Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem

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.

Friday, March 8 was International Women’s Day. In honor of this day, the local Jerusalem newspaper, Yediot Yerushalayim, ran an article (in Hebrew), listing the “35 Most Influential Women who Changed Jerusalem in the Past Year.”

“At a certain point I understood that I live in a certain Jerusalem, and I don’t even know what goes on with my neighbors that live in a different Jerusalem. That’s why I founded the 0202 non-profit foundation, which provides access to points of view from East, West and Haredi Jerusalem to each other, in Arabic and Hebrew, through Facebook, guided tours, meetings etc’ – with no specific interpretation of events or biased filtering of facts.

We work with many of the others listed as well. All the women were asked, what’s it like to be a woman in Jerusalem?

Fay Sukenik, with whom we work on a number of issues, including involvement in the Haredi community, said:

“It’s being in the heart of action, in the heart of the conflict. To be in a fertile place of social entrepreneurs and cooperation between sectors. A city with conflicts is a challenging city that enables action and growth. We don’t need to be afraid of it…To live in Jerusalem means to live in a place where anything can happen, if you only believe and work hard toward that goal.”

Efrat Givaty, who works with us on The Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together, said:

To dream and to do the impossible in a city full of possibilities.

Aliza Meir-Epstein, who we work with on the Good Neighbors project in Abu Tor, said:

Jerusalem women have a critical role in designing the city, which directly impacts the face of the entire nation. Jerusalem is a microcosm of the State of Israel. Many of the country’s central issues are concentrated here and receive a louder and more extreme flavor here. It is in our hands to influence the discourse, the approach and to find innovative and creative solutions.

Ariel Markose, with whom we work on the Jerusalem Model, said:

It means to exist with many identities, and each one is a world in and of itself. I think it’s not only among women – to be a Jerusalemite means to have a number of layers. A woman in Jerusalem is a complex thing, because everything in your life is associated with a part of your Jerusalem-ness. Your neighborhood, your religion, your political identity, your work, your volunteering. The very fact that you live in Jerusalem expresses your choices, because no one is in Jerusalem by chance. So to be a woman in Jerusalem is to be very nuanced, which is fascinating and part of the richness I feel in my life in this city.

And there were many more. Here’s a link to the Internet version of the article, in Hebrew.

Article first page

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

Congratulations to all those listed, and keep up the good work!

As Jerusalem settles in to a new routine with its new mayor and new city council, our Michal Shilor had a few words of advice for the new administration, based on the Jerusalem Covenant. It was published on the local web site MyNet, which is associated with the Ynet news giant.

Here’s the link to the Hebrew article.

And here’s the English translation.

They all gathered in one room. 90 activists from Jerusalem. Those who voted for Moshe Leon, those who voted for Ofer Berkowitz. Haredim, religious, secular, Arabs, leftists and rightists. They all came with one goal: to think about how we will work together during the next five years. All the residents of the city – for a better city, where both its administration and its residents see everyone. They split up into working groups to promote issues of joint interest such as cleanliness, public transportation, mixed neighborhoods, economic development, urban planning and more.

Activism is a central part of the second principle of the Jerusalem Covenant, which states that those who work for the improvement of the city are a critical resource, and the establishment must see them as such, and even assist them, even when they report hazards or problems. Jerusalem needs to be a city that is attentive to everyone. It needs to be a city that sees its activists as a resource, as those who care about seeing a city that is good for them and their neighbors, as those who understand what should be advanced, because the municipality’s decisions will affect their daily lives. And we – the residents, activists in some cases – know what is better for us than anyone else.

The meeting of activists from the entire spectrum of the population is the real Jerusalem. In fact, each of us can be an activist and promote what is important in Jerusalem. Because our city should be led by women and men like those who came together [in late November] to think together how to take Jerusalem forward, who are active and initiating and changing our reality every day, every minute, in the public sphere. We must demand that the city’s leadership work together with us – together with all of us – to advance the city in a way that will benefit everyone.

Now is the time to remind the new city council that it must work with us, the residents, the activists. That we are an essential resource for leading the city and making decisions that will affect all of our daily lives. Close cooperation between the Jerusalem activists and the Municipality will turn our city into one where everyone feels they can influence and change. A city where everyone feels like they belong, so they smile a little more, walk with confidence, and take interest in their neighbors. A city that engages its residents, because it understands that we know best what is good for us, and our neighbors, together.

Many thanks to the Schusterman and Leichtag Foundations for their support of the Jerusalem Covenant activities, and to Natan and the Jerusalem Foundation for their continued support of our efforts to advance tolerance in Jerusalem!

“A body of men who hold themselves accountable to no one, ought not to be trusted by anyone.”  – Thomas Paine

Planning for the next five years

This guiding principle, written by one of the USA’s Founding Fathers, is also an underlying principle of the Jerusalem Covenant. It is what brought Ariella Bernstein, Chief of Staff at the Jerusalem Foundation, and 90 other active residents, including Arabs and secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, City Council members, municipal professionals, lay leaders, supporters of all the different mayoral candidates, to our “Jerusalem: Toward the Next Five Years” event that took place on Tuesday, November 27 at the newly-opened WeWork branch in Jerusalem. Their common goal: to make Jerusalem a city that is good for all its residents.

Yisrael Isaacs, on the need to work together on the things that unite

Participants created work groups on public transportation, mixed neighborhoods, cleanliness, social activism, economic development, urban planning, East Jerusalem and aesthetics in the public sphere. These groups will continue to advance issues and projects in these areas in the spirit of the Jerusalem  Covenant, which has created guiding principles for civic action in the city. The Covenant will help us to devise what is the most worthwhile to do, how to do it, and to make sure we’re not forgetting anyone, and to work together to create a common good and well-being in our city. As our Director, Hagai Agmon-Snir, wrote in this MyNet article (in Hebrew): “The Jerusalem Covenant seeks to say one thing – that the city and the municipality need to take care of everyone and give them services in the most culturally sensitive way possible, just because they are city residents. This clean approach will enable Jerusalem to develop in the best way possible for everyone.”

Working to further East Jerusalem, public transportation, cleanliness, urban planning, resident activism and much more

Many thanks to Eli Yakobi, Yisrael Isaacs and Ariella Bernstein who opened the event. A special thanks to everyone who came and participated and contributed to the evening, paving the way for the next five years. More thanks go to the Leichtag Foundation, Charles and Lynn Shusterman Family Foundation,  the Natan Fund and the Jerusalem Foundation for their support for our efforts to increase tolerance in Jerusalem.

Here’s the Hebrew Facebook post that sums up the evening: