The Tent of Abraham: A Statement on Peacemaking

[Editor's Note: This appeal went out in the fall of 2004. While the deadline for signatures is past, the cooperation among Jews, Muslims, and Christians gives me hope--and Rabbi Waskow is still seeking donations.
--Shel Horowitz, Editor, Peace & Politics]

Dear friends,

"Ufros alenu sukkat shlomecha," says our prayer; "spread over all of us Your sukkah of shalom."

What better moment to act upon that vision than today, as we move toward the harvest festival, Sukkot, the "season of our joy"?

Please join with Rabbis Rachel Cowan, Elliot Dorff, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Gerry Serotta, David Teutsch, Sheila Weinberg, and many others to sign the statement below, "The Tent of Abraham."

And please notice that also among the initiating signers are Rev. Bob Edgar, head of the National Council of Churches; Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America; and Sister Joan Chitister, OSB, former president of the Society of Women Religious of America.

For years, many of us have said that we wondered where the Muslims were who were prepared to join in denouncing suicide bombings of Israelis, such atrocities as the beheadings of hostages, and so on.

Now we see them ready to join with us. I hope we will respond as we have said we would -- by joining with them.

Given changes in timing, etc., we have made some changes in the text of the statement that you may have seen in early summer. We hope to publish it, and to do so need your financial support as well as your signature. (If possible, we need $250 a signer. But all gifts help, and all are tax-deductible. See below for how to sign and donate.)

One last comment before I let the text of "The Tent of Abraham" speak for itself:

The Forward reported this week an AJCommittee poll showing that the proportion of American Jews who disapprove of the Iraq war has jumped from 54% to 66%.

"The latest AJCommittee findings," says The Forward, "also point to a gap between American Jews and Jewish organizations. Most major Jewish groups offered varying levels of support for the war."

Many of us have kept silent about our own opposition to the Iraq war in order not to embarrass the mainstream organizations that supported it. Now that the opposition in the community is 2 to 1, should we not break our silence?

This destructive war is destabilizing an already volatile region, posing greater long-range dangers to Israel as well as to the American and Iraqi peoples.

The communities of spirit, religion, and ethics must take a hand.

Warm regards; blessings of shalom to us all for the days and the year ahead.

-- Arthur

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THE TENT OF ABRAHAM: A STATEMENT ON PEACEMAKING

We are members of the families of Abraham -- Muslims, Christians, Jews.

Our traditions teach us to have compassion, seek justice, and pursue peace for all peoples. We bear especially deep concern for the region where Abraham grew and learned, taught and flourished. Today that region stretches from Iraq, where Abraham grew up, to Israel and Palestine, where he sojourned, and to Mecca and Egypt, where he visited.

Today our hearts are broken by the violence poured out upon the peoples of that broad region.

That violence has included terrorist attacks on and kidnappings of Americans, Israelis, Iraqis, Europeans, and others by various Palestinian and Iraqi groups and by Al Qaeda; the occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel and of Iraq by the United States; and the torture of prisoners by several different police forces, military forces, and governments in the region.

From our heartbreak at these destructive actions, we intend to open our hearts more fully to each other and to the suffering of all peoples.

In the name of the One God Whom we all serve and celebrate, we condemn all these forms of violence. To end the present wars and to take serious steps toward the peace that all our traditions demand of us, we call on governments and on the leaders of all religious and cultural communities to act.

We urge the US government to set a firm and speedy date for completing the safe return home from Iraq of all American soldiers and civilians under military contract. We urge the UN to work directly with Iraqi political groupings to transfer power in Iraq to an elected government.

We urge the UN, the US, the European Union, and Russia to convene a comprehensive peace conference through which the governments of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, and all Arab states conclude a full diplomatic, economic, and cultural peace with Israel and Palestine, defined approximately on the 1967 boundaries, with small mutual adjustments.

We urge the international community to work out lawful and effective means to deal with the dangers of international terrorism, the spread of nuclear and similar weapons, and conflicts over the control of oil and water.

We ourselves will act to create transnational and interfaith networks of Jews, Christians, and Muslims who will covenant together -

_ to insist that governments take these steps,

_ to undertake whatever nonviolent actions are necessary to prevent more violence and achieve a just peace throughout the region,

_ and to grow grass-roots relationships that bind together those who have been enemies into a Compassionate Coalition.

According to tradition, Abraham kept his tent open in all four directions, the more easily to share his food and water with travelers from anywhere. In that spirit, we welcome all those who thirst and hunger for justice, peace, and dignity, to join in affirming this statement.

- Sister Joan Chittister, OSB; Rev. Bob Edgar, National Council of Churches; Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, Islamic Society of North America; Rabbis Elliot Dorff, Gerry Serotta, David Teutsch, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Sheila Weinberg; --- and YOU?

DONATE ONLINE by clicking on https://www.shalomctr.org/index.cfm/action/donate.html

or print out this coupon and send it to:

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"Abraham's Tent," Shalom Center, 6711 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia PA 19119

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