Women’s Multi-Faith Eco Gathering

Four Perspectives on Religion and Ecology

A representative of each faith—Christian, Muslim, Druze, and Jewish—led a study session on the environment in their religion. The Muslim session, led by Iman Chardan, taught that we must not dump any waste into the environment, because that waste will come back to harm us. What we are supposed to do is

“Eat and drink the sustenance God has provided and do not act wrongfully in the land, causing corruption” (Qur’an 2:60). But “Corruption has flourished on land and sea as a result of people’s actions and He will make them taste the consequences of some of their own actions so that they may turn back,” (Qur’an 30:41) and “when the Earth throws out its burdens…on that day it will tell all” (Qur’an 99:2,4). The Druze session, led by Hediya Hassoun, taught that one of the seven principles of the Druze faith is “abstaining from evil activities,” so protecting the air and not damaging the health of other people is deeply related to that principle. This applies to economic activity as well as other areas. The Christian session was led by Sister Anne of the Sisters of Sion Convent, and she taught that Jesus lived his life in reverence to nature and he knew much about the environment – many of his lessons in the New Testament are based on environmental allegories.

She also mentioned how the new pope, Pope Francis, compared the condition of the Earth to the condition of mankind, to encourage environmental stewardship of the Earth. The Jewish session was led by Rabba Judith Edelstein Green. She taught how the Jewish tradition compares the Torah to a Tree of Life, and the human body is compared to a tree in Kaballah. She also taught about how Judaism calls for protecting the environment, because if we do not, no one else will fix it after us. She ended with an emotional and moving healing prayer session, where the women held hands and everyone offered blessings for the healing of family members, friends, our peoples and our land.

 Activities

The gathering began on Monday, June 17, 2013, with all of the women sitting next to someone they did not already know and spending five minutes creating a new relationship. The women then learned in study sessions (described above), walked together in two Walking Meditations, worked together on their art project, and ended the day with an Ecological Footprint activity, led by Avigail Ben Yohanan, the Assistant Event Coordinator. The participants filled out a questionnaire that let them calculate how many Earths it would take to sustain humanity if everyone lived like they did. Then they discussed how to reduce their ecological footprint. To conduct your own carbon footprint calculations, click here. Tuesday, June 18, 2013 started with a Walking Meditation in the gardens, led by Elayne Cohen Ashby, where the women walked slowly and silently through the gorgeous natural scenery of the Convent.

Once they reached an open area that overlooked an expansive view of the valley, they sang together a collective sharing of their cultural, religious, and spiritual songs. One of the most important and moving aspects was the informal gatherings and spontaneous singing that took place between women of different faiths throughout the two days. In the guest rooms the women lodged overnight with women of other faiths and several commented that this was a unique opportunity to share food brought from home and personal experiences together. One way the women bonded is that some of the Muslim women brought henna paint with them, and many of the women left the gathering with new henna designs on their hands or arms. Naomi Tsur, the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, spoke about Green Pilgrimage. You can read more about Green Pilgrimage here, and you can watch a video of her talking at the Interfaith Climate and Energy Conference, an event ICSD organized in 2012 here. She also has a website you can visit here.

Participants Speak

Siham Halabi, the TRUST WIN Druze coordinator, said about the gathering, “Just meeting other people is very empowering for women, as is getting ideas from other cultures about things that I can later do myself with my own projects…In the gathering I felt a strength. From the fact that women are together, that gives us strength.It was good to see that everybody actually wants to peacefully live together, in coexistence.” Elayne Cohen Ashby, the TRUST WIN Jewish coordinator, said: “I love to be together with all the types of people that come to this kind of event. It’s not so usual, living here in Israel… It reinforces what we have in common as opposed to what we find often in this society with newspapers and the media, about what causes the separations and divisions.

I think that the more we become familiar with all that makes us actually just women, and that we can be beautiful friends, then it’s easier to take that out into society without even realizing it and just be an example.” Elana Rozenman, the founder and executive director of “TRUST-Emun” and the organizer of the gathering, said, “What women bring to ecology and the environment is really their basic connection to their family. As mothers and wives they have enormous influence in their homes and the education of their children. At our conference all the women talked at different points about the fact that rather than solely teaching our children about environmental protection or sustainability or anything else…what we do in our home is the biggest demonstration and example to them and that is the deepest teaching that we get. So in this sense women have a tremendous power to make a change in their own family.” Iman Chardan, the presenter on Islam and ecology, said:

“This is the first time I have been with all of these ethnic and religious groups together… I love how all these religious women were together like sisters Ibtisam Mahamid, the TRUST WIN Muslim coordinator, stated how “in every conference we do, we are teaching and learning, it goes together. We always learn from one another. What I know, I know, but what you know, I don’t know… I don’t have to agree with every word you say, but I need to respect it.” She shared her most memorable aspect of the conference, saying, “In the moment when we prayed, we were like one entity…the tears of the women…the cry of whatever religion we are—Druze or Muslim or Christian or Jewish—it doesn’t matter, we’re all mothers.” The people to people interactions at events like these promote coexistence and peace in the Holy Land. The environmental focus helps to promote a livable future for our children and grandchildren.

Thank you for the sponsors of the event and to the participants for making the event successful.