Vol.41, No. 9
Tishrei-Cheshvan 5780
October 2019
JCRC Fall Lecture: Shadi Abu Awwad and Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger
Transforming Enemies into Partners: How Dialogue Is Creating
Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank
November 14, 7 PM, Sam Lern-
er Center for the Cultural Arts
Palestinians and Israelis in the
West Bank/Palestinian Territo
ries/Judea and Samaria often live
in geographical proximity but
have no real human contact and
view each other with suspicion
and fear. However, in 2014, a
group of Orthodox Jewish Israelis
from the Gush Etzion settlements
met with a Palestinian refugee
family in a nearby village. Over
the course of several conversa
tions, both peoples shared their
fears, anxieties, pain, and desire
for a better future. In time, they
began to see other as partners in
peace by mutually recognizing
each other’s connection to the
Land, and found a path towards
solidarity despite ideological dif
ferences.
These same Palestinians and
Jewish settlers founded Roots, “a
grassroots movement of under
standing, nonviolence and trans
formation among Israelis and
Palestinians.” Since its creation.
Roots has brought hundreds of
West Bank area Israelis and Pal
estinians together for language
and nonviolence workshops,
summer camps, young adult pro
grams, mediation, and so much
more.
Join us as we hear from two
leaders who are at the forefront of
this inspiring work:
Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger,
Co-Founder and Director of
International Relations
Hanan moved to Israel at the
age of 20 and has lived the major
ity of his life over the Green Line.
Professionally, he teaches Jewish
studies in colleges and seminaries
in Jerusalem, Florida, and Tex
as. While teaching in Texas he
became passionately involved in
interfaith work. After co-found-
ing Faiths in Conversation, a
framework for Jewish - Christian
- Muslim theological dialogue,
he was inspired to build personal
relationships with his Palestinian
neighbors, something he had not
attempted to do in over 33 years.
Shadi Abu Awwad, Youth
Director
Bom into a family that took
a major leadership role in the
First Palestinian Intifada/upris
ing, Shadi was taught to hate all
Israelis at a young age. He had a
moment of profound transforma
tion when his brother was nearly
killed by an Israeli soldier - only
to be healed by an Israeli doctor
that same day. Confounded by the
contradiction, Shadi began a jour
ney that ultimately brought him to
see a human being and a partner
on the other side. He eventually
created Roots’ youth program,
which empowers Palestinian and
Israeli teenagers to acknowledge
each other’s humanity - molding
them into leaders who can work
together to create a better future
for their peoples.
We invite you to join Han
an and Shadi as they share their
personal, interconnected stories
and present the groundbreaking
and challenging grassroots work
of Roots. In these divided times
Shadi Abu Awwad and Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger
such as these, there may be strate
gies from Roots that could be ap
plicable in our own communities
and beyond.
This event is free and open to
the public. RSVP is requested at
Community Relations and Israel
Affairs, 704-944-6751 or laurel.
grauer@jewishcharlotte.org. ^
www.jewishcharlotte.org. For
more mtormation, please con
tact Laurel Grauer, Director of
Jewish
Community
Relations
Council
Charlotte Jewish Film Festival Fall Flicks
An Evening with Peter Riegert, Sunday, October 27, 7:15 PM
Also Includes Surviving Birkenau: The Susan Spatz Story, Saturday, October 26, 7:15 PM
Charlotte Jewish Film Festival
Fall Flicks will present two films
and a special guest. First, on Sat
urday, October 26, at 7:15 PM,
there will be a screening of Sur
viving Birkenau: The Susan Spatz
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life and career. The interview has
been edited for length and clarity.
CJN: The majority of your
roles have been playing obvi
ously Jewish characters, yet each
some seems so different from the
others. How do you feel about
portraying Jews and where do
you get the inspiration to make
them so distinctive?
PR: Of all the stuff that I’ve
done, I don’t know what percent
age is Jewish characters, but to
me ... I just look at the material.
In other words, it raises an inter
esting question: what’s a Jew?
So, we all have our biases of what
we thing people are, and what
they are for me as an actor first is
human. Now they could respond
to being Jewish, because that’s
the fact of their life, I wouldn’t
say I go out of my way to act Jew
ish. ... The material dictates the
Jewishness. But each character is
different because each movie or
play or TV show is different. ...
(Continued on page 18)
Peter Riegert
Star)!, in Gorelick Hall. Tickets
are and are available at char-
lottej ewishfilm. com.
On Sunday evening, along with
a showing of Crossing Delancey,
the Charlotte Jewish Film Festi
val will have as its special guest,
Peter Riegert, star of Crossing
Delancey, Animal House, Local
Hero, and many other films and
television shows.
As a lead up to his arrival in
Charlotte, Riegert spoke with The
Charlotte Jewish News about his
/5^ Jewish Federation
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