Establishing an Army of Healers

The unfathomable trauma, grief and suffering currently experienced by Israelis and Palestinians are nothing short of a spiritual emergency. Unless it is healed and transformed, this trauma will recreate itself into cycles of anger, resentment, desire for revenge, and will result in more violence, more death. For the last 30 years, Together Beyond Words has been bringing Israelis and Palestinians together in workshops and playback theatre events with impactful results on the participants and the communities in which they live (see video). After Hamas' October 7 attacks and Israel's subsequent military response on Gaza, we launched a new initiative reclaiming the word army and creating an Army of Healers. The Army of Healers is designed to help stop the current cycles of violence and to promote the possibility of living in harmony and peace. Our goal is to rebuild trust, reawaken compassion and enhance the ability of Jews and Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians to live in harmony and work for peace. Our diverse network of Israeli and Palestinian therapists and group facilitators create safe spaces of human encounter, to heal, to rebuild trust, and explore the possibility of living together in harmony. Our workshops provide much-needed spaces for the processing and transformation of difficult emotions related to the ongoing conflict.  Our pilot groups are currently running with almost 200 participants. We aim to reach 1200 religious and secular, Jewish, Bedouin, Muslim, Druze and Christian women and men, ages 20 and older who are willing to embark on a journey of personal healing, which will enable them to help heal ruptures in their communities and advance the cause of peace. We are working with mixed groups of Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, women only as well as men and women. The groups are co- facilitated by a Jew and an Arab Palestinian. Donations to this project will go towards financial compensation to the facilitators, providing supervision for each duo who are working together with a group, assessment of the project, renting of space for meetings and administration of the program.  Kindly note that donations in NIS will require ID or passport; donations in USD will not. Thank you for your support!