Locals Learn to Give the Gift of Acceptance

By Johanna Fassbender

Sahar Kordahi and Tzvia Shelef only met this past June, but what unites them is a deep desire to create a better world for their children and bring people from different backgrounds and with varying perspectives together to engage in a respectful dialogue.

Both women were featured speakers at the December History Around Town program, a monthly series organized by the Hayward Area Historical Society.

Sahar Kordahi is Palestinian, and Tzvia Shelef is from Israel, and that alone would be enough for some people to not talk to each other.

Not so for Kordahi and Shelef who have become friends and share a vision larger than themselves: They want to find innovative ways to create peace and have come to the conclusion that acceptance is vital to creating peace.

Sahar and Tzvia together developed seven steps of acceptance:

1. Inner awareness and readiness
2. Forgiveness and letting go
3. Belonging to a community
4. One people, one tribe, one universe
5. Universe – God – Spirit
6. From victim to creator
7. Compassion

By sharing their personal stories of friendship and struggles around each of these steps, they hope to inspire other people to join them in their dialogue.

Ruth Hartman, a member of the , facilitated this dialogue on Saturday Dec. 3 at the . She also led attendees in several listening exercises among smaller break-out groups.

The program was well received by those in attendance who admired the women for their honesty and courage and felt inspired to share their own stories and experiences.

If you missed the program, you still have the opportunity to see a small exhibit called "Holidays in the Holy Land" at the Castro Valley Library. The exhibit was organized by a group called Castro Valley Citizens for Middle Eastern Awareness which was founded in 2001, with Sahar Kordahi as one of the co-founders.

The History Around Town program was a partnership between the Hayward Area Historical Society, the Castro Valley Library, Castro Valley Citizens for Middle Eastern Awareness and Temple Shir Ami, which graciously provided refreshments during the program.