{"id":33346,"date":"2019-09-20T03:50:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T10:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33346"},"modified":"2019-09-17T17:28:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T00:28:34","slug":"in-solidarity-with-neighbours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/09\/20\/in-solidarity-with-neighbours\/","title":{"rendered":"In solidarity with neighbours"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Tag Meir\u2019s annual events is Flowers of Peace. Participants hand out roses on the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day. This year, they gave out some 2,000 flowers as a message of peace to Muslims and Christians in the city. (photo from Tag Meir)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To counter what Tag Meir head Gadi Gvaryahu described as incitement by radical settlers through <\/span>Tag Mechir <\/em>(Price Tagging), <\/span>Tag Meir<\/em> (Light Tagging) was formed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tag Meir, which started in 2011, is operated by members of the same segment of religious Zionistic Judaism that started price tagging (attacking Palestinian property and people) in 2009. Members of Tag Meir started visiting victims on both sides of the conflict in an effort to show solidarity and repair physical and psychological damage.<\/p>\n

Today, Tag Meir is supported by many organizations and institutions in Israel from all segments of Jewish society \u2013 secular, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews \u2013 coming together to stand against hate and intolerance.<\/p>\n

Though he now lives in Rehovot, Gvaryahu still considers Jerusalem home. He is the eighth generation of his family to live there.<\/p>\n

Gvaryahu was deeply affected by the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the fact that the killer had come from his segment of religious Zionism, Kippot Srugot <\/em>(Knitted Kippot). He decided he had to put his passion for helping animals aside \u2013 he is a farm animal behavioural researcher by training \u2013 to find ways to mend Israeli society.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided it\u2019s about time to be more involved in public business \u2013 not politics, but more education,\u201d said Gvaryahu. \u201cMe and a few other families initiated a synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue in Rehovot, named after Yitzhak Rabin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gvaryahu realized there was something wrong with the education system when he received a call from the head of his son\u2019s yeshivah, demanding his son apologize for an outburst.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix months after Yitzhak Rabin\u2019s assassination, a famous rabbi came to my son\u2019s school,\u201d recalled Gvaryahu. \u201cHe said that now, with Rabin dead, all his bad things were forgiven. And he didn\u2019t even mention that he was murdered. He just treated him like someone who\u2019d sinned a lot, talking to the whole synagogue, like 400 students, including the head of the synagogue … and they were all silent, except one person \u2013 my son.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son said, \u2018How dare you say that? He just passed away! And, how dare you say that he has sins? He was killed, murdered!\u2019 Then, he left the room, crying.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the rosh yeshivah called, Gvaryahu commended his son\u2019s actions and said, \u201cThis rabbi should apologize. I\u2019m not going to ask my son to apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, they consulted a leading rabbi who declared that Gvaryahu\u2019s son \u201cdid a wonderful job and there\u2019s no reason for him to apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was at that point that Gvaryahu decided they needed to start their own school.<\/p>\n

The first time that Israelis heard the term \u201cPrice Tag\u201d in the context of payback was in December 2009. It was dubbed so by a small group of extreme right-wing West Bank settlers who had begun indiscriminately attacking Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Gvaryahu explained the psychology behind it: \u201cSomething happened to us by Palestinians, by the army, by politicians, whatever … someone will pay the price. The thinking is, we don\u2019t care that you\u2019re innocent, we don\u2019t care that you are Christian, Muslim…. You\u2019re not Jewish, you\u2019ll pay the price. We\u2019ll burn, damage your mosque, your house, your car, your olive trees, and that\u2019s called, \u2018Price Tag,\u2019 happening almost daily in the West Bank. Most of them, we don\u2019t hear about. But, after a terror attack by Muslims, unfortunately, we have a bunch of them in the last two months … there\u2019s been attacks by extreme settlers.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Tag Mechir destroys, Tag Meir aims to rebuild and bring light. \u201cSo, we call the people, the victims, in hospitals, villages, wherever, mosques, monasteries or churches, and we create a solidarity visit,\u201d said Gvaryahu.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Flowers of Peace volunteers on Jerusalem Day. (photo from Tag Meir)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve gained many, many Jewish, Christian and Muslim friends, and that\u2019s very important. It\u2019s important, because it\u2019s a correct response to that crime, because they want to create terror or fear, especially among Muslims and Christians. So, those visits strengthen the relationship between Jews and Muslims and Christians. We have three Facebook pages \u2013 one in Hebrew, one in Arabic and one in English \u2013 with 35,000 followers.\u201d<\/p>\n

People in Israel not connected to Tag Meir have started solidarity visits by themselves, aiming to mend fences with Palestinian neighbours. \u201cFirst, you know, I\u2019m happy about Tag Meir,\u201d Gvaryahu said about this development. \u201cSecond, that they get that this is the right way to respond to a hate crime or a price tag attack \u2013 it\u2019s wonderful. It\u2019s what we want to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t something that can be solved quickly. It\u2019s education. We try to educate society, especially the Zionist society, we hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, due to the rise in Tag Mechir attacks, Tag Meir held an education symposium on Sept. 10 at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, near the home of the president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin. Among the speakers were the former head of the Israeli security agency, Shin Bet, Yaakov Peri, senior rabbis from different segments of society, and the mother of one of the Jewish victims of terror, Sarah Rosenfeld.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer son [Malachi Moshe] was murdered and she will give her strong condemning opinion about \u2018price tag,\u2019\u201d said Gvaryahu prior to the symposium. \u201cWhen we came to visit the Rosenfeld family, she said that, if Malachi would be with us, he would join Tag Meir.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very unique about Tag Meir, that we visit both settlers and victims of Tag Mechir on the Palestinian side. It\u2019s not that pleasant an activity sometimes, but we feel it\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the yearly events Tag Meir hosts is a flower giveaway called Flowers of Peace. They go out into the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day and hand out roses. \u201cThis year, we spread 2,000 flowers all over the Old City,\u201d said Gvaryahu. \u201cIt\u2019s a symbolic act, sending a message of peace to Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Gvaryahu said 40% of the people in Jerusalem are Muslim, Jerusalem Day is only celebrated by the Jewish population. He said some of the songs that are traditionally sung must irritate the Muslim population. \u201cUnfortunately, we don\u2019t celebrate it, in our opinion, in the right way,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just march with Israeli flags from West Jerusalem to the Western Wall through the market. Not all the songs are horrible, but a few of them are. So, this is our response. We march with Flowers of Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, visit tag-meir.org.il\/en<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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