WCC and Me

Courage and commitment were just two of the qualities identified by a group of women from the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region with whom I was privileged to spend three days last week as describing those who were able to make a real difference to the world. The women present certainly were exemplars of both – and each one was making a difference.

The same initials can have many different applications. WCC could be “with courage and commitment;” in texting, it might be an English version of “Que Sera Sera” – “What comes, comes.” I also realise that those same letters could stand for three other essential qualities of a leader, Wisdom, Compassion and Conscience.

There have been a number of “WCC”s in my life but “WCC” will never mean the same again to me after meeting with the Women Champions of Change.

My engagement with my first WCC, the World Council of Churches, began in Australia, when, as a representative of the Jewish community, I was a co-founder of the Australian National Dialogue of Christians, Muslims and Jews. That was in 2002, after September 11^th and after the Bali bombings. Setting up this body was quite an achievement. Our Christian partner was the National Council of Churches, Australia, an affiliate of the WCC.

Just two weeks ago, when on a speaking tour in Australia on behalf of Women Wage Peace, I was invited once again to the NCCA offices. I was saddened to realise that ANDCMJ is no longer active. The Muslim partners have refused to meet with Jewish ones since October 7^th, 2023. Restoring this channel of communication will be an important step in making Jews feel safe and respected in Australia again. There is no sign that it is happening yet.

My interfaith work here in Israel led to an invitation to present a Jewish voice at the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan, Republic of Korea, in 2013. We were five Jews, three of whom came from Israel, among over 3,000 Christian delegates and we were not always comfortable. Jewish guests at previous Assemblies had warned me of potential unpleasantness and we experienced it. Many of the Churches were hostile to Israel; a small number of delegates were unhappy that non-Christians were present. Our worst moments were when speakers purporting to be Jewish distorted Biblical texts or history to paint Jews and Israel in a terrible light. There were many good people there, including those who had issued the invitation for us to attend, but altogether, it was not a positive experience. A body that was supposed to exude religious values, especially the Christian principle of love and including the ethic of hospitality, had left its guests feeling threatened rather than welcomed.

As you can imagine, the term “WCC” did not have positive connotations.

Then, just a few weeks ago, I received an invitation to participate in another WCC. This was Women Champions of Change, an initiative of another ex-Aussie living here, Danny Hakim. We reconnected only recently and I was honoured when he included me among remarkable women change-makers from the MENA region, who gathered in Tel Aviv-Jaffo last week.

I cannot divulge all the names but I can share with you that we had Muslim and Christian women from Lebanon, Morocco, Afghanistan, the Emirates and other less likely places, including Iran. The Israeli participants included Druze, Bedouin and Palestinian women, alongside religious and secular Jewish Israelis.  About half the participants were from the private sector and the others from the not-for-profit or government sectors. I was unique: in representing Women Wage Peace, I came as a volunteer and not in a professional capacity. And I was not a founder or primary spokesperson. Nevertheless, I was not side-lined – nobody was.

There was a particular emphasis on sport as a vehicle for healing, for community-building and for peace-building. We celebrated women who pushed themselves beyond what was expected of them, who reached out to those in need, who recognised a problem and found a way to overcome it. As one of the participants, speaking at a public event at the Peres Centre (https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-shadow-of-war-iranian-afghani-women-join-others-in-tel-aviv-to-push-for-change/) said, these were women who made the impossible possible.

When women come together, if given a challenge, they are able to leave behind labels and egos. Our challenge was to design proposals for projects that were cross-border, led by women and realistic. While not all the proposals will eventuate, many will, because the opportunity was offered and the will is there.

This WCC was focused on inclusiveness, on action, on a future orientation. It exuded mutual respect and an overwhelming desire to learn from one another and to find ways to cooperate. Perhaps because we were all women, as the First Lady, Michal Herzog pointed out when we met her at the President’s residence, we think about the future generations and the legacy we want to leave them, in the same way that The Mothers’ Call (https://mothers-call.org/) does. At the President’s residence, we were reminded again of the legacy of Vivian Silver and urged to continue her work, as we were doing.

MENA cannot continue to be a place of conflict; it needs to become a prosperous and peaceful region. Men have taken us to a nadir; women will take us upwards and out.

WCC – Women Champions of Change – perhaps, also, Women Can Conquer any obstacles, Whatever Challenges Come their way.