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.

[Editor's Note: Iran peace delegation member David Drake of Des Moines, Iowa, sent the following reflection from Tehran, as he and the delegation prepared to head to Imam Khomeini International Airport on Saturday evening, December 15th.]

Dear friends and family -- it's 10:30 p.m. here -- 8 1/2 hrs later than my home in Iowa.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation's fifth peace delegation to Iran has now arrived in the city of Shiraz, considered by many to be jewel of classical Islamic culture as well as the seat of the ancient Persian pre-Islamic civilization. As the delegation concluded its first few days, spent in Tehran, one delegation member, Rick Zand, was afforded an unusual opportunity to meet with Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi and a group of 20 Iranian women.