Blog | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Increasing Tolerance in Kiryat Hayovel between, Secular and Haredi Jews

As part of our activities to increase tolerance throughout Jerusalem, we’re also helping secular and Haredi Jews live better together in Kiryat Hayovel.

Haredim and secular Jews refuse to be enemies!

For example, last month these signs started popping up all around Kiryat Hayovel. These signs are a response to posters that had been put up against the Haredi population there.

Adding hope to Kiryat Hayovel

The new signs included messaging such as, “Haredim and secular Jews refuse to be enemies,” and added hope to the streets of Kiryat Hayovel.

At the store, in playgrounds, all over

In addition to these signs, over the past few months we’ve been working with groups of Haredi and secular (and all those in the middle) Jews in Kiryat Hayovel, in a number of initiatives, from parenting issues for fathers, regular meetings for women, soccer, and much more. Stay tuned!

Here’s the post (Hebrew):

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to the Natan Fund for their support of our efforts to increase tolerance in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2019-05-04T17:00:03+00:00May 3rd, 2019|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

New MiniActive Web Site

The MiniActive Network of Palestinian Women Volunteers has become a powerhouse of effective activism in East Jerusalem over the past seven years.

Until now, their main avenue of getting the word out has been their Facebook page. You’ve also been able to read about them and get updates from our web site (link above), our blog, and on 0202 – Points of View from Jerusalem.

Now, they have their very own web site.

Here’s the link, and here’s a look. The Google Translate Chrome extension can help to understand the Arabic.

Take a look at MiniActive’s new web site!

Congratulations, MiniActive!

And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan Fund for their support of MiniActive.

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T06:16:37+00:00May 1st, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

Graduating a New Class of Medical Interpreters

On April 16 we held our graduation ceremony for yet another class of medical interpreters. It marked the completion of a 45-hour course in basic skills of medical interpreting, which was held at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

Integrating more medical interpreters into health care staffs

The course helped people working in medical institutions to learn interpretation skills in order to volunteer in the institution in which they work. The 27 participants came from Shaare Zedek, Hadassah Ein Kerem, ALYN Rehabilitative Hospital, as well as additional places outside of Jerusalem. The course dealt both with principles of interpreting, various issues in the field, as well as relevant vocabulary in Arabic, Amharic, Russian and French. A special thank-you goes to Messele Mamo, who joined the team at the last minute to teach the section for Amharic-speakers.

Course graduates are already being integrated into interpreting teams in the institutions in which they work. We just got an SMS from one participant, thanking us for the tools he learned in the course, and exclaiming how they help him make health care more accessible to the French-speaking patients he translates for.

Many thanks to Dr. Adit Dayan, Director of Community Services at the Jerusalem Foundation, who distributed the graduation certificates. And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its strategic partnership in developing Cultural Competency for more than the past decade.

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T04:38:43+00:00April 29th, 2019|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Beginning a Neighborhood Improvement Project during Spring Break

As schools in East Jerusalem went out on Spring Break, our MiniActive Boys started out on a new project, helping their community.

Creating benches from shipping pallets

In cooperation with the Sur Baher Community Center, they started building benches from shipping pallets.

Each boy was given specific tasks

What a neat thing to do during school vacation!

Adding interest to an otherwised empty patio

Adding interest to an otherwise empty patio

Here’s the post in Arabic:

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

Naomi Roff2019-05-04T05:22:57+00:00April 28th, 2019|Blog, MiniActive|

Wishing a Happy – and Clean – Passover Holiday

We’ve come a long way in Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together. This year, just before the Passover Seder, our Tal Kligman was able to take a moment to see how far we’ve come, in this Facebook post:

Cleaning right before Passover

A few hours before the Passover Seder, 3:00 PM, and finishing up my last two errands. My small daughter fell asleep in the back seat, so I continue to drive, meandering through the neighborhoods. There is silence in the streets, when everyone is at home, preparing for the holiday. But not everyone. The only (almost) people still out on the streets are the sanitation workers. Beit Vegan, Ein Kerem, Kiryat Hayovel, Beit Hakerem and Kiryat Menachem, garbage trucks all over. 3-5 workers on each truck, moving cans, emptying them. The holiday is nearly upon us, and here they are, working, and making such an effort so that we can have clean streets for the holiday.

It’s true, alongside rows of clean garbage cans there were many that were not. There were also residents who piled trash on benches or next to stores that weren’t cleaned up. There were cans that were emptied but the garbage that fell to the ground stayed there. There was a little bit of everything.

But hey, there are municipal employees who are still working and at 3:15 on a holiday eve, and the Jerusalem Municipality is still apparently awake.

More cleaning right before Passover

My holiday blessing: I hope that we continue our joint efforts to clean up our beloved city, that this effort will become routine, that residents from all the communities will help the sanitation teams and put the garbage in the garbage cans, that the infrastructure will grow and meet the needs of the residents, and that we’ll be able to plan and bring the plans to fruition, the Municipality and residents, the way to a clean Jerusalem. Because the city belongs to all of us and we all want a clean Jerusalem…Thank you sanitation workers for your efforts and willingness, and for not skipping over my small, inaccessible alley.

Happy and clean holiday for everyone.

Here’s the post in Hebrew:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to the Rayne Foundation for their support of the Little Prince.

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T06:35:09+00:00April 25th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

MiniActive – Finishing Another Year of Studying Hebrew

This year, on April 16, as the Hebrew University went on Passover break and just before Ramadan, we finished yet another year of studying Hebrew, together with the Lissan – “Medabrot Ivrit” (Women Speaking Hebrew) organization.

Intisar speaking to a full auditorium

Some 200 women from MiniActive, including 50 teenage girls from MiniActive Youth, took weekly Hebrew classes, on 3 levels – beginning, intermediate and advanced – throughout the year.

Women with their certificates

MiniActive Director Intisar Qaraeen spoke at the graduation ceremony. Graduates proudly came with their families, and filled Hebrew University’s large auditorium.

Auditorium full with graduates and families

Congratulations to all graduates!

Here’s MiniActive’s post in Arabic:

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

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T06:22:23+00:00April 25th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

Gearing Up for Jerusalemite Day 2019

The tradition continues: Jerusalemites reclaim Jerusalem Day with Jerusalemite Day – Day of Diversity!

Inviatation to open space

Jerusalem Day (1-2.6.2019) is the most important time to emphasize the efforts in the city to make the city more tolerant to all the various identities and groups living here. This year, too, we will re-claim Jerusalem Day via a variety of activities designed to promote tolerance, which will light up the city!

Jerusalemite Day of Diversity is a platform to emphasize Jerusalemite involvement and responsibility to promote diversity in the city. This is the day for activities by Jerusalemites, for Jerusalemites, and about Jerusalemites, to echo our varied voices and make them heard loud and clear.

In the past four years, Jerusalemites from all over the city came together in over 80 events, tours, lectures, performances, panels, and activities which took place all over the city, each year, on Jerusalem Day. All of these together portrayed Jerusalem’s tolerance and diversity.

Developing initiatives for Jerusalemite Day

Open Space Meet-Up April 14

On Sunday, April 14, we had our Open Space Technology meet-up, to encourage initiatives, making Jerusalemite Day 2019 the best one yet! There were people from different parts of the city, different backgrounds and different interests, with one thing in common – passion for initiating a special, multi-cultural and uniquely Jerusalemite initiative on Jerusalem Day. After everyone thought about an idea for an initiative, they presented their ideas in front of the group, and from there smaller groups began thinking tachles how they can bring their ideas to fruition, cooperating with different initiatives, different people and to understand how each can advance his or her initiative.

Examples of a few initiatives included:

Open houses that host artists and other Jerusalemites for musical performances;
Creative writing and more;
A giant ‘Connect the Dots’ where passersby will participate and create a giant picture;
An improv performance that present Jerusalemite stories of those sitting next to them, and much, much more.

Working in larger and smaller groups

Together, they, and other initiatives we are working with, are developing and creating an interesting mix of activities and events in the public sphere, that will re-claim Jerusalem Day and respect all of the different Jerusalemites.

Here’s the link from the Jerusalem Tolerance web site.

Here’s the post (in Hebrew) from the Jerusalem Tolerance Facebook page:

See you on Jerusalemite Day!

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, to the Leichtag Foundation, to the Natan Fund and to the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation for their support of Jerusalemite Day.

Naomi Roff2019-04-26T05:05:14+00:00April 21st, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

MiniActive – Happy Women’s Day!

In honor of Arab Women’s Day, which was in late March, on March 18, MiniActive held a huge party at its offices in East Jerusalem.

Showing their support of Palestinian women

The event included 400 of the MiniActive family of volunteers, and their families.

At the event, the women thanked the regional coordinators for their dedication. There were also performances of a poet, Debka dancing, and a short play.

Volunteers also shared their success stories. For example, one woman and her daughter joined the MiniActive network a few months ago, and their work drastically changed the way their area looks!

Here’s the Facebook post in Arabic:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan Fund for its continued support of MiniActive!

Naomi Roff2019-05-04T16:55:13+00:00April 12th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

Atta’a – Facebook Video on New Location of East Jerusalem Branch of National Insurance Institute Goes Nearly Viral

Atta’a is here to give Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem the information they need to help them in their everyday lives. One of the simplest, but most useful – and most popular – ways to do this is through short videos.

This video, for example, showed how to go to the Municipality.

And the newest video, below, shows how to get to the National Insurance Institute’s new offices in East Jerusalem. The National Insurance Institute is an important national welfare agency, and many residents are eligible for benefits and payments.

Daud at the National Insurance Institute East Jerusalem branch

Here’s the video from the Facebook page. Thus far, we know that some 30,000 people have seen the video, and it’s been ‘shared’ 90 times!!!

Many thanks to the Leichtag Foundation and the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of Atta’a.

Naomi Roff2019-04-06T05:55:52+00:00March 31st, 2019|Attaa, Blog, Palestinians/Arabs|

0202 – Supplementing News to Israel’s Main News Outlets

We’ve mentioned here and here how 0202 – Points of View from Jerusalem has become a significant news source for many – including major Israeli journalists.

Yesterday it happened again. This story told about the Israeli police shutting down a party to commemorate Arab women’s day. In the middle of the Internet page, we see none other than 0202:

Haaretz0202March2019

Keep it going 0202!

Naomi Roff2019-04-06T05:57:58+00:00March 24th, 2019|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|