The Diocese of South Carolina to Host "Friends of Roots" Event on February 22

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina is grateful to be partnering with Roots to welcome two speakers from their organization for an evening of dialogue: Two Truths in One Heart—Two Peoples in One Land, Thursday, February 22, 2024 at Grace Church Cathedral in Hanahan Hall (Charleston). Join us as Noor A’wad and Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger share personal stories of transformation and insights born of meeting one another.

​The event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested at this link.

Download a flyer about the event at this link. 
 
An Orthodox rabbi and a Palestinian man both realized that the only path to peace is getting to know one another and working toward building understanding, respect, and appreciation between national identities.
 
Roots/Shorashim/Judur – an Israeli-Palestinian grassroots initiative for understanding,
nonviolence and transformation based in Judea & Samaria/the West Bank - is a unique
network of local Palestinians and Israelis who have come to see each other as the
partners we both need to make changes to end our conflict. Based on mutual recognition
of each People's national identity and connection to the Land, the organization challenges the
assumptions our communities hold about each other, building trust and creating a new
discourse around the conflict in our respective societies.

Roots/Shorashim/Judur has created and operates the only joint Israeli-
Palestinian community center in the entire West Bank/Judea & Samaria. This safe, holy
space hosts social, religious, and educational activities, bringing together hundreds of
Palestinians and Israelis who begin to realize that there are two truths, two stories – not
one – in this land, and the only way forward is to cherish both.
 
At Roots local people learn to take responsibility for making change. Where there seems
to be no hope, hope is born anew. From the bottom up, Roots has created a model for a
better future.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Born to Palestinian parents, Noor A’wad and his family moved from Amman, Jordan to Beit Sahour following the signing of the Oslo Accords. There, he began engaging with his identity as a Palestinian refugee, both in violent and nonviolent ways. While studying to become a tour guide, Noor travelled to Israel and for the first time saw Israelis beyond the lens of “occupying soldiers,” which put him on a path of intense rethinking about the reality of the conflict. In 2012, Noor was licensed by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism. In 2016, Noor was asked to bring an overseas group he was guiding to hear Rabbi Schlesinger speak at Roots. He was profoundly challenged by what he heard, and after a series of intense, mind-expanding meetings with the rabbi and later with Ali Abu Awwad, in which he heard things he had never heard before, Noor became a Roots activist. Later Noor became the Palestinian English-language Roots spokesperson, in which capacity he has spoken to thousands of overseas visitors and given them an incisive, honest and introspective perspective on Palestinian identity and experience, on the conflict and on Roots’ role within it in the arduous journey towards a solution. Today Noor is a member of the leadership team of Roots. Noor resides in Bethlehem, where – when he is not working with Roots – he guides English-speakers on geopolitical tours of the region.
 
Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger lives in Alon Shvut, Israel and is one of the founders of Roots/Shorashim/Judur. Currently he serves as its Director of International Relations. He also is the founder of the American Friends of Roots, a multi-faith organization dedicated to supporting the work of Roots/Shorashim/Judur.

An Orthodox rabbi and passionate Zionist settler, Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger has lived most of his life in the West Bank where Palestinian make up 90% of the population. Yet 33 years past until he first had a real conversation with a Palestinian. Rabbi Hanan was profoundly transformed by his meeting and friendship with Ali Abu Awwad and with other Palestinians at the beginning of 2014.  His understanding of the reality of the Middle East conflict and of Zionism was utterly complicated by the parallel universe that they introduced him to. Shaken and transformed, Rabbi Hanan - together with Ali and other local Israelis and Palestinians - formed Roots, the Israeli Palestinian grassroots initiative for understanding, nonviolence and transformation to build bridges of reconciliation between the two sides.

Learn more about Roots at www.friendsofroots.net.

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