“We are choosing love, not for an outcome but for the actual creation of a different reality, where cynicism cannot overshadow the real connection of Love. The norm is fear and separation, but Love is the greater reality. I don’t have to judge those who fear, I can feel compassion for them. There are wounded and traumatized people that continue to wound and traumatize others, as revenge. We don’t ignore the trauma or judge it. We find ways to heal through the revenge of Love.” Eliyahu McLean, director of the Jerusalem Peacemakers, , a network of religious leaders and grassroots peace-builders

McLean’s parents came from very different backgrounds – catholic on his father’s side, Jewish on his mother’s side. However, both were disciples of an Indian guru and McLean was raised with universal values and interfaith understanding.  His path took him from Hawai to Israel, to the U.S. and Middle Eastern studies at UC Berkeley. In Egypt he was exposed to Islam and Sufism, then to Hasidic Judaism in Brooklyn. He found himself in Jerusalem, inspired and dedicated to peace-making and spiritual healing between the children of Abraham.

It is not an easy endeavor. Last summer, right after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered and a Palestinian youth was murdered in retaliation, McLean and his family were on a bus returning from Galilee to Jerusalem. The bus was attacked by angry Arab men throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks. People screamed in terror, windows shattered.

The next morning, still shaken up, but undeterred, McLean met with several others to prepare an interfaith gathering in Nazareth. That turned out to be a powerful event, with Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, praying side by side and supporting one another. This was followed by a walk of love, holding hands and walking through streets that had witnessed a riot a day earlier.  

When people come together in connection and harmony, in the midst of war and violence,  that is the best revenge

Source of this abridged story ~ http://upliftconnect.com/box-peacemaking
February 12, 2015, in Uplift – We Are One, by Amir Paiss