Prayer of the Mothers

Yael Deckelbaum – Prayer Of The Mothers (Official Video) 2016-11-20

As relevant now as it was in 2016

The song “Prayer of the Mothers,” was born as a result of an alliance made between singer-songwriter Yael Deckelbaum, and a group of courageous women, leading the movement of “Women Wage Peace.”  The movement arose on summer 2014 during the escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, and the military operation “Tzuk Eitan.”

On October 4, 2016, Jewish and Arab women began with the joint “March of Hope” project. Thousands of women marched from the north of Israel to Jerusalem in a call for peace. A call that reached its peak on October 19th, in a march of at least 4,000 women half of them Palestinian, and Half Israeli, in Qasr el Yahud (on the northern Dead Sea). The very same evening 15,000 women protested in front of the Prime Minister’s house in Jerusalem. The marches were joined by the Nobel Prize for Peace winner Leymah Gbowee, who lead to the end of the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003, by the joint force of women. In the song, Yael combined a recording of Leymah, sampled from a YouTube video in which she had sent her blessings to the movement.

The above text, in multiple languages can be accessed here.

Ken writes:

Is it too much to imagine and women, some mothers, could influence a significant behavioral change in attitude amongst political, social, military, and cultural opponents? It must be said there are hawkish women, and tender-hearted men with their own particular hopes, dreams, and solutions. Gender alone is no arbiter of attitude and practice.

There must be a peace-maker in all of us, or I hope so—for some it is buried deeply within a scarred memory and scared vulnerability. Surely everyone wants peace. For now it seems, we can but dream, but we can all continue to work for peace, regardless of influence. and a specific expectation of outcome. Otherwise we are all doomed to repeat the seemingly endless cycle of violence, of death, and legitimate fear.

Pray, we you are able, and look for all opportunities to strive and work for peace. If we don’t, who will?

May the Creator help us all.