Prayers for Peace and Responses to war between Israel and Gaza

Words seem inadequate when deeds are so horrific as to defy the ability to string together anything that can ease the pain, lessen the fear, defuse the anger, and move the broken and wounded to doing anything other than striking back. Yet as people of faith committed to peace, we must speak words of compassion and solidarity, aloud and in silent prayer, as well as seek actions that foster healing, justice and peace.

In the face of shocking and deadly attacks by Hamas against civilians in Israel and the Israeli military response to those attacks, adding violence to violence, we grieve for each and every human being lost, wounded, suffering loss, and despairing the coming nights and days of uncertainty and pain.

We pray for the violence to cease and for the world to come together to support all who have been harmed and bring a lasting peace to a land that has suffered too much for too long. Within our own communities and nation, we commit to stand against antisemtic, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim occurence or rhetoric of any kind, and work for relationships of respect, open-heartedness and healing. Although war often leads us to think in terms of "us" and "them," we know from the very nature of our organization, that coming together in the richness of diversity is the only path to peace.

Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice continues steadfast in our work and prayers for peace with justice, most passionately in times of violence, oppression and war.

ACTION: We urge you to join with the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quaker-based) in their call to our U.S. government to act to de-escalate the violence. Click here to TAKE ACTION NOW and send a letter to your Senators and Congress Representative. Their website makes this easy, and personalizing the letter can make it even more effective.

Peace with Justice: We affirm these words from Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. "We mourn and we pray for the safety of everyone in harm's way... We know that a true and lasting peace will not be acheived until there is a just, negotiated political solution that protects the human rights of everyone." 

Contribute and Support: Here we highlight a few organizations, mostly led by both Palestinians and Israelis who are working for healing, justice and peace. We offer links for you to consider making donations or supporting in other ways.

Parents Circle - building peace and reconciliation with bereaved Jewish and Palestinian families through dialogue.

Rebuilding Alliance - dedicated to rebuilding war-torn communities. Currently their NGO partners in Gaza are delivering food and hygiene supplies.

New Israel Fund - prodemocracy organization in Israel already mobilized with war relief.

UNRWA-UN - relief for Palestinian refugees - is already established in Gaza.

IsraAid - partnering with local and civil society organizations to coordinate humanitarian efforts, providing psychosocial support and urgent aid. International NGO.

Gisha - protecting the freedom of movement for Palestinians, especially in Gaza.

Listen, Learn and Pray: Below are links to various organizations that include Muslim, Jews and Christians, with statements offering their insight and perspectives from their own experience. MVPJ does not advocate any specific statement or response. We offer these with the prayer that we can learn from one another, even when we disagree.

Vigil for Peace in the Middle East

VIGIL FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

We come together as people of diverse faiths and backgrounds to:
Mourn all who have died
Pray for all who are suffering
Stand with all who are facing hatred
Call out for an end to all the violence
Unite in compassion and peace

Saturday, November 11, 6:30pm
King Plaza, 250 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto

In the spirit of unity and holding fast to our common humanity,
please join us for this peaceful gathering with words, music and prayer.
Coming together in the richness of our diversity is the only path to peace.

We grieve for each and every human being lost, wounded, suffering loss, afraid, and despairing of the coming nights and days of uncertainty and pain.

We pray for the violence to cease, and for the world to come together to support all who have been harmed and to bring a lasting peace to a land that has suffered too much for too long.

Within our own communities and nations, we commit to stand against anti-Semitic, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim incidents or rhetoric of any kind.

As people of faith committed to peace, we gather to speak words of compassion and solidarity, aloud and in silent prayer, and seek actions that foster healing, peace and justice.

Please help spread the world! Link and share via Facebook and Instagram

Battery candles will be available.
Remember to dress warmly! It can be cold on the plaza in the evenings.

July Peaceful Presence Contributions

Our July 2023 Peaceful Presence was hosted by the Mountain View/Palo Alto Musalla (Muslim community). The contributions on the themes of patience and hope were rich and varied!

Our host, Farha Andrabi, told the Muslim story of Hajirah, "Hope, Patience and Perseverance: The Story of Hajirah."  (Some of you may know her as "Hagar." However, the story about her in the Muslim tradition has some significant and surprising differences!)

Ellen Stromberg from Congregations Beth Am and Etz Chayim, read excerpts from this piece called "Praciticing Hope" by Rabbi Betsy Forester.

Eric Sabelman told a story that came to him during a Quaker service. He titled the story "The Courier's Message." The images on the left are illustrations connected with Eric's story. 

Kristi Iverson shared some teachings on "Patience," one of the Ten Paramis (or Ten Perfections) from the Buddhist tradition.

Tell Congress: NO CLUSTER BOMBS!

ACTION ALERT:
Tell Congress: NO CLUSTER BOMBS!!

Cluster bombs are banned internationally by more than 100 countries, yet President Biden says the U.S. will send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Cluster bombs release hundreds to thousands of "bomblets" from the air that spread out over very wide areas. These small bomblets can sit ready to explode -- for decades. Far too often it is when children – thinking they are toys – pick them up - that they explode and rip off limbs of innocent children.

Tell Congress: NO CLUSTER BOMBS!!
Use this ACTION page from
American Friends Service Committee
TODAY!

MVPJ Stands Against Cluster Bombs

July 17, 2023

Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice’s Steering Committee is compelled to stand with many other Americans and people of faith and goodwill around the world against the President's decision to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine. [1,2]  We find that the arguments given by the President for doing so are based on expediency, flying in the face of universal condemnation of weapons of mass destruction.  To resort to cluster munitions as a "temporary" solution to delayed production of other weapons does not make them less reprehensible. [3]

Major differences exist between cluster munitions and precisely targeted "smart" bombs and artillery shells; cluster bombs are intended to kill over a wide area, and not just a single target.  The claim that only munitions with very low "dud rates" - where unexploded bomblets remain lethal - will be sent to Ukraine is subject to scrutiny, because variations between batches cannot be predicted in advance of use on the battlefield.  Claims that Ukraine would not use these weapons where its own citizens would be endangered and that post-war clearing of landmines and unexploded ordnance is required anyway ignore the change of citizenship in disputed territory and the risk that not all bomblets will be found in time to prevent injury to the innocent.  The argument that Russia has already used cluster munitions is hardly moral justification for the US and its allies to begin using them. [4]

The fact that the US even has large quantities of cluster weapons to give to Ukraine is evidence of American exceptionalism in selective retention of weapons other nations have renounced as morally repugnant - nuclear weapons not least among them.  Landmines are an example of such rejection of international decisions: despite a UN treaty passed in 1997 [5] the US only in 2022 "aligned" itself with terms of the treaty but still will deploy landmines in Korea [6].  Similarly, in 1997 the US ratified the UN Chemical Weapons Treaty, but only finished destroying its huge stockpile of neuorotoxic bombs and shells this month [7, 8]. It is too coincidental that the White House announced the Ukraine cluster bomb decision and simultaneously proclaimed that the US stock of chemical weapons has been destroyed [9] - as if the latter laundered the ethical stain of the former. 

(click "Read More") for to end of letter. Click here to download a pdf of letter.

May Peaceful Presence Prayer Contribution from Muslim Participant

At our May 11, 2023 Peaceful Presence, hosted by Congregation Etz Chayim, Hilal Cansizoglu from The Pacifica Institute offered a this prayer she wrote drawing from her own Islamic tradition.

She explained, "In our Islamic tradition, when we want to communicate with God through our individual prayers, we like to call Him with His beautiful names and attributes, so I tried to write down a prayer as a believer in dialogue for peace and justice and call God with some of His beautiful names and attributes in my prayer."

The names of God Hilal includes are:

Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim (You are The Most Compassionate and The Most Merciful)

Al-Awwal and Al-Akhir (You are The First and You are The Last)

An-Nur and Al-Hadi (You are the Light and You are the Guide)

Al-Jami'e (You are the Gatherer, You are The Unifier)

Al-'Adl (You are The Utterly Just)

Make Nuclear Disarmament a Priority!

Call for Nuclear Arms Control! TELL CONGRESS & THE PRESIDENT: Nuclear Weapons Must Never Be Used!

As people of faith, we must speak out! Nuclear weapons must never be used!

NEW RESOURCE: Read this 1/17/23 article by Frida Berrigan, "How to Avoid Nuclear Standoffs that Threaten the Entire World."  While Berrigan does not avoid the dire consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, in her history and vision she offers hope.

History: "Small, decentralized, broad-based activities added up to the survival of the species. ... It is not hyperbole to assert that these actions drove Reagan and Gorbachev to the negotiating table."

Vision: "Anyone who cares about the future of life on this planet can be an antinuclear activist. ...
We can fill the streets, starting with dozens and building until we are millions.
We did it once. We can again. We have to."

Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine are horrifying. While the threats deserve condemnation, more importantly, they require a steady response of de-escalation that pulls us back from the threat of nuclear warfare.

TELL CONGRESS THAT MORE DIPLOMACY IS THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT HUMAN LIVES AND OUR ENVIRONMENT!

WRITE: Join the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers) letter campaign TODAY by clicking here! Easy pre-scripted letters to send to your Senators and Congressmember, or you can edit to personalize them before sending.

As the Friends Committee on National Legislation reminds us:

"Dialogue with Russia is not capitulation or appeasement. It is, in fact, the only sane response to the threat of nuclear brinksmanship. Congress has a moral responsibility to de-escalate tensions and prevent the use of nuclear weapons to preserve the environment and all humanity.

Multifaith Letter to Pres Biden re Nuclear Danger

In response to the increasing risk of a nuclear disaster, Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice's Steering Committee has endorsed a letter to President Biden with an urgent call for the resumption of arms control negotiation. The letter was issued on September 22 by some 29 distinguished and diverse faith leaders in the New York and Washington metropolitan areas. We join with them in imploring President Biden to, for the sake of our whole human family, make the resumption of arms control negotiation his highest priority.

The multifaith letter states, in part:

We affirm the view previously expressed by religious authorities that nuclear weapons are inherently immoral because of their horrific and indiscriminate effects on civilians and on the environment.

and concludes:

Mr. President, for the sake of the entire human family, we urge you to press for the resumption of arms control negotiations without further delay.

Click here to download and read the entire letter.

Interfaith Statement to Meeting for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Joint Interfaith Statement Welcoming the First Meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (June 22 2022)

"As faith communities from a diversity of traditions and located all over the world, we join together with one voice to mark this first Meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohbition of Nuclear Weapons.  We welcome this historic occasion and celebrate this milestone that moves us closer to a world without nuclear weapons."

Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice is honored to be an endorser of this statement along with religious communities of many traditions and from around the world. Click here to download statement and full list of endorsers.

The Statement was read aloud at the opening of the Meeting.