A New Branch:
SHIUR - Mar Elias Educational Institutions Partnership
About the Program
On June 2, 2024, in Ibillin, Galilee, a momentous occasion took place. Emeritus Archbishop Elias Chacour, the esteemed founder of Mar Elias Educational Institutions, graciously hosted a delegation led by SHIUR founder Micki Weinberg. This event marked the inauguration of a significant partnership between SHIUR and Mar Elias Educational Institutions. The partnership is dedicated to fostering Jewish-Arab coexistence through text-based discourse, a mission that holds immense importance in our shared community.
The partnership will kick off with a unique 12-month program. This program, designed for Arab youth and community members, offers a rare opportunity to explore Arab and Jewish texts from literary, philosophical, and traditional sources. By engaging with these diverse texts, all participants will have the chance to discover new perspectives and appreciate the cultural and philosophical richness of 'the other '.
Archbishop “Abouna” Chacour, Micki, and Dr. Emil Halloun explored texts from Hannah Arendt, St. Augustine, Idra Rabbah, and Rosa Luxemburg. The discourse was started with the following text from Hannah Arendt:
[The] “enlarged way of thinking, which as judgment knows how to transcend its limitations, cannot function in strict isolation or solitude; it needs the presence of others ‘in whose place’ it must think, whose perspectives it must take into consideration, and without whom it never has the opportunity to operate at all.”
This striving for “enlarged thinking” underscores the “A New Branch” initiative.
Archbishop Chacour emphasized how the path to peace lay in shifting the discourse: “The land does not belong to the Israelis. The land does not belong to the Palestinians. The Israelis and Palestinians belong to the land.”
Dr. Emil Halloun, the head of the International Relations Office at the Mar Elias Educational Institutions, will lead this transformative program. With Archbishop Chacour's blessing, Dr. Halloun will guide the participants on this enlightening journey of exploration and understanding at the Peace Center at MEEI in Ibillin.
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We rely on generous donations from individuals and organizations to run our programming, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has supported our mission to-date and is considering doing so now.
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EIN: 86-3431923
Mailing Address:
SHIUR
269 S Beverly Dr #684
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
SHIUR’s other Israel related activities
Regular in-person SHIUR gatherings in art galleries, cultural spaces, and other locations, where Jews and Arabs, Israelis and foreigners, come together through text-based discourse, led from both within the community as well as with different guest scholars. Thinking together, reading together, developing ideas and experiences together–is vital now as different narratives attempt to draw us apart.
Virtual SHIUR where the global community explores through text and discourse the current situation. We believe that maintaining a direct connection across borders and cultures is vital.
Original cultural programming in Israel. Art plays a vital role in times of war and instability. We support and create original art, music, and cultural events directly relating to what’s happening in Israel. We also have events in Europe and North America that are directly related to our activities in Israel—building bridges between all our communities.