Israel's 60th Birthday - Celebration and Healing Old Wounds

For the last six years I have spent Israeli Independence Day in a very unique way. We, a group of 150-200 conscious Israelis and Palestinians have met to respect and commemorate the pain and loss on both sides and to create a shared independence.

Each year we meet in a different place. This year, our group will convene in Givat Haviva a peace college in the center of the country. The invitation calls for all those ready to move forward, to participate.

Two years ago, the meeting was held at Kibbutz Nes Amim in the upper Galilee, where German volunteers come to make their own peace between Jewish and Christian communities. That particular year was particularly powerful for me, as the German side of the Holocaust plays a very real part in both the creation of this state and also the victim-persecutor dynamic which gets played out between Israelis and Palestinians. It is the human drama, acted out sometimes in high drama in these parts. We focused upon the circle of victimy and how to go beyond it. We each chose a situation where we feel victim in life, learning about the different stages and where, we as victims, by our thinking, unwittingly become aggressors to ourselves and others.

Can you see a place in your life where you may unwittingly be aggressing yourself or others unneccessarily by victim thinking? If you don't think that you can overcome this, please listen here.

As you enjoy listening to the beauty of this music, I invite you to contemplate how you might become more independent yourself by becoming easier upon yourself and your victim thinking.