Gita Hazani
Posted on | March 3, 2009 | No Comments
Director General of Mosaica Center for Inter-Religious Cooperation
When the fears are gone and both sides say what they really feel, they open their hearts and say very difficult things. Someone says, “When you talk about your ownership of the holy temple, I feel someone put a knife in my heart and turned it. It’s so difficult to hear you talking this way about my holy place.”
When one perceives the other’s pain, these moments contain trust and realization of each other’s narratives. We understand that “we are not sure we will love each other, but we are sure we have to educate our children differently—we cannot keep living like this. Let’s live together, even without peace, fairly and create an environment that enables our children not to die in wars.”
How do you change an educational system?
Today’s education system is separate for Jews and Muslims with no contact between the communities. We have gathered educators from eight Jewish schools and ten Muslim schools in East Jerusalem, and we are recruiting eighteen more. They develop curricula that counter stereotypes and dogma, and don’t wait for a formal policy of this or the other government. We are confident this will lead to an educational revolution in Jerusalem.
After two years of dialogue encounters, work, sweat, and hard moments the teachers and principals are initiating their programs in their schools. There were tense moments, but they became friends. Their families ask, “Why do you meet with killers? Why do you meet with dirty Jews?” They have to cope with it, talk with their families, the students, and other teachers.
Sometimes, I’m asked why the process is so slow. We try to keep explaining that this is the Middle East, which has its own rhythm, and also, it’s a hundred years of dispute that you can’t solve in three or five years of educational programs.
Yet, we can see the fruit growing. Our Israeli teachers, when they talk about our Independence Day, now talk about the other’s Naqbah. We cannot take for granted we can relate to the others’ pain; it’s deeper than pain—but that Jews can stand in front of students from extremist families who live in the settlements and talk about the Naqbah, this is courage, this is meaningful.
When Mosaica begins working with a school, what specific changes take place in the curriculum?
In our program, teachers work the principal to build a new curriculum sensitive to inter-religious issues. Jewish and Muslim students are exposed to many aspects of the other’s religion, culture and history. For instance, Muslims students are taught what it means to be a Jew, changing the definition they might have gotten from their parents, families, or the media.
One sign of our program’s success is that in Jewish schools, many more students are opting to take Arabic. In Israel, you can choose to learn Arabic or French. Many choose to learn French in those Jewish schools. So the fact that they’re willing to take a step towards the other culture, the other world is very important because through this new knowledge, they adopt the ability to face complexities.
What is your relationship to the religious communities?
We work in inter-religious diplomacy to build a coalition of support. Religious leaders are all men, I don’t have to tell you how difficult it is to deal with religious leaders, Jewish or Muslim. When they see a woman run a process . . . well, at first they ignored me. I was considered as a secretary even though they knew they were around the table because I had brought them. I was very sensitive, but I’m not now. I think they learned to accept me.
I have great hopes the near future will bring women leaders to run the world. We have seen the world through a history of male leaders for ages and ages. Now more women are in key positions. We can change the world. It’s not a phrase, it’s real.
Do you have hopes for success?
When we first started the project, there was not much faith in it from the Jewish or Muslim side. Today, three years later, we have 18 participating schools, 10 Muslim schools and 8 Jewish schools and we’re going to recruit another group of 18 schools. I’m confident that within 10 years, we will see a different educational system in Jerusalem.
What motivates you and the participants to keep on working through the challenges?
When Jews and Muslims sit together and talk, they realize how big the chasm is. Sometimes you think you can’t breach the two sides but they understand that if they don’t want to live in violence, they must take the first step to make a change. This motivates them. What motivates me is the next generation. The need to change things for them comes from a very deep place at the bottom of my stomach. I think we live in a terrible world and we should commit to our children. We owe that much to them.
Education is a personal issue because you have children.
Yes. When you have children, religious tolerance in the educational system becomes very important. Which schools should I send my daughter? Where is the best school to get the best education? My husband and I are not very happy with the religious educational system in Israel because we think they are dogmatic and dominated by the us-versus-them mentality.
If you could say something to the women of the world, what would that be?
Take responsibility for the lives of our children because you understand better than anyone else. We saw the world through history for ages and ages. We’ve suffered so much under male leaders throughout history. Trust yourself. We can do it. We can change the world.
As Director General of the Mosaica Center, Hazani follows the heritage of her grandfather, a rabbi in Teheran who initiated relations with Iranian Muslims. Mosaica Center supports a dialogue of educators from East and West Jerusalem for mutual educational reform, including curricula that acknowledge the realities of the Other. Hazani has also catalyzed a supportive coalition of inter-religious leaders.
