‘Seeds of Peace’ graduates coming to Temple Sinai
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Daniel Scher (bottom center) is pictured with his Seeds of Peace bunkmates – they are Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and Egyptian. courtesy scher family |
Daniel Scher, a 16-year-old junior at Tenafly High School, will speak at the Temple Sinai brotherhood breakfast on Sunday, Nov. 14, about being a camper at the Seeds of Peace program in Maine this summer. A member of the Tenafly shul, Daniel will be joined by a Palestinian and an Israeli graduate of the Seeds of Peace program, which is dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence. The three-week conflict resolution program, which received more than 8,000 applications this year, makes it possible for hundreds of young leaders from both sides of major conflicts to meet face-to-face, often for the first time in their lives.
Daniel was one of 15 American delegates selected to attend this program, which included Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Pakistani, Afghan, and Indian teenagers. An active member of the Tenafly High School debate team, he traveled to Eastern Europe on a “heritage journey” with his parents and grandparents. In 2009, he participated in the Brandeis University Genesis program “Judaism and Justice.”
Nadav Greenberg, 26, and Kareem Uri, 20, will also speak at the breakfast. Greenberg first attended Seeds of Peace camp in 1999. He returned in 2000 as a peer support camper. Since then he has been involved in many follow-up programs, including seminars and home visits in the region, a trip to Jordan, and the Seeds of Peace conference “Uprooting Hatred and Terror” that was held in New York in 2001. Greenberg served in the Israeli military for three and a half years and graduated from Harvard in May. He is working for “Just Vision,” a nonprofit organization that uses film and other media to tell the stories of Palestinians and Israelis working toward nonviolent solutions to the conflict.
Uri was born and raised in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. In 2005 he joined Seeds of Peace as a first-time camper and returned as a peer support camper in 2006. He has remained active in the organization and is involved with various other organizations that promote reconciliation and non-violent conflict resolution, including People to People, Palestinian Coalition for Peace, and Peace it Together. A junior at George Washington University, where he is pursuing a joint degree in economics and Middle Eastern public policy, he has been an active participant and leader in Seeds of Peace follow-up programming both in the United States and the Middle East.
A lox and bagel breakfast, for which an RSVP is required, will begin at 10 a.m. Call (201) 568-3035 or e-mail templesinai@templesinaibc.org. The program will begin at 10:45. Both are open to the public.
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