Ultra-Orthodox Jews | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Building Community, Building Playgrounds – from Blocks to Mortar

A few months ago we described a fascinating process that we facilitated in a number of neighborhoods, helping community professionals and local residents plan local themed playgrounds. The process took several months, during which both residents and professionals discussed concepts that it was important for the playgrounds to convey.

Inviting to the planning process

Together, plans were drawn up and submitted to the planning architects. The beginning, brainstorming stage, looked like this:

Plans on paper in Gilo

Translated into professional sketch…

Now, several months later, the plans have become real! A few weeks ago the municipal planners’ southern region posted the following pictures:

Persimmon St. Playground, Gilo, today

As they describe the park: “Two levels were developed, one for the younger ages and one that will serve the older population, with an emphasis on a safe environment for the children. Equipment was installed that will combine and develop children’s creativity in swinging, sliding, jumping, hanging, climbing and spinning around.”

More fun in Gilo

It looks like so much fun!

Naomi Roff2016-03-05T11:23:22+00:00March 3rd, 2016|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Gilo, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Promoting Tolerance on the Radio

Radio? Did someone say radio?

Yesterday, three initiatives that we’ve been working with over the past year and more – 0202 – A View from East Jerusalem (both in Hebrew and in English), Speaking in the Square, and the Abu-Tor/A-Thuri Good Neighbors project – were featured on the Microphones for Peace program on the JLM.FM web radio station.

Daniel described what he’s learned and discovered as part of “Speaking in the Square”. “I’ve discovered the great diversity of Jerusalemites; I’ve met many of the ‘reasonable Jerusalemites.’ We’ve discovered that in Zion Square, even the raging masses are willing to listen.”

In the Microphones for Peace studio

Aliza described the uniqueness of the program in Abu Tor / Al-Thuri, which is currently developing a number of joint programs. “As opposed to trying to influence the entire public sphere, we’re working on a much more personal level. We’re building trust on a very personal level, and only then will we even think about opening up our activities to people from outside the neighborhood. I’m discovering, to my pleasant surprise, that both sides are excited to get to know one another, to see what life is like for our neighbors.”

Michal, who made 0202 happen, told the story of the making of a Facebook channel of communications that transformed for many the understanding of East Jerusalem. She also talked about her work with us at the JICC in creating the tolerance neighborhood network of Jerusalem.

Kol Hakavod for everyone’s efforts – keep up the good work!

Many thanks to the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jerusalem Foundation for their support of our work to promote tolerance in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2017-03-25T06:49:27+00:00February 27th, 2016|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Palestinians/Arabs, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Continuing Pope Paul VI’s Tradition Peacefully on Mount Zion

“Veni, Sancte Spiritus/ tui amoris in eis ignem accende,” – Come Holy Spirit, hug your believers in the fire of your love

Last week our Window to Mount Zion volunteers were part of an extraordinary joint prayer service that took place in the Room of the Last Supper (read here in Hebrew about it) on Mount Zion. Held every year during the last week of January, this was an extremely diverse gathering – Ethiopians and Copts, Catholics and Orthodox, Romanian, Armenian, Lutheran and other communities; Priests, nuns, students of theology and many laymen, shoulder to shoulder to pray for the unity of the Christian church. All 150 of them praying for Christian unity. This is no small feat, given the centuries-old history of rivalry and worse between the different divisions of the Christian church.

The event was led by the Benedictine monks from the nearby Dormition Abbey (read here in Hebrew about it). They read from the Bible: Isaiah’s prophecy: “My House will be a house of prayer all peoples,” sang psalms, read from the New Testament as well. Sermons were given in Latin, German, French, English, Hebrew and Arabic, each one with a message of unity in faith, hope for a better world and a determination to stand together against difficulties along the way. Our Window on Mount Zion volunteers, in coordination with both the police and the monks leading the service, served as ushers and made sure the service proceeded smoothly. Both the police and monks were extremely grateful for our assistance.

The event ended with the Lord’s Prayer. As participants left, Jewish passersby, on their way to worship at David Tomb, greeted the Christians, creating an atmosphere of coexistence, mutual respect and cooperation. This is exactly the type of relations we are striving for in the Window on Mount Zion project.

How did this tradition come about? In 1964, Pope Paul VI made his first papal visit to the Middle East since the Middle Ages, during which he visited various Orthodox communities. In January 1964 he conducted an historic meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, the first such meeting in 900 years! Since then, in an attempt to continue this improvement of relations, Christians around the world hold joint prayer services during the last week of January. In Jerusalem, this week was sealed with a joint prayer in the Room of the Last Supper, formally a neutral place, historically and religiously significant, and a sacred site to almost all the Christian communities in the city.

For a moment, it seemed as if Isaiah’s prophesy was coming true…

You can learn more about “Window to Mount Zion” in Hebrew at the site and at the Facebook Page .

Naomi Roff2020-02-02T04:02:48+00:00January 31st, 2016|Blog, Christians, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Mount Zion, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Window to Mount Zion – Solidarity in the Face of Adversity

We usually like to post positive news here, but in the Jerusalem everyday reality, not all is positive. This past weekend, in the middle of the night, the walls of our neighbors on Mount Zion, the Dormition Abbey and both the Armenian and Greek cemeteries, were littered with anti-Christian graffiti. (Click here for the news story from the Jerusalem Post.)

Graffiti on Dormition Abbey

In addition to across the board condemnation by both Jewish and Arab Israeli leaders, we, the residents of Mt. Zion, thanks to the Window on Mt. Zion project, released the following statement:

Dormition Abbey statement

“We, the institutions, organizations and individuals residing on Mount Zion, harshly condemn the writing of anti-Christian hate slogans on and around Christian sites on Mount Zion – Jerusalem, which took place tonight, January 17th 2016.
The vandalism included curses and violent threats. We, residents of Mount Zion, call on the public to preserve the security and mutual respect of the Holy Places to all religions on Mount Zion. When one of these places is desecrated, it affects not only the site itself, but also all other holy sites on Mount Zion. In addition, these repeated acts of desecration undermine the delicate fabric of coexistence in the Holy Land in general and in the Holy City of Jerusalem in particular.

On behalf of:

* The Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion
* The Armenian Patriarchate, Armenian Cemetery on Mount Zion
* World Benei-Akiva on Mount Zion
* The Christian Department, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Room of the Last Supper on Mount Zion
* Arik Pelzig – Harp of David on Mount Zion
* The Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion
* Dr. Zigmond Zigler Cohen, Mount Zion resident
* The Jerusalem University College on Mount Zion
* Custodia Terra Sancta, Ed-Cenaculum Franciscan Monastery on Mount Zion
* The Jerusalem Intercultural Center on Mount Zion

This is probably the first time in the long history of Mt. Zion (at least 1000 years of inter-religious conflicts!) that a joint statement of the resident institutions of the mountain issued a shared condemnation against the desecration of a holy site on Mt. Zion! So, while we’re deeply saddened by this incident, as well as other tragedies that have happened in the past few days, we are proud of the Window on Mt. Zion program, which has enabled us to reach this unprecedented collaboration.

We’re operating the Window on Mt. Zion program in cooperation with Search for Common Ground’s Jerusalem office, thanks to a grant from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). This amazing program has raised, in a few months, awareness about the different and varied religious sites on Mt. Zion – Christian, Muslim as well as Jewish – to thousands of people, young and old, Israelis and tourists, Jews, Christians and Muslims. The goal – to make Mt. Zion a place that welcomes people of all backgrounds and faiths to the very special sites that are of utmost importance to people of all faiths throughout the world.

The next day, an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leader, Nahum Shlezinger, came to Mount Zion just to apologize in the name of Judaism, and to tell the Christians that the anti-Christian graffiti is not the Jewish way. Helped by the excellent cooperation between the local police and the church – as a result of our efforts, the connection was made and the dialogue between the Jewish leader and the Christian representative happened. You can see it here and on a Facebook post on the Window on Mount Zion Facebook page:

May we continue to bring only good news.

Naomi Roff2016-10-21T09:08:50+00:00January 20th, 2016|Blog, Christians, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Mount Zion, Palestinians/Arabs, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Training the Trainers in Cultural Competency – Reaching the Peak of Project Development

We’ve been working in Cultural Competency for a long time – 8 years to be exact. Our work has run the gamut of both deep and broad – our work at the ALYN Rehabilitative Hospital in Jerusalem included not only training all personnel in the principles of cultural competency, but also ensuring that signs and forms were translated into a number of languages, as well as enabling medical interpretation in a number of languages. Our work with the Israel Ministry of Health led to the directive that required all health care institutions to become culturally competent. We worked in individual clinics and HMO’s on the national level. We’ve been developing, together with the Bar Ilan University Department of Interpreting and Translation, training films and a training guide to use with the films. The guide was recently completed, which led us to the next natural step – a training the trainers course.

Training the Trainers Class Picture

The course was a 5-session workshop – 40 academic hours – that ran from November 5 – December 3, 2015. It included 15 participants from all over Israel, including 5 Jerusalem representatives – from ALYN, the Jerusalem Center for Mental Health, Hadassah Mount Scopus, Hadassah Ein Kerem and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Participants came from a wide variety of fields within the health care system – social work, occupational therapy, nursing, admissions officers, instructors in nursing schools and more. Two participants had already been our students – in medical interpreting courses for professionals in mental health fields.

The course was based on the short movies and the instruction handbook that were produced over the last two years. The course included skills on how to facilitate training workshops, cultural competency workshops that are based on the movies or on case studies that the participants bring with them. The course was such a success that we are already planning the next one – hurry and sign up, before it is full!

Naomi Roff2016-01-01T14:32:24+00:00December 13th, 2015|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, New Immigrants, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Toward Culturally Competent Employment Training and Placement

Cultural competency affects us all, nearly everywhere – in the health care system, in the welfare system, in the education system, and more. Issues related to cultural competency also come into play in employment training and placement, and we are proud to be a part of change in the system.

Be-Atzmi workshop

On November 10 we held an all-day seminar for the Be-Atzmi organization, which assists thousands of unemployed and underprivileged men and women every year to integrate, on their own, into stable and appropriate workforce opportunities. Since Be-Atzmi often works with populations on the geographic and socio-economic periphery – including Israelis of Ethiopian descent, the Ultra-Orthodox, and Arab populations – a culturally competent approach to employment training and placement can be critically important for the program’s successes. Thus, this year the organization dedicated its annual professional development seminar to cultural competency.

More of the workshop

The seminar was held for all workers who come in contact with clients from throughout the country – some 150 people – and was held at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The day included teaching the different skills required to deal with different issues in a culturally competent manner. These included, for example, cultural objections to going out to work, refreshments during the Muslim month of Ramadan in mixed groups, integrating husbands into decisions, etc. The seminar dealt mainly with ‘personal cultural competence,’ which means how cultural competency affects individual people. For instance, a case worker suggested what seemed to be a perfect job for a Bedouin woman – working as a maid in a hotel. The pay was above minimum wage, the wages included full benefits, and the hotel provided transportation to and from work. The one problem – in Bedouin society, working as a hotel maid is not something ‘good girls’ do. It is considered to be ‘working in the bedroom,’ just one step up from prostitution (!) The solution – all the job seekers must be interviewed to see what kinds of jobs they’d be willing to take, and it must be made sure that cultural and religious norms are not infringed upon.

Participant in workshop

Other issues that were discussed were interviews, and the different ‘western codes’ of what is acceptable and not acceptable to say in an interview, being on time, involvement of the husband in decision-making – there is a gap between what the facilitators are used to and what the clients need.

As a result of the positive feedback received by organizers and participants, we will also begin to work with Be-Atzmi in developing their organizational cultural competence as well. This means ensuring that all forms and informative publications and signage be produced in a number of languages to fit the clients’ needs, that different culture’s holidays are respected, etc. In short, it means making sure that the broader picture that is the organization thinks in a culturally competent manner.

Naomi Roff2015-12-18T19:06:31+00:00November 17th, 2015|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, New Immigrants, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Window to Mt. Zion – Serving as a Microcosm for all of Jerusalem

Our home on Mt. Zion is a fascinating place. Our neighbors include the Dormition Abbey, the Diaspora Yeshiva, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim cemeteries. We have Oscar Schindler’s grave (in the Catholic cemetery), as well as the home of renowned Israeli sculptor, David Palombo, who created the gates to Israel’s Knesseth building. And of course, the most important site on Mount Zion stands in the middle of the complex and it is the only site in the world that is holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam! For Jews and Muslims is it David’s Tomb. The Jewish King David who is also a prophet for the Muslims is believed to be buried in a cave under the building. For the Christians it is the Cenacle, better known as Jesus Last Supper Room. Holy for all three, but like the rest of the city – and even the region – much tension has arisen over the past thousand years around it. And also in the last few years regarding who visits what, and when, and to whom it all belongs. Seemingly a microcosm for all issues Jerusalem….

Christian cemetery

Tensions peaked in the fall of 2013 – the spring of 2014, as the newly-appointed Pope Francis sought to visit the Holy Land and was scheduled to visit David’s Tomb / the Room of the Last Supper. Jews protested, sometimes violently. We convened the residents of Mt. Zion, and amazingly were able to get everyone in one room, together with the police, to try and work out a solution. Thankfully, in the end the Pope’s visit was uneventful, but it uncovered a deeper problem Mt. Zion has been facing, and emphasized the need for action.

That is how the “Window to Mt. Zion” project came about. We partnered with the Search for Common Ground Jerusalem Office, which is also working on a registry for Holy Sites. This project seeks to raise awareness in the general public about Mt. Zion, hold regular tours of the chief sites and areas of Mt. Zion, noting any detail, any improvement or any physical attacks. As part of the project, a corps of 15 – 20 volunteers, in pairs, triplets and sometimes individually, tour the different sites around Mt. Zion, recording – and reporting when necessary – any interesting things they see. You can read their blog in Hebrew, here.

Inside a monestary

Last week, on Friday, 23 October, we had a kickoff event, as part of the Open House Jerusalem festival that took place throughout Jerusalem over the weekend. We set up a stand outside the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, and offered a wide range of tours and lectures all over the Mount. We had tours of Mt. Zion from a Muslim perspective. We had tours of the recent archaeological excavations that are just outside the Old City walls. We had tours of the different cemeteries that populate the Mount. We told the fascinating story of our home and its famous mulberry tree. The Dormition Abbey and the Diaspora Yeshiva opened their doors to visitors as well. All in all, we told our story to 100 – 150 people throughout the day.

Information table, Zion Gate

Naomi Roff2017-04-07T14:37:00+00:00October 30th, 2015|Blog, Christians, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Mount Zion, Palestinians/Arabs, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Cultural Competency in Hadassah Academic College

The end of the Jewish High Holidays signal the beginning of the academic year for Israel’s colleges and universities. This year, Hadassah Academic College is beginning the year much more culturally competent than last, and it will continue the trend, into this upcoming school year.

Training at Hadassah College

We began working with the college in November of 2014, after a very difficult summer and fall in Jerusalem. During the year we began operating a series of seminars for administration and lecturers on the principles of cultural competency and how they applied to an academic setting. Read here for more information about the beginning of the process.

Practicing in big and small groups

The different types of course studies at the Hadassah College are are vastly different in nature from one another. There are those that are based on laboratory work, those that are based on frontal lectures, those that work with patients. Sometimes communication with the lecturers is direct and sometimes most of the students’ communication with the administration is done through counselors. So we adapted the different workshops to the different kinds of learning systems in place. In June and July, we held four full-day workshops for 80 faculty members from 7 different departments (laboratory sciences, environmental health, biotechnology, optometry and computer science), conducting workshops in groups according to learning style. Throughout the 2015 – 2016 school year we will continue to work with faculty from different departments. In the next stage, we will work with students who work with patients (such as speech therapy and optometry) during their training.

Naomi Roff2015-11-01T16:57:33+00:00October 25th, 2015|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, New Immigrants, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Building Community Solidarity through Themed Playgrounds

How would you like your local public playground? Aimed at big or little kids? With a pirate theme or dinosaurs or space travel?

Can you really have a playground made to order? Well, yes. During the spring and summer months we were involved in community-building processes that aimed to do just that – build community by building a playground. We were approached by the Jerusalem Municipality to lead processes in Gilo, Ir Ganim, Givat Hamivtar and Shuafat. With funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies, established by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, we set to work.

Jerusalem’s diversity, building playgrounds

The processes were led by the staff of the different community councils, alongside Municipality officials. Before meeting with the residents, these process leaders met to set joint project goals and ensure that everyone was on the same page. (Indeed, ‘informed decision-making’ is a key component of the principles of participatory democracy.) Different concepts were reviewed – what exactly are themed playgrounds, the rough budgets set aside for building the playgrounds, the timeline, safety standards, types of potential equipment, examples of themed playgrounds from around the world for inspiration, and more. We then set out to mentor the neighborhoods separately, as all residents in each community were invited to sessions that included brainstorming for different themes, coming to agreement on what residents wanted in a playground, and more. After both residents and community and planning professionals put their ideas on paper (illustrated in the pictures), suggestions were passed along to the landscape architects contracted to design the playgrounds. In Gilo residents chose to establish a “Cub Park” (for example, trying to mimic characteristic movements of different animals in the park, such as, but not necessarily including, crawling like a snake, climbing like a monkey, jumping like a kangaroo, etc.). Residents in Givat Hamivtar chose “Man and his World;” in Ir Ganim, “Touching the Sky;” and in Shuafat, “Space Park.” The architects are now working on specific designs and are scheduled to present these designs to the neighborhoods very soon.

We came to this project as a result of our in-depth work with residents of Kiryat Hayovel and Kiryat Menachem / Ir Ganim in the Asbestonim Wadi, which runs between Kiryat Hayovel and Kiryat Menachem / Ir Ganim. We can’t wait to see how these new playgrounds turn out!

Plans on paper

Naomi Roff2015-11-01T17:00:33+00:00September 16th, 2015|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Gilo Community Dialogue, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Kiryat Yovel, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Can Israel’s Police Force Become Culturally Competent?

The news is full of stories of the police’s treatment – appropriate or not – of civilians. Just recently Americans marked the one-year anniversary of the shooting of a young, black, unarmed man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, USA, which led to riots and civil unrest for some time. In May of this year Israeli police officer were shown beating a soldier of Ethiopian descent, which led to a wave of demonstrations of the Ethiopian community in Israel, and unrest in the streets.

Israel’s police force – and any police force – are under constant and almost unbearable pressure to keep law and order, working among a vastly diverse population. Educators in the Israeli Police Force recognized this complexity, and requested to begin working with us to develop a cultural competency training module for police cadets. To their credit, planning work actually began before relations between the police and the Ethiopian community made headlines. But the light shown on the police during the full-force demonstrations of the Ethiopian community this spring underlined the necessity of this kind of training. As a result, we began to working with all new police cadets, as part of their 14-week basic training course. At the same time, we are beginning an in-depth process with 23 police stations throughout the country.

At this first stage we are implementing introductory workshops to different training courses – basic policing, detectives, border police, cavalry, advanced policing – all are undergoing the basic 1 1/2 hour workshop. Since the beginning of June we’ve held 40 seminars, with 20 – 30 police cadets in each group. That’s already 1,200 cadets! After this, we will be organizing a Train the Trainers course for the regular instructors in the police academy, so the principles can be fully integrated into their training regimen.

The Israel Police Academy (credit: Israeli Police Facebook page)

More in-depth processes will be taking place in 26 police stations throughout the country that have high concentrations of Israelis of Ethiopian descent, including two in Jerusalem, Moriah in the south and Shufat in the north. In this process we are partnering together with the Gishurim project. The first step of this process will be a half-day seminar on cultural competency, using facilitators that we’ve trained. We will begin training the facilitators in September; they will then lead 150 seminars throughout the country.

And what do the police think about these training sessions? We’re finding that many, especially Jerusalemites, are already very in-tuned to the cultural complexities of our city, and make every effort to consider the effects that cultural sensitivity has on the residents with whom they come into contact. We are honored to be part of a process that seeks to bring law and order to all residents of the city.

Naomi Roff2017-05-02T07:52:10+00:00August 13th, 2015|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Police, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, New Immigrants, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

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