Israel, Part X: Saving Lives, One Kindergartener at a Time

Ora Balha

Her living room floor was carpeted with colorful carpets.  Two or three cats wandered in and out of the space.  And we sat on cushions, in chairs and on the floor as she spun her story, as intriguing as one told by Scheherazade.  And like those of Scheherazade her story was lifesaving.  But there was one key difference, hers was true.

Her name is Ora Balha and she is a young Jewish mother of three living in Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv in Israel.  Her story told of how she and her now husband, Ihab Balha, first met in the Sinai desert.  Filled with sand and stars in the dark desert night, the story drew us in.  As a Jew and a Muslim, their marriage is extremely unusual in Israel, and their respective families, especially their fathers, found it almost impossible to accept.  But in time, they did.  And as the two of them worked to bring about peace and reconciliation between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the Holyland, it was Ihab's father who eventually offered them space in his home for a proposed interfaith, multicultural kindergarten.

Ihab Balha

Each class was to be led by both Hebrew speaking and Arabic speaking teachers.  The children were to be instructed using the Waldorf method, and taught the rudiments of all three of the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Not in order to convert, but rather to develop in their young charges an understanding and appreciation for "the other."  The program has grown to five schools in Jaffa, as well as two in Galilee. They've been at it now for well over a decade, and some of their first students are now leaders in the peace and reconciliation movement.

They call their organization The Orchard of Abraham's Children.  And the fruits of their efforts are boys and girls better equipped to move through the world not in fear, but rather with an appreciation for people of different backgrounds.  And that, as I said, in a land like Israel, is lifesaving.  Indeed, learning to live peacefully with those who are different is lifesaving in any place and time.

Ihab Balha

(Photo Credit:  Elaine Pace)