Powered by Courage is an Encounter series featuring Palestinian civil society leaders that program participants have met while traveling with Encounter in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in conversation with fellow Jewish leaders. Kavana is proud to co-sponsor this series!
In invitation, Kavana partner Julie Kohl writes:"A few years ago, I had the remarkable opportunity to travel to Israel with Encounter, which brings Jews to visit East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah, to have intimate, face-to-conversations with Palestinians. (Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum and Noam Pianko are two others from Kavana who have participated in Encounter trips in recent years.) It was a difficult, disturbing, complicated and important experience. Issues that appeared black and white from a distance became much grayer up close. Although I had visited Israel many times before, this was the first time I met and heard the life experience of the people with whom we are destined to share the land. I saw graffiti on a wall that read: ”one wall, two jails.” I ate ice cream in Ramallah. I spent the night in the home of Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem. And, as one of the participants on my trip said, I learned that there is a place called Palestine. Because of the pandemic, Encounter has now shifted to a virtual format, allowing all of us to meet these Palestinian civil leaders, to hear them in conversation with former Encounter participants. I urge you to listen to these conversations -- many are speakers I had the chance to meet in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. You will not agree with everything you hear, but I'm certain you will benefit from hearing it and gain critical insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Here is a list of the eight sessions, with a separate registration link for each. In addition, if there's interest, Kavana will organize an internal group that meets a couple times to process and discuss the content of these sessions - please email Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum if you'd be interested in taking part in that.