Peace & Community

History was made yesterday. And I was there to witness it. My colleague, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, was invited to stand before the congregation of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Tehran, Iran. And as I should have realized she would, Lynn claimed the prophetic mantle.

It is 5 p.m. in Iran, 8 and 1/2 hours east of New York, and I am sending a first brief report from our civilian diplomacy delegation. It has been an exhausting and invigorating two days, only a few hours of which have actually been spent here in the country.

Written May 1, 2008

U.S. Civilian Diplomacy Delegation Departs for Iran;
Woman Rabbi Makes Historic Visit for Peace
April 28, 2008 -- For Immediate Release

In the wake of comments on April 21st by U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, who responded to a question of a theoretical future attack by Iran on Israel by saying, “I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran,” a 21-person interfaith peace delegation to Iran will depart New York on Tuesday, April 29, 2008. The two-week delegation is organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the oldest and largest interfaith peace organization in the United States, and is FOR’s seventh fact-finding and friendship delegation to Iran.

March 20, 2008 was the spring equinox and the Iranian New Year, known as Norooz (or Norouz, Nowruz, No Ruz, etc.). My family and I sat around our traditional and spiritual table at 1:48:46 a.m., at the exact moment of the equinox.

This week, the Middle East Times published an Op-Ed article I recently wrote on U.S.-Iran relations. I am so excited and want to share this with all the supporters of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Here is how the article begins:

Earlier today, I posted on FORpeace.net some initial information about the Fellowship of Reconciliation's sixth civilian diplomacy delegation to Iran, including the names of the participants and the first report submitted to us. A major challenge for the delegation while in the country was its lack of access to the internet.

Earlier this week, the Fellowship of Reconciliation's sixth civilian diplomacy delegation to Iran returned safely to the United States. The delegation was composed of 13 U.S. citizens and one U.K. resident, including a contributing editor to several leading international magazines, a research analyst at a major think tank in Washington DC, religious leaders, educators, writers, and others.

This has been a powerful week of peace efforts concerning Iran. While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a historic visit to Iraq earlier this week, the Fellowship of Reconciliation's sixth civilian diplomacy delegation to Iran continued its travels around the country -- and began preparing for a meeting with former Iranian President Khatami. Delegation member Helen Lindsay of Ridgewood, New Jersey wrote from Tehran: