Shabbat Shalom
Passover is the holiday of freedom
Yet, when will the hostages be free?
When will the world be free of hate and war?
As the pages turn to a new chapter,
There must be a mistake…
Haven’t we read this chapter before?
Killing, rape, shock, and horror?
When will humans learn that war solves nothing?
May You Live in Peace, שלום and .سالم
To Access Our Free Peace Haggadah, Use This Link
Just in the nick of time. Passover is almost here. Creating this Peace Haggadah wasn’t as painful as childbirth, but it had its moments. All I had to do to persevere was to remember the victims of the Israel-Hamas War and plod on. Our long nights and compressed schedule were nothing in comparison to the grief and tragedy of war.
You may have noticed that I haven’t published a vodcast for a while. Why? It’s not because I hadn’t finished any interviews (but it wasn’t edited yet), or had others lined up in the schedule, but I’ve been busy, still working on Peace, but from another angle.
For me, it all began when I joined the challenge to complete a Peace Haggadah in a short amount of time. Rebecca Sealfon of Unity is Strength, with the help of Ignat, one of the writers and editors, had gathered a unique cadre of Peace Activist writers and editors. Wendy Kalman and Nina Katz were two more editors who went far beyond normal boundaries to accomplish our goal.
PEACE with Penny joined with Unity is Strength, the Federation Movement, and Unity Made Visible to create a unique Haggadah, with Peace as the theme. You know me by now; it was not something I could pass up.
Writers of the Haggadah and organizers of the Seder include Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, Diaspora Jews, and more. Contributors were asked to write commentaries on Seder sections that spoke to them, thus my decision to provide three separate commentaries. Others who we were honored to have joined us on our journey that you might recognize included former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) and Interim President of Israel Avrum Burg and Gaza peace activist Rami Aman.
The first time I interviewed Rami Aman was in January 2023. It may surprise you to know that he is a Gaza Peace activist. As part of his Peace efforts during COVID, he organized Zoom conversations between 200 Gazans and Israelis. His countrymen were upset, he was accused of being a collaborator with Israel, spent months in jail, and was tortured. Ultimately, many NGOs fought to get him released. Currently, he lives in Cairo. Within our Peace Haggadah, you’ll also find his story.
After October 7th, I wanted to hear how Rami was doing, and so I contacted him in January 2024, a year after our first interview. Not well. After only three months of the Israel-Hamas War, he told me that already 20 of his friends had been killed, his previous home had been destroyed, and even his last office had been demolished. Needless to say, he was overwrought. I’m hoping to get an update interview soon. Going through this intense situation, sometimes the horror is too challenging to put into words.
An excellent accompaniment with our Peace Haggadah is a selection of music that was chosen by my co-host for the Peace Seder on April 7th, Paul Storfer. He is a veritable encyclopedia of music, and his selections for each section resonated a deep understanding of the music, married with the essence of the commentaries. Whether he sang the songs with his wife Sandi or used a recording, it was another avenue to learn and deepen even the authors’ understanding of the content of their writing.
Another notable contributor is Michael Hunter Ochs, who allowed us to play his song “A Healing Song, Refuah Shlema,” for the Seder, and I think the entire world could use its inherent comfort.
I would also like to thank Melissa for allowing her daughter, Talia, to be our voice of the youngest child to sing the traditional four questions. She did a great job, and I’m sure we all wish her the happiest of bat mitzvahs that she is soon to celebrate. Kol Hakavod! She makes me feel like we are in great hands with the next generation. For our Peace Seder, we used Talia’s recording of just the Hebrew parts so we could allow others during the Seder to read the English translations of the questions, and we also added a fifth Peace-related question. You can listen to Talia’s recitation of the four questions in the video above.
The fifth question we composed is: Why is this particular night, this Haggadah, and this Seder, different from all other nights, and all other seders? On all other nights, we discuss whatever comes to mind; on this night, we engage in a sacred redirection of our thoughts toward envisioning peace and an integrated future for Israelis and Palestinians. Amen.
Finally, if there is any benefit at all of the Israel-Hamas war, it’s that people are again talking about a 2-state solution, which had seemed like a non-starter for years. It’s what they’ve heard for decades as the elusive solution, although I wonder if those parroting the words even know what it is. In our Peace Haggadah, we have introduced other Peace proposals, from the Federal Forum, a think tank of deep academic thinkers and others who believe that a better solution would be a federation or confederation model. As I’ve said before, if you keep doing the same thing and expect a different answer, well, you can apply different adjectives to it, but if you find yourself about to knock your head against the wall again, stop. Try something new.
And getting back to the Peace Haggadah, that’s what we did. Any solution needs to understand the parties who will be most affected by the adopted resolution. Living in the diaspora, I believe it means we observe, contribute when possible, whether with knowledge or funding, and let those who must live with the results hash out the details.
As far as the Peace Seder on April 7th, it was a learning experience for all, including us co-hosts. It was held online, and it truly was a global event with participants from all over the United States, Canada, Israel, Germany, England, Australia, Pakistan, India, Bosnia, and Malawi. It was the deepest Seder I’ve ever attended, and I’m not saying that because I was a co-host. It was filled with compassion, rituals with explanations, inclusivity, a search for understanding, and Peace. We may not have had all the time we needed to complete this Haggadah nor choose the parts that would conform to a reasonable time period for a Peace Seder (yes, we know it was too long), there is far too much learning within this Peace Haggadah to include everything in one sitting (it’s nearly 200 pages long), but we’re still exploring different ways to form the Seders that are built upon the backbone of the Peace Haggadah. Now I am editing the Peace Seder recorded in full, and then I think we’ll be doing some chopping into smaller pieces of our own. Maybe even have a Pesach Seder Series.
If you want to hear about how Israelis and Palestinians feel during these harsh times, choose those commentaries. Are you into more of a traditional seder? Choose those prayers. If you are a musician and want to have a sing-along over a delicious meal, you can do that too. There’s plenty of music to enjoy, some you’ve heard before, and probably a few new songs to experience.
We’ll be happy if you make this Peace Haggadah a tool to bring your family and friends closer together, discussing real issues. By the end of the Seder, you will have learned something new or something you’d like to explore further.
Feel free to slice and dice it to your tastes for your Seders. There are traditional prayers, commentaries with different perspectives, and a wide range of music. We are providing this 2024 Peace Haggadah, free as a gift to all, with the hopes for Peace in the near future. We intend for this to be an annual event, and now we have a whole year to plan. However, we wouldn’t mind if next year’s Haggadah could be themed something else, now that Peace has been achieved. I know, don’t worry, I’m not on my fourth cup of Manischewitz, but a woman could hope.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who was involved with this Peace Haggadah. I learned many lessons both within the pages as well as within the interactions with the various writers, editors, and Amalya, who did the layout (at least from afar). This was a labor of love, as we saw people going the extra mile to get it completed. Looking at the finished product, I am proud to be associated with everyone. As we said in the beginning, only what we write personally represents our beliefs, but for any Peace process to work, we need to be as cognizant of all sides as possible, and I appreciate people letting me into their world.
When we were first given the beginnings of the Peace Haggadah, we were asked to write commentaries on the portions that spoke to us, thus my three sections. I plan on writing Times of Israel Blogs, including two of my pieces in the Peace Haggadah. The other piece I will write for the Times of Israel Blog, besides the one below, concerns the impact of war on women, as well as the many benefits that women contribute to the effectiveness of Peace proposals, which has been studied by organizations such as the United Nations. In that commentary, I conducted extensive research; I didn’t want you to think I was spouting off my opinion; they were based on disappointing facts. Having grown up with women’s liberation, moving up the ranks in the corporate world, I’m still incredulous that we still need to discuss the imbalance between men and women regarding power, money, and the impact of war, but we are still here and must face reality. Ladies, and some enlightened men, feel free to insert an expletive of your choice.
My first commentary in the Peace Haggadah explores how I became involved in peace work over the last decade. If you listen to my vodcasts, read my book, “BLASTED from COMPLACENCY: A Journey from Terror to Transformation in Israel,” or read my articles and website, you are already familiar, so I didn’t think I needed to repeat it, or you could read about it on my website at www.PennySTee.com
When I read about the hiding of the afikomen, bells rang in my head. This is it! I feel that, like the afikomen, all these Peace organizations I interview are hidden. Few know they exist, which is my purpose in having the vodcast PEACE with Penny to get the word out that pockets of Peace are a reality even today during the Israel-Hamas War in our beloved land, but you have to know where to look.
During a war, it’s harder, but these organizations still work together for Peace. We all hope you enjoy the Peace Haggadah and your time during the Peace Seder with family and friends. Who would have thought that a chess tournament would reveal the exact evolution of Peace in Germany, a goal we hope to achieve one day between Israelis and Palestinians?
May You Live in Peace, שלום and سالم
Chag Pesach Sameach! Gut Yontif! (Happy Passover! In both Hebrew and Yiddish)
Commentary: Discovering Peace in the Middle East
By Penny S. Tee
Note: Regardless of convention, I always capitalize “Peace”; Peace is so important!
There are pockets of Peace in the Middle East, even in times of war, but you must know where to look. As the Peace Haggadah says, the “afikoman is eventually found and shared, a symbol of hope and redemption. What hidden opportunities can we find for Peace and cooperation?
I’m tired of hearing, “There will never be Peace in the Middle East.” It may make a catchy rhyme, but as a life plan, it sucks. Some Israeli and Palestinian Peace organizations have been working together for over two decades. Amen.
Did you know that there are hundreds of Peace organizations in Israel and the West Bank, filled with both Israelis and Palestinians who work together on Peace? There have been for years, but they get little press. What we see on our phones, computer screens, and television sets fits the journalistic adage, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Horrific scenes of people caught in the crossfire flood the media together with inhumane answers to the question of what should be done to resolve the conflict. You must ask yourself, “What has that done to the national psyches of both peoples, both in the Middle East and the two diasporas?”
The Israeli and Palestinian Peace organizations are the embodiments of hope. Within these organizations, both sides realize that each loves this land, neither side is going away, and everyone must learn to live together Peacefully. They work on Peace from many angles, like a beautiful sparkling diamond. The light refracts off the facets and changes the participants’ beliefs as they interact together and transforms negative perceptions into reflections of empathy and understanding. The lessons they learn are seared into them and embodied closely within their hearts.
The choices of how they work on Peace are varied. The menu from which to select an area you might want to choose for your Peacework is a smorgasbord of delicacies to fit your taste: medicine, the environment, sports, language, music, education, interfaith dialogue, technology, law, diplomacy….There are many interesting ways in which Peace is awakened.
Many of the Peace organizations have several profound projects and Project Rozana, is one of them. If you’re interested in medicine, do you prefer helping Israeli hospitals treating Palestinian patients—including children with long-term, challenging illnesses, supported by Project Rozana? Or would you like to help the volunteers on both sides of the checkpoints to drive Palestinians safely to their medical appointments? The Road to Recovery will help you find your way. When you are driving patients, sometimes daily to try and save their lives, they can become like family. We share the roots of the Abrahamic religions, and isn’t it natural to let those roots dig deep and spread? There are also Israeli and Palestinian nurses and doctors sharpening their skills alongside one another as they all gain deeper knowledge within their specialties at the Project Rozana Specialist Nursing Hub.
Or maybe you’re a scientist with a new creative idea. Wouldn’t you like to go to the Malta Conference Foundation’s annual conference where young scientists meet with Nobel laureates to discuss their work? Hmm, you might think to yourself, but there are Palestinians or Israelis there (depending on who you think the “Other” is) but what an opportunity! And what happens? Through their mutually beneficial scientific interests, they meet many members of the other side for the first time, and who knew this would be possible? They discuss, challenge one another, and agree, and some may choose to collaborate and even become friends.
Peace organizations can turn your beliefs and assumptions on their head. “What do you mean there are religious Israeli settlers who work together on Peace with Palestinians in the West Bank?” There are. Open your heart with this beautiful story of compassion at Roots-Shorashim-Judur. This is great news, don’t you think? Remember that “assume” can make an “ass”-out-of-“u”-and-“me.”
The organization Path of Hope and Peace has fostered Peace in a triumvirate—Tzur Hadassah, a secular Jewish town on the Green Line border with Beitar Illit, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish town in Judea and Samaria, and Hussan, a Palestinian town in the West Bank that was so violent and terrorist-filled that they were the Jenin of their day. But even over one hundred and fifty days into the Israel-Hamas war, as I write this, the streets there are quiet. They have developed a Peaceful coexistence that they don’t want to give up. When a Palestinian restaurant in Husan becomes kosher under rabbinic certification so their Jewish patrons from the other towns can eat while they watch the soccer games together, something is going very right!
Michael Hunter Ochs is a multi-platinum and award-winning songwriter whom I’ve known for a couple of years now. He’s accomplished in writing pop music hits and songs for film and t.v. and has created an entire library of Jewish music. He has been kind enough to let me use one of his beautiful songs, “A Healing Song (Refuah Shlema),” for my video series. I wanted to share it with our audience because I love the words, and in these dark times, we could all use some healing. His passion project is a collaboration with award-winning Palestinian Peace activist, songwriter, and poet, Alaa Alshaham. This American Jew and Palestinian Muslim duo have an upcoming album, The Pursuit of Harmony. It’s a whole album of Peace songs certain to put a smile on your face.
Or maybe you are more into languages, or sports. Did you know that chess is considered a sport? Speaking of chess, our friend Lior Aizenberg holds chess tournaments for Israelis and Palestinians as well as between other groups that have experienced strife; his work has been recognized by UNESCO.32 Some of the world’s best-known chess players have participated. In a tournament honoring the hostages held in the Bundestag (Germany’s Parliament), Judit Polgar, a Hungarian Jew who is the all-time number one female chess player and her sister, who is also a master chess player and lives in Israel, played an exhibition tournament against 40 German chess players simultaneously. Several members of the Polgar family had been killed in the Holocaust and their grandmother was a survivor of Auschwitz.1 With tears in my eyes, I breathed a sigh of relief and hope. Yes, given the right circumstances, things can change. Will we see a similar reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians in the future? Let’s hope so.
Tennis is another avenue whereby Israelis and Palestinians compete together. Why not have some athletic fun with the kids at Tennis for All while working on Peace?
Unity is Strength, which organized our Peace Haggadah, started as an online forum on the Quora website. Focusing on areas where Palestinians and Israelis can work together in a grassroots fashion, it aims to identify specific actions and achieve them.
Before the Israel-Hamas war, many people thought the two-state solution was dead. We’ll see. I was honored to be asked by Challenge to interview the Federal Forum members who have developed alternative Peace proposals based on federation or confederation models, similar to the United States or the European Union.
Unfortunately, I can’t name all the focuses of the organizations here, nor share stories from them. Here’s one last invitation for you to consider. No, I’m not going to ask you to go to a war zone and see how it changes you. Please do us all a favor and do what you love to do. We need your skills to make this world better. When you work on what you love, doors will open. If nothing else, it will feel like you aren’t even working. Passover is about freedom, making choices, and believing. Believe in yourself, and we all will benefit.
If you are interested in perusing our Peace Haggadah, go to this link, it’s free: http://bit.ly/uis_haggadah_2024
We hope you learn something new, or reminisce about something familiar.
May You Live in Peace, שלום and .سالم
Endnote
1Yochanan Afek, “Chess4Solidarity: The Missing Player,” Chess News, (March 21, 2024): https://en.chessbase.com/post/chess4solidarity-the-missing-player-2?fbcl id=IwAR3kmPDBobKrs3B81KZzpouA6Xc04a_DJxgSawbAK9lxCsPwGXGYwrl4mnY. Aizenberg’s work also includes sponsoring games between Israel and various African nations.