How long does it take for 3000 Muslims and Jews to cross the bridge to each other and unify?
It takes less than one hour!!!
How did this miracle occur?
It happened because 3000 people, people who often are on very different sides politically, filled their relational space with beauty, joining together to sing a special song with Matisyahu.
We are all 100% responsible for what we put into the relational space between us. It is especially important because “the space between us is the playground of our children.” Watch the YouTube again, and see the faces of the children…
In an effort to change the climate, and create conversations for possibility in the Middle East, Yumi and I in the year 1984, co-founded a Chapter of the Foundation for Mideast Communication, an organization dedicated to building bridges between Christians, Jews and Muslims. We tirelessly worked for 7 years to create events where people could meet, see each other, get to know one another, and simply be together as the human beings that we are.
Koolulam in Israel is a similar organization. It is dedicated to bring Israelis together from across all ages, races, religions and demographics, for mass singing events. This recent orchestration brought together 3000 Muslims and Jews, none of whom had met before. In less than one hour they not only learned Matisyahu’s song “One Day,” but harmonized the lyrics of the song in three different languages: Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Watch the video again, and see the expressions on their faces. What you are seeing reminds us of the saying: “HUMANKIND….BE BOTH!”
Here are some of the words in Matisyahu’s song:
“I know some day it´ll all turn around….
Because all my life I´ve been waiting for,
I´ve been praying for
For the people to say
That we don´t wanna fight no more
They´ll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day…”
Let’s take 100% responsibility, each one of us in our own sphere of activities, for the quality of the relational space between us. Let’s fill it with beauty.
Let’s remember together, as in Matisyahu’s song:
One day there will be no more wars,
And our children will play,
Because we, you and I,
Will have made their playground
Safe, joyful and filled with beauty.