Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
Perhaps Leonard Cohen was thinking of his lyrics to the song "Anthem" in 2010, when he donated $10K to support Road to Recovery — an organization of volunteers who transport Palestinian patients to and from border crossings for essential medical treatment at Israeli hospitals.
Road to Recovery began in 2006, through connections between Israelis and Palestinians who have lost close family members to the ongoing violence. A bereaved Palestinian man, whose brother needed transport for cancer treatment, reached out to a bereaved Israeli man for driving assistance. Hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian volunteers, patients and families have come together since that time on a lifesaving journey of healing and hope.
At least four Road to Recovery volunteers — Adi Dagan z"l, Eli Or-Gad z"l, Tammy Suchman z"l, and Vivian Silver z"l — were killed on October 7th. Four more Road to Recovery volunteers lost close family members to the attack. Two volunteers, Chaim Peri and Oded Lifshitz, are among the hostages still held in Gaza. Volunteer Yocheved Lifshitz, Oded's wife, was among the first hostages released.
Yet Road to Recovery volunteers continue to transport patients to and from West Bank checkpoints for lifesaving cancer treatment, organ transplants and kidney dialysis.
How can WE help bring in more light through the cracks of these shattered times? *
WAYS OF PEACE was born out of a previous time of Israel/Palestine conflict, during five years in Haifa and Jerusalem that included the 1991 Gulf War and the first Intifada.
Our work upholds 1,800 years of spiritual guidance for humanitarian action across many lines of intractable conflict — between different kinds of Jews as well as between Jews and other peoples:
"In cities of diversity...we organize ourselves and our money...and sustain the poor...and visit the sick...and bury the dead...and console the bereaved...for these are ways of peace." (Jerusalem Talmud)
* In our commitment to just-giving, WAYS OF PEACE contributes at least 10 percent of net staff compensation forward to other organizations — like Road to Recovery — that uphold our core mandates of renewing justice and kindness across lines of diversity. During this Festival of Rededication and Letting Light In, we hope you will be generous — and we promise to extend your generosity even further.
