- A Call to Women and
Men
-
-
- Beyond Words
- Good News
- The Beyond
- Words Newsletter
- October, 2004
-
- Beyond Words is a non-profit organization
that run unique and innovative
- programs developed in Israel over the
past ten years. The programs are
- designed to train Arab and Jewish early
childhood educators and parents to
- become champions and leaders for
Coexistence and Peace in their homes, work
- places and communities. To date, we have
trained nearly 110 teachers, who
- combined work with over 3,000 students
every year.
-
- A Call to Women and
Men
-
- On one occasion when asked by a follower
to whom one should show the most
- respect and kindness, the Prophet
Mohammad replied: "Your mother." "And
- then who?" insisted the questioner. "Your
mother" Mohammad replied again.
- "And then who?" "Your mother" responded
the prophet for the third time. The
- questionnaire persisted: "And after that
who?" "Your father," Mohammad
- replied.
-
- --- From the Price of Honor by Jan
Goodwin
-
- More than fourteen hundred years ago the
Prophet Mohammad reminded us that mothers who are also someone's
daughters, sisters, and wives should be
- respected and treated kindly above anyone
else. In his last public address
- to Muslims from Mount Arafat near Mecca
the prophet exhorted them: "Treat
- your women well and be kind to
them."
-
- And yet for hundreds of years here in the
Middle East, far too often, this
- has not been the case as reflected in a
poem written by Atiya Daewood, a
- Sindhi poet from Pakistan.
-
- The
Journey
-
- The journey of my
life
- begins from home,
- ends at the
graveyard.
-
- My life is spent like a
corpse,
- carried on the
shoulders
- of my father and
brother,
- husband and son.
-
- Bathed in
religion,
- attired in
customs,
- and buried in a grave of
ignorance.
-
-
- In the last decades the contradiction
between what is and what should be,
- the experience of being pushed down,
crushed and oppressed for far too long
- has driven women across the spectrum in
terms of belief systems and
- life-styles to come out of their various
degrees of bondage and unite in
- their call for a change.
-
- In Israel, in the last decade there has
been a dramatic increase in women's
- groups and circles where women seek
support and assistance to become
- empowered to change their
lives.
-
- For the past eight years, at Beyond
Words, we have supported this
- process. We believe it holds the key for
Peace in the Middle East and in
- the world, or in the words of Martin
Luther King Jr.: "When there is
- justice there will be Peace."
-
- Nitsan