“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him…
the people who give you their food give you their heart.” – Chavez
The Commons, Doane Stuart’s Cafeteria, will be transformed into an Israeli eatery on Wednesday, April 20, 2016. Students and faculty will be served Falafel in pita, Shakshuka, Israeli Salad and Vegetable and Lentil Soup. The special lunch is made for our community by our Israeli and Arab student teachers Shira Siboni and Fadi Aweidah who are visiting from David Yellin College, Jerusalem, Israel.
Shira spoke to Dave Greene who runs the cafeteria and provides breakfast and lunch for our 270 students. Shira’s grandmother owned a restaurant in Jerusalem for many years, so food has always been very important to her. “To get to know a culture, you learn about people’s clothes, holidays and food. Students at Doane Stuart know about the different holidays from the Chapel program and from the Jewish and Muslim students that attend the school. We wanted to share our culture by giving them a taste of the food of the streets.”
They wanted to prepare food that was known to Arabs and Jews, and they wanted it to be as authentic as possible. So Shira and Fadi donned aprons and have spent hours preparing the traditional feast. Dave and Mike Foley happily joined in to make this unique lunch a success.
In addition to food, Shira taught Lower School students to sing in Hebrew and dance the Horra. Fadi has worked with the Kindergartners. Both led a Chapel about Peace and have shared samples of traditional as well as modern art and music. They also answered questions in Upper School history classes about what it is like to live in an area with so much conflict.
“We speak about the conflict, but I want to share those aspects of our lives – food and culture – that are similar,” said Shira. “We want to show students that Arabs and Jews do live together, that we shop in the same stores and on the same streets. We are from the same area. Bad things happen, and we can’t ignore that, but we are friends. It requires conversation but we can find a way to live together.”
And here they are, halfway around the world in the kitchen of an interfaith school, working together to share their food, culture and hearts with the Doane Stuart community. “It is good for the school to have this experience,” said Fadi as he prepared a blender full of chick peas for tomorrow’s hummus. “This is a good experience for us, for the kids and for the school community. Food can make peace.”
Siboni is studying to teach middle school math and Fadi Aweidah is studying to teach elementary and special education. We offer a special thank you to the family of Noah Halle, DS Class of 2015 for hosting Shira, and to friends of the school Gerry and Irit Magnes, for hosting Fadi.
Updated, 4/20: Pictures from lunch! Everything was delicious and received rave reviews from students, faculty and staff!
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Also highlighted by Paul Grondahl in Thursday, April 21 Times Union online and in print:
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/Tolerance-taste-lessons-from-Jerusalem-at-Doane-7281257.php
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In 2012, with an introduction from our partners in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Doane Stuart created a partnership with The David Yellin Academic College of Education, Jerusalem, Israel, to bring two student teachers, one Jewish and one Arab, to our school for several weeks each year. This offers the student teachers the opportunity to teach and learn in an environment in which diversity and respect for difference are key components of a school that emphasizes the importance of teaching students to live together peacefully, celebrating the beliefs, backgrounds and traditions of others. The goal of our two schools, one an EC – 12 American independent school and one an Israeli college of education, is to teach peace to members of diverse communities, with the expectation that today’s students will carry forward these lessons in their own lives.
With a history of commitment to diversity that dates to the mid-19th century, Doane Stuart is proud of its student body, which reflects a considerably greater racial, religious and socio-economic diversity than can be found in any other school or neighborhood in our Region, and is the result of a commitment to “respect for difference” as an essential element of a Doane Stuart education. Doane Stuart lives this commitment by offering significant financial aid; by its wide-ranging interfaith religious programs, which celebrate the traditions of our students, whether Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindi or Christian; by its emphasis on service to the community; and by its ecumenical partnerships with Lagan College, St. Mary’s University College and Stranmillis University College in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and David Yellin College, Jerusalem.