competency workshop for women lecturers at the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) in early July. The JCT is an institute of higher education that targets Orthodox and Haredi men and women, in separate campuses and in single-gender classes, focusing on engineering and computers, management and life and biological sciences (such as nursing).

Teaching cultural competency at the JCT

The lecturers came from a range of disciplines – business administration, mathematics, law, nursing, and more, and themselves represented a variety of cultures and religious observances.

From the outside, the Haredi world might seem monolithic and singular. But when you look more closely that world is extremely diverse, and cultural competency skills are necessary in teaching, especially if the lecturers do not come from that world, which was the case for some in the workshop. Some lecturers spoke about how they looked for course content that was appropriate for the students, including examples that the students could relate to. Another lecturer spoke about how her students address her in the third person, as is the norm in the Haredi world. Yet another told that the teaching style expected in the Haredi world leaves little room for spontaneity in the classroom, which is quite different than what she’s used to in other ‘general’ frameworks. And yet another, a lecturer in economics, told about an incident of a male colleague. He wanted to present the Brazilian economic model to his female students. He typed in “Brazilian model” into Google, and got quite a different result than he’d planned. While everyone in the class was quite embarrassed, workshop participants agreed that the matter would have been considered much more serious if it’d been a class of only male students….

This is just one example of our continued work in the field of cultural competency, in Jerusalem and throughout Israel. We would like to extend our gratitude to the Jerusalem Foundation, for its continuing support of Cultural Competency in Jerusalem since its inception a decade ago.

Naomi Roff2018-08-31T11:26:56+00:00August 30th, 2018|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Santé Israël – Bikur Olim (Bikour Olim)

There are some 100,000 French-speaking immigrants living in Israel. What do they do if they need extra help in navigating the health care system?

Training to help French-speaking immigrants

Santé Israël is here to help, with its Bikur Olim project. In French, it is written Bikour Olim.

Bikur Olim (a play on the phrase, Bikur Cholim, which means visiting the sick) is piloting in Jerusalem. Operating in cooperation with the Qualita organization that assists French-speaking immigrants in Israel, and with the generous support of the Pharmadom Foundation, the program seeks to help and accompany French-speaking immigrants to access their rights – in the health system, at the Municipality, at the National Insurance Institute, and other service providers.

At the second meeting at the JICC offices

In June we held 2 training sessions for program volunteers, one at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center and the other at our offices on Mount Zion. In the first meeting the volunteers met Estelle Rubenstein, Director of Social Services at Hadassah Ein Kerem. Estelle advised the volunteers on how they can accompany patients and families at the hospital, and how to help them access their rights without expressing their personal opinions. Aviva Yoselis, MPH, from the Shira Pransky Project, presented skills on effective three-way communication between a doctor, a volunteer and the patient.

Parts of the presentation at the second meeting

The second session was led by our Cultural Competency Desk Director, Orna Shani. Orna concentrated on dilemmas that might arise as during the accompanying process, the role of the volunteer in a meeting vs. straight translation, and the different stages of accompanying a client.

They are now producing a flyer, and during and after the High Holiday season they’ll begin offering their services. Can’t wait to see the good they’re going to do.

With calling cards and everything

Naomi Roff2018-08-31T11:42:24+00:00August 25th, 2018|Blog, Cultural Competence, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, New Immigrants, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

The Little Prince Makes Headlines

The Little Prince is making headlines, bringing garbage to the front lines of public discourse.

A few weeks ago, activists’ work – Haredi, Palestinian and religious and secular Jews – was featured on the front page of the weekly local Hebrew newspaper, Yediot Yerushalayim.

“We’re Sick of a Dirty City” says the headline

“Our activities as residents fighting for a clean city caused the Municipality to understand that it needs to invest in that area,” said our own Tal Kligman in the article, speaking after an agreement was signed that increased the municipal budget for sanitation by NIS 10 million. “Our role isn’t to clean instead of the municipal sanitation workers,” Tal explained in the article. “It’s to cause the Municipality to make sure that it’s clean here. For that purposed we [the JICC] brought together residents from all over Jerusalem. Now we have ambassadors in every neighborhood in the city [including Haredi and Palestinian neighborhoods] who report problems, and together we try to work those problems out. Sometimes we meet to plan face-to-face, sometimes we use social media.”

The article tells about initiatives in Haredi neighborhoods such as Meah Shearim, Bucharim and Bayit Vagan (where residents held a meet-up breakfast for local sanitation workers and their managers, trying to solve problems together and improve sanitation). It tells about initiatives in ‘general’ Jewish neighborhoods such as Gonenim, Gilo, Pisgat Ze’ev and Ramot. It tells about the horrible situation in East Jerusalem, and of MiniActive’s efforts over the past 6 years to effect change.

As we’ve noted here, here and here, the Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together is using trash to bring people together. Orthodox, secular and Haredi Jews, Christians and Muslim Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians – all wish to see a clean Jerusalem and all are struggling with the current reality. The Little Prince seeks to empower residents from all sectors to work together and within their own communities to make Jerusalem a clean city. The goal is to build broad networks on the grassroots as well as professional and political levels that can solve problems on both a one-time and system-wide basis.

Here is the link to the online article.

Bravo to everyone who worked to advance the article.

Naomi Roff2018-10-06T06:35:32+00:00August 22nd, 2018|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Window to Mount Zion – Documenting the Dajani Cemetery

Mount Zion is home to cemeteries from almost every religious community in Jerusalem. The Dajani cemetery (which we’ve written about here and here) is the only Muslim cemetery in the area…

For more than 500 years, the Dajani family served as custodians of King David’s mausoleum in Mount Zion. Over the course of their custodianship, the family built a neighborhood in the area and buried their deceased in a cemetery around King David’s mausoleum. Members of the family often served as public officials in the city of Jerusalem, and made a significant contribution to Jerusalem’s history. Some of the family’s prominent members are buried in the Mount Zion cemetery. These members include Mr. Aref Al-Dajani, a high public official in Yemen during the reign of the Ottoman Empire who served as Jerusalem’s Mayor, and Mr. Hasan Sidqi Al-Dajani, a renowned lawyer and socio-political activist who lost his life in the mid-1930s in a politically motivated assassination.

Dajani family, at cemetery

We’re happy to announce the completion of a special project – the documenting of the graves of the Dajani cemetery. A few months ago, together with several daughters of the family, we began documenting the Dajani cemetery in Mount Zion and the results are published online in Arabic at https://www.mountzion.org.il/dajani-cemetery-arabic, and in Hebrew at https://www.mountzion.org.il/dajani-cemetery-hebrew. It’s part of a larger cemetery documentation project, of a number of these fascinating cemeteries. Here’s a link to the site: https://www.graves.mountzion.org.il/

Here’s a post from Window to Mount Zion’s Facebook page:

Many thanks to our partners in action for the success of this program.

Naomi Roff2018-08-24T09:41:50+00:00August 20th, 2018|Blog, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Mount Zion, Palestinians/Arabs, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

MiniActive – Empowering Boys as Well as Girls

Since 2012 our MiniActive project has been empowering Palestinian women – and their families and communities – throughout East Jerusalem. For the past few years we’ve also been empowering teenage girls‘ along those same principles.

And now, the boys working to improve the environment

Now it’s the boys’ turn.

Near the Arab Central Library

In June we began 2 new groups for boys, called “Youth Power,” each group with about 10 boys, aged 10 – 14. One group is from Kafr Aqeb, and the other group comes from throughout East Jerusalem, such as: A-tur, Silwan, Beit Hanina, Issawiya, Ras el-Amud, Shuafat.

They start by cleaning the area

Like the girls, they’re working to improve their environment. Each group is focusing on different projects.

Not forgetting any details

One group is working beside the Arab Central Library in Wadi Joz. The second group is also having clean-up operations in their neighborhood.

Cleaning in different parts of East Jerusalem

The boys are also learning English.

Learning English experientially

Much of the intensive work is taking place during the school summer vacation, but the program will continue into the year – improving the environment with their hands, studying Hebrew, and more.

Great work!

Here’s a short video of the boys in their English class:

Here’s a nice Facebook post from the MiniActive Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Natan Fund for their continuing support of MiniActive.

Naomi Roff2018-08-31T11:35:47+00:00August 15th, 2018|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

Promoting Tolerance All the Way to Australia

Michal Shilor, our Coordinator for the Grassroots Campaign for Tolerance, was just the focus of an article on the Australian web site, +61J: Broadening the Conversation. In the article she spoke about her work at the JICC promoting tolerance, Jerusalemite Day, her founding of 0202, and Jerusalem as the World Capital of Tolerance.

0202: Showing all sides of Jerusalem

You can see the original article here. And here’s the text:

Found in translation: Activist puts Hebrew, Arabic speakers on same page

By Ittay Flescher

IN THE SUMMER of 2014, Michal Shilor was studying social work. On the night before her final exam on The Components of a Welfare State, she heard kids yelling “Death to Arabs” outside the window of her apartment in the Nachlaot neighbourhood of central Jerusalem. She thought to herself: “How can I be studying for something that’s supposed to be about social change and how a state should give equal rights to everybody while this is happening outside my window and I am doing nothing?”

Realising that her need to do something was more important to her than studying for an exam, she went outside and followed the group of boys and men to Kikar Tziyon (Zion Square), the centre of the city’s economic and cultural life. On one side of the square stood the far-Right group Lehava,yelling ”Death to Arabs” and “Mohammed is Dead” with further calls for revenge, following the burial of three Israeli boys that had been kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas.

That same night, news had also emerged about the fate of 16-year-old Palestinian who was kidnapped, beaten and, while still alive, set on fire by three Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem. The men justified the murder to police as a response to the abduction and murder of the three Jewish teens.

On the other side of Kikar Tziyon, Shilor saw a large Left-wing rally chanting loudly against fascism and racism. She found herself sitting in the middle with a small group of friends, singing songs and lighting candles, feeling isolated by the aggression of both sides.

As conversations began to emerge between these groups and the many passers-by, Shilor and her activist friends decided to return to Kikar Tziyon every night to have discussions with people about their different visions for Jerusalem.

That discussion became “Speaking in the Square,” a forum that has created a space for complex one-on-one conversations every Thursday night for the past four years and hese turned Kikar Tziyon into a place that is no longer violent.

Shilor was not finished. “I’m talking to the far-Right activists, saying things that my Jewish friends are telling me about what Palestinians think and feel, but all of my knowledge about the Arab residents of my city (who make up 37% of Jerusalem’s population) comes from Jewish eyes.”

She turned to Facebook, which is used heavily in East Jerusalem, to do some research but couldn’t speak or read Arabic. Her solution, with the support of several cultural and philanthropic organisations, was to build a team of Hebrew and Arabic speakers who could find and translate the most viral political and social posts from East and West Jerusalem on a daily basis.

Four months later, the Facebook page 0202 Points of View From Jerusalem went live and has since become one of the most important sources of information for Jerusalem activists and residents alike (the numbers refer to Jerusalem’s telephone area code, 02, and by using it twice, the name conveys connection with the other side of the city). A year later, a page translating posts from Haredi Jerusalem was also added to the project.

The head of 0202 is Shira Laurence, who moved to Jerusalem 10 years ago from the United States. Laurence heads a team of half a dozen part-time staff who manage around 35 translators, most of them volunteers. A self-described “language nerd”, Laurence wrote her senior thesis for Middle Eastern Studies on Jerusalem.

She says one of the most significant achievements of the site involved driving lessons in the Arnona neighbourhood of West Jerusalem, which has a mostly modern Orthodox, Jewish population.

Arnona is popular for people learning to drive in Jerusalem because it’s a relatively new and spacious precinct with wide streets, and much easier than the often small and crowded streets of East Jerusalem. In June 2015, signs went up in Arnona bidding driving lessons on Shabbat and Jewish festivals. Shortly after this announcement by the Jerusalem City Council, there were hundreds of Facebook posts in Arabic from residents and driving instructors in East Jerusalem complaining about how the decision was discriminatory as it prevented them from teaching or learning how to drive at a time that suited them.

When posts of complaint in Arabic where translated to Hebrew by 0202, it eventually led to the council allowing Arab driving instructors to work in the neighbourhood on Shabbat.

The issue received almost no coverage in Jewish West Jerusalem until these posts where translated to Hebrew by 0202, which eventually led to the council reversing the decision.

Dalia Goodhardt, who recently made aliyah from Melbourne and now works on the social media team at 0202, says being part of the team has broadened her horizons about Jerusalem. “Editing posts, especially from Haredim, has exposed me on a regular basis to different narratives of what Jerusalem means to different people. At times it is challenging, as I often translate posts whose views I don’t share, but I always edit neutrally so the reader can make up their own mind.”

Goodhardt, who attended Beth Rivkah Ladies College before majoring in Arabic at Melbourne University, added: “Working at 0202 has given me a better understanding of the Palestinian narrative, giving me more empathy to respect their viewpoints, even though I don’t always agree.”

WATCH: Hagai Agmon Snir, Director of the Jerusalem Intercultural Centre and Board member of 0202 speaks to Plus61J about the importance of Jews in the city learning Arabic.

Shilor says: “Our city is roughly a third Arab (Muslim and Christian), a third Haredi, and a third modern Orthodox or secular. We meet each other in the streets, on public transportation, in restaurants, in hummus places, in garages, in taxis. There are over 500 activist events that celebrate diversity every year.”

Shilor notes that on a tense Jerusalem Day this year, following President Trump’s decision to move the US embassy, with violent clashes on the Gaza border and the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Naqba (the “catastrophe” of Israel’s independence) all occurring in the same week, there were over 80 events promoting tolerance in the city. She believes these events created a different, “authentically Jerusalemite” narrative of the day.

WATCH: Jerusalemite Day of Diversity, 2018

“Just as a city which has infrastructure for bike lanes hosts cycling events, includes a growing community of riders and attracts people from abroad to experience the ‘bicycle capital of the world’, so too, Jerusalem can become the tolerance capital of the world, despite the serious and unresolved political-diplomatic issues facing the city,” Michal Shilor wrote in the journal Fathom.

Shilor’s Facebook translation page is a grassroots attempt to help the different groups within Israeli society speak with one another and discover that more things unite than divide them. For people who call Jerusalem their home, It’s a small but important step in the right direction.

Main photo: Michael Shilor (left) and Shira Laurence

WATCH – Chen Amram presents: Jerusalem – the World Capital of Tolerance

READ
Jerusalem’s light rail has new destination: Teaching Arabic (Tablet)
ELHANAN MILLER With coexistence in mind, the train’s operators will dedicate July to encouraging Israelis to open up to a language too few speak

Follow the 0202 Facebook page in English

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the UJA-Federation of New York, and the Natan Fund for their support of promoting tolerance in Jerusalem. Many thanks to the Leichtag and Rayne Foundations and the Natan Fund for their specific support of 0202.

Naomi Roff2018-08-24T09:44:48+00:00August 10th, 2018|Blog, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Celebrating a Year of The Little Prince

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has,” goes the quote that is most often attributed to world-renowned anthropologist, Margaret Mead.

And this was said without knowing Jerusalemite activists. The only difference between Jerusalemite activists and Rottweiler dogs is that eventually, Rottweilers ease up….

Assessing how far we’ve come

On Wednesday, July 11, the main core of Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together activists – some 70 Palestinians, religious, secular, ultra-Orthodox Jews – got together for a joint meeting. It wasn’t just any joint meeting. It was to celebrate the first full year of activity of the Little Prince project, and to assess where we’ve come, and where we’re going. Many thanks to Muslala, which provided the perfect ambiance for the meeting and the work groups afterward.

Strategizing on where we’re going

It was exciting to see all of Jerusalem’s sectors represented, from at least 10 neighborhoods. It was exciting to see the cross-sector cooperation within and between the different work groups.

Activists broke up into small groups according to project

The members broke up into 4 work groups: Supervision and Enforcement, Sanitation Policy and Infrastructure, R & D, and Education and Awareness-raising.

The conference belonged to the different activist groups, and even though it was a rare opportunity to meet most of the current candidates in the Jerusalem mayoral race (in alphabetical order) – Mr. Ofer Berkovitz, Rabbi Yossi Deutsch, Minister Ze’ev Elkin, Adv. Yossi Havilio, and of course Acct. Moshe Leon. The candidates were polite and according to prior agreement with them, listened to the activists, without giving “opening remarks” or talk during the main session. It showed respect for us and for them. None of them left without promising (of their own accord) to make Jerusalem a symbol of a clean city in Israel, and that it’s top priority for them. The Jerusalem activists will be there in the following months – and afterward – to make sure that this commitment is heard again and again, and is eventually translated into clear outcomes, no matter who wins the mayoral race.

Work emphasized cross-sector cooperation when beneficial

There were a lot of points and ideas that were written in the work groups. In light of the conference a Cleanliness Platform was written, which will be signed by all the mayoral candidates. We would like to thank everyone who showed the activist power of Jerusalem, which can be an excellent resource for the Municipality and the mayor, if they know how to work with them.

All to clean up Jerusalem – together

It never ceases to amaze us how a process that was begun by a group of Palestinian women from East Jerusalem (see MiniActive’s ‘We won’t live in filth!‘ campaign) spread to all sectors throughout Jerusalem, leading to this tidal wave force of activism for a clean Jerusalem!

Leading up to the conference we made a short video:

Here’s the original Facebook post summarizing the conferece:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support for developing activists in Jerusalem!

Naomi Roff2018-08-24T09:27:50+00:00August 6th, 2018|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Palestinians/Arabs, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Monthly Archives: August 2018

Found in translation: Activist puts Hebrew, Arabic speakers on same page