Israeli Jews and Arabs Will Come to Louisville for Triwizard Event

Israeli Jews and Arabs Will Come to Louisville for Triwizard Event

http://www.jewishlouisville.org/page.html?ArticleID=142793

If you are a fan of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, when you hear the word “triwizard,” it immediately conjures up images of the dangerous and demanding competition that brought students from schools in three countries together for a year-long competition among school champions.

The wizarding tournament in the book was conceived as a way to bring youngsters from different communities together to get to know each other, to learn about each other’s culture and language and to foster understanding and cooperation.

Well, on March 18-21, there will be a Triwizard event in Louisville. Instead of young wizards, however, 10 Israeli teens – five Jewish and five Arab – and their teachers will be coming to Louisville to engage in a three-way discussion with their American counterparts at local high schools and at meetings with Jewish youth groups.

Although all 10 teens live in Akko, in the Western Galilee (Louisville’s Partnership with Israel region), the Jews attend Ort Darsky High School and Arabs attend Ort Chilmi Shafee High School. They would not have had much opportunity to interact in the normal course of their lives.

It was a special Holocaust study program through the Ghetto Fighters Museum that changed their paths. Through their participation in a joint learning activity related to tolerance and mutual understanding, all the teens learned about the danger of stereotypes and prejudice and came to understand the importance of co-existence.

They started their discussions in Israel, and now they are traveling together, talking together, and sharing their concerns, their hopes and their dreams with each other and with some of the American communities in the Partnership.

The Triwizard project was originated with the Canton Jewish community, and is now coming to other communities in the consortium.

Partnership with Israel (originally Partnership 2000) is a JAFI program that matches communities in Israel with communities in the United States. Louisville has been part of a Midwest consortium of communities partnered with the Western Galilee since the program’s inception in 1998.

The program offers many opportunities for people on both sides of the ocean to work together in the fields of medicine, arts, education, culture and business. Additional opportunities can be developed for you, tailored to your individual interests, talents and skills.

For more information about the Triwizard event or Partnership, contact Shlicha Alexandra Shklar, 451-8840 or alexandras@jcfl.com.

Arab, Jewish teens look for common ground

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=344008

Arab, Jewish teens look for common ground

Saturday, March 24, 2007BY

Edd Pritchard REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER

PLAIN TWP. Nofar Carmeli used to see Arabs as people who hated her because she is Jewish. She thought they wanted to kill her.

Today she knows that's not the case. "I saw it's not that way.

They do want friends. And they want to get along in life, like I do," Carmeli said.

She has been learning the lesson over the past two years as one of five Jewish Israeli high-school students in a program dubbed "Triwizard."

It includes five Arab Israeli students and a dozen GlenOak High School students.

All of the Israeli students are from Akko, a city on the Mediterranean Sea.

Jews and Arabs live in separate neighborhoods. The Israeli students attend separate high schools, one for Arabs and one for Jews.

COMING TOGETHER Students said they and their friends were skeptical when the program to bring together Jewish and Arab Israeli teens began. "Some of my friends thought the idea was hopeless," said Yasmin Mansour, an Arab student.

Bringing Jews and Arabs together would never work. "I've seen it work." Martha Lottman, working with the Jewish Community Federation, helped start the program. "Putting it together was not easy," Lottman said.

Finding teachers to help proved to be the biggest problem. There was hesitation and plenty of concern about where the program was going.

Steve Robbins, a social studies teacher at GlenOak, traveled to Israel and Washington, D.C., to meet with Aiche Morsy, an Arab teacher, and then Yaffit Cohen, a Jewish teacher. Students slowly started meeting each other by exchanging letters and e-mail. They also talked together during a video conference.

Sunday, the Israeli students arrived in the United States, going to Louisville, Ky., which is a sister city to Akko.

They arrived in the Canton area late Wednesday. Lottman said she expects several of the students will remain friends for many years, and hopes the friendships help other people learn. "The proof of success will come in the future," Lottman told the students.

COMMON GROUND Ibrahem Bakri thanked Lottman for her work. "You make great things." The program has brought this group together, and Bakri hopes it will spread to others. "We solve problems by talking," he said. "I am here to make peace." GlenOak students agreed that much of the prejudice they carried before starting the program came from not knowing the real story.

Opinions were based on perceptions. And many in the United States have the wrong impression of the Middle East.

Patrice Allen said she expected people from the Middle East to dress differently. She never expected Israeli high-school students would like the same music. She was wrong. "It's been eye-opening," Allen said.

"We see that everybody's the same." Students said they have learned that they can live with their differences. "We don't have to agree about everything, but we can accept each others' opinions," said Moshe Shamir, an Arab student.

Shani Dadoun, a Jewish student, said she hopes to use what she has learned to change the opinions of others. "I really think that peace will come one day," Dadoun said. "I really hope I live to see it."

Reach Repository writer Edd Pritchard at (330) 580-8484 or e-mail: edd.pritchard@cantonrep.com REPOSITORY JULIE VENNITTI BATTLING PREJUDICE

Yasmin Mansour, an Arab Israeli high-school student, talks about knocking down prejudice and hatred during a meeting Friday in the Stark County Library branch at GlenOak High School. Jewish and Arab Israeli students along with GlenOak students have spent the past two years exchanging letters and information, and learning that they have more in common then they realized. REPOSITORY JULIE VENNITTI COEXIST Religious symbols are used to spell the word "coexist" on T-shirts worn by high school students from Israel and GlenOak. The students have been part of a program geared toward finding common ground between Arab and Jewish teenagers. LOTTMAN

Shayne Ward - No Promises

Muhammed Ali Clay

(To view the presentation about MUHAMMED ALI CLAY using Power point click here)

MUHAMMED ALI CLAY

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay) was born 17 January 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky to parents of modest circumstances. He started boxing in junior high, when he learned boxing from a policeman at a local gym. By the time that Ali had reached high school, he already intended to be a prizefighter and hoped to box in the Olympics. As an amateur boxer, Ali attracted notice in 1960 by winning the Amateur Athletic Union light heavyweight and Golden Gloves heavyweight championships. At the Rome Olympics in 1960, Ali crushed his opponents to win a gold medal in the light heavyweight division.

After turning pro, Ali defeated his first opponents. Then on 25 February 1964, he fought, and knocked out, Sonny Liston in seven rounds, thus becoming the new heavyweight world champion. Ali defended his title nine times from 1965 to 1967 and became universally recognized as world heavyweight champion after outpointing World Boxing Association (WBA) champion Ernie Terrell in fifteen rounds on 6 February 1967. Ali often proclaimed his invincibility in verse and boasted, "I am the greatest!"

Soon after becoming heavyweight champion, Ali decided to change his religion and joined the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims), taking the Muslim name "Muhammad Ali." The Vietnam War then interrupted Ali's career. In 1967, he was inducted into the military, but he refused to serve, saying his religious beliefs forbade him to fight. While some Americans praised Ali for risking prison to stand up for his beliefs, others called him a draft dodger and traitor. The government charged him with violating the Selective Service Act; his titles were taken from him; and he was not allowed to box.

After a long court battle, Ali was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in jail and fined $10,000 fine, but in another lawsuit in 1970, a judge ruled that Ali could still box professionally. The new heavyweight champion was Joe Frazier, and a match was scheduled et for 8 March 1971. Newspapers called it "The Fight of the Century." In the fifteenth round, Frazier knocked Ali down. Ali got back up, but all the judges named Frazier the winner.

That same year, Ali won his legal battle when the U.S. Supreme Court said he was not guilty of draft evasion--He should not have been drafted at all. Ali spent the next three years fighting other champions, including Jerry Quarry, Floyd Patterson (making a brief comeback attempt), Joe Bugner and Ken Norton, winning all but one fight to Ken Norton. He also won a unanimous decision over Frazier on 28 January 1974, but Frazier had lost the heavyweight title to George Foreman. So Ali next had to fight Foreman.

Millions of people sat before their televisions to watch the fight between Ali and Foreman, staged as "The Rumble in the Jungle." Sixty thousand fans gathered at the stadium in Kinshasa in Zaire on 30 October 1974. People favored Foreman, who was seven years younger than the 32-year-old Ali, but Ali fought brilliantly, tiring his opponent using "rope-a-dope" tactics. In round eight, Ali knocked out Foreman. He could still "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," as he liked to say. Ali had regained the undisputed world heavyweight title.

After defending his heavyweight title six times--including a third fight with Joe Frazier--Ali lost it to Leon Spinks on 15 February 1978 in a split decision. He regained the WBA title from Spinks seven months later in a unanimous decision, becoming the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship three times. In 1979 Ali announced his retirement, at that point having lost only three times in 59 fights, but he returned to fight World Boxing Council champion Larry Holmes in 1980 and Trevor Berbick of Canada in 1981, losing both. Ali then retired permanently.

As Ali entered his forties, he looked ill. In 1984 it was assumed that he was suffering from a series of symptoms variously known as "punch drunk" syndrome, or chronic encephalopathy of boxers, but Ali had Parkinson's disease, an illness of the nervous system for which he was taking medication. "I feel fine," he insisted. "I'm older and fatter, but we all change."

Ali was selected to light the Olympic flame at the 1996 summer games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Presentation about AKKO

(To view the presentation about akko using Power point click here)

The city’s fascinating historical heritage, a rare blend of East and West, authentic sights from the past, a unique meeting place of art and religion alongside the remains of various cultures – all these have made Acre one of the most important cities of the ancient world.
The walls of the city, its fortresses and citadels, its churches and mosques and the other buildings within its boundaries, tell the history of the many rulers who governed it and fought for it, who built the city and glorified it.

Acre’s most prominent sites include ruins from the Hellenistic-Roman period and buildings from the Crusader and Ottoman periods: Al Jazar Mosque, the buildings of the Order of Saint John, the subterranean Crusader city, Khan Al Omdan, the Turkish Baths (which now house the municipal museum), the Bahai Temple and more.

In Acre you will be able to see the fingerprints of many peoples and religious movements: the Canaanites, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Crusaders, the Mamelukes, the Turks and the British.

Acre’s colorful Oriental markets, the city walls, the museums the beaches and the sea-sports sites, Fisherman’s Port, the marina, the restaurants, the hotels and the colorful festivals that are held in Acre annually – are a few more of the city’s tourist attractions.
A visit to Acre is one-of-a-kind experience and an exciting trip to the splendid past.

Tri-Wizard in Akko 2006 - 2007

Tri-Wizard in Akko 2006 - 2007

"At the beginning, we feared the encounter with the group from ORT Darski'" said Khader from ORT Shafie.
"Before the encounter, I had the feeling that all Jews hate us; I had prejudices about them. Something has changed inside me," said Ibrahim from ORT Shefai.
"The process changed the way I look at things; I am no longer so angry; I feel that they understand me better. I no longer look at them as enemies, but as friends," said Leila.


Dvir adds to her statement: "We began the workshop about the Holocaust and worked a lot on the topic of racism, and we also related to the Arabs. The facilitator stressed to us that one mustn't make generalizations - You can't say, for example, that all the Arabs hate Jews. The encounters allowed us to get to know friends from ORT Shefai."
At the concluding event two mothers approached me and asked that we expand the process to include parents: "The children comment to us at home that we mustn't talk that way, that it's forbidden to say that the... are... It isn't easy to change ways of thinking and speaking."
How Did all this Take Place?
The Akko schools, ORT Darski and ORT Hilmi Shefai, from the days when it was still called the Arab Comprehensive School, have been working together with the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters' Museum for close to ten years.
This Center works with more than 20 Jewish and Arab schools in the north to deepen the value-oriented and social insights ensuing from the Holocaust.


Two principals from Akko, Lea Haliwa and Muhammad Hajuj, with the support of the Western Galilee Partnership 2000, closely mentored by Dr. Yehuda Peled, joined forces to give new momentum to the program. The process began with the selection of two teachers who devoted themselves to the process and gave their all to it - time, love, thought, enlistment of their families, etc.


Yafit Cohen and Ayesha Morsy last summer took part in a preparatory workshop at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, along with Steve Robbins, a teaching colleague from Canton, Ohio. The workshop was facilitated by me and my partner, Lynn Williams, the director of a parallel project at the USHMM. We could already learn about the difficulties awaiting us from the not to be taken for granted combination of the three teachers, each one of whom comes from a different cultural and national background.
The students from the two schools in Akko participated in weekly workshops from the beginning of the year, in which they went into major issues from the Holocaust and from the background to its occurrence in depth. Learning was done in a way that encourages a humanistic and democratic outlook which emphasizes the basic values of tolerance and the equality of human beings.


The study of the Holocaust and its significance served as a bridge for the meetings between the cultures. The meetings took place at the Ghetto Fighters' Museum: two single afternoon meetings and following them a two-day intensive seminar together, with an overnight stay at the museum and much hard work in the workshops. Simultaneously, all the students corresponded with friends from the USA via e-mail and in virtual meetings via videoconference.
On May 24, they gathered at the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters' Museum for a graduation ceremony attended by the students and their parents, the school principals and the three teachers in charge - Yafit from ORT Darski, Ayesha from Hilmi Shefai and Steven from Glen Oak in Canton, Ohio. If not for them, Nofar, Ibrahim, Khader, Leila, Dvir and their friends would not have reached the new insights that have changed the way they view their living together in the city of Akko.

Welcome to the Israeli “Triwizard” group’s

What is the Triwizard ?

"Partnership 2000 - Jewish agency" - represented by dr. Yehuda peled and the "Jewish Federation"represented by Mrs. Martha lottman - came with an idea that: three groups - two from israel and one from Canton Ohio - Usa will produce a constant dialog. The two groups from Israel - Jewish and Arabs will become one group that has its own relationship.
All this process will be creatad with the help of The getto fighters house and the manager - Mrs. Raya kalisman and the manager of the holocaust museum in Washington - Mrs lynn williams.

Our top mission

As members of three distinct and rich cultures, we will actively explore our shared humanity as we build bridges through open dialogue and joint activities.
We will learn, grow, and most importantly, seek to make a positive difference in our lives, and the lives of those we touch, wherever our journeys lead us.
By embracing the values we share, we will strive to be stronger together than we are alone.

The creation of triwizard

The preparation started in Israel and in USA. Dr. Yehuda Peled, Mrs Raya Kalisman, The two principals - Haliva Lea and Muhamad Hajuj prepared the two teachers in Israel and Mrs Martha Lottman prepared the two teachers in the USA.
Aicha and Yaffit were getting ready to the trip to the USA - there they were going to meet all the people that are going to support this project.
We knew that the general concept of this program would be created in Washington.
In Washington we met Mrs Martha lottman, Mrs Raya Kalisman, the wonderful host - Mrs Lynn Wiliams and our two great colleagues in Canton: Mrs Susan Barry and Mr Steve Robinns. from the first minute we knew "this is going to work" there was a click between the four teachers : Steve, Susan, Aicha, Yaffit.
Lynn and Raya organized for us three significant days. from the tour in Washington to the woderful workshops.
We got to know eachother from the name to the family story of everyone. Some of us even discovered new things about themselves.
We had the honor to tour the museum with a private guide that did an excellent work - we could have stayed with him a few more hours than we did.
The highlight of the workshop was the movie that we saw together about the Israeli Arabs and the trauma that they went through in 1948.
Aicha was very surprised at the similarity between the movie and her family story.
Then we learned that most of the good, bad and in between, start with education.
All the third day in Washington we tried to consolidate a general framework and a top mission.
I want to mention the excellent dinner that we shared. not just the good food but also the great energy and the good feelings that surrounded all of us.
Canton Ohio - means to me : a wonderfull woman - Martha lottman - no one in my life made me feel like i am in my own home as she did - thank you Martha.
Steve and Mary Jo hosted us in an open house . we got to know some of Steve's studants , a reporter asked us some questions about the project, Steve came up with a top mission that all of us agreed with, Susan showed us the i.d that she prepared and all of us enjoyed each other's company and a great dinner - not forgetting the good humus
On Friday night we dined with the Rabbi of Canton and his wife.
After dinner we all went to synagogue to present our project.
All the four teachers on a stage - presenting themselves and their community's interest in the project. The people were very nice and showed a real interest in the project.
Saturday noon - we had to leave - we did not know how to say thank you for that kind of hospitality - every word will make the value of this hospitality less than it really was.
thank you all: Lynn, Raya, Steve, Susan and Martha
The israeli triwizard.

Frame work

Our work will be done at two courses:

1. Dialog between the Israelis and the Americans.

2. Dialog between the two groups in Israel, so that they can become one united group.

A. To get to know eachother, by names, photos, etc...
B. To build a deeper I.D to know eachother qualities.
C. To spread eachother family story.
D. To take our best values out of our stories.
E. To unit our best values and to spread it to the macro society.
F. To document all the activities by a partnership final project.

3. Once in two weeks two israeli groups will go to the "Getto Fighters House" and will activate at the same activities.
at the end of this activities the two groups will become one.

The two groups from Akko in Israel:

1- Aicha's group from Ort Hilmi Shafae school.
2- Yafit's group from Ort Darsky school.