Pain that is not transformed is transmitted – Richard Rohr

We believe that pain that is not transformed is transmitted, that when our wounds remain unhealed, they spill into our families, communities, and the next generation. Hurt people, however unintentionally, hurt people. But when pain has space to be felt and transformed, it can become a doorway to healing, for ourselves and for those around us.

Since October 8th, 2023, we have been creating safe spaces for Jews and Arab Palestinians in Israel to feel, grieve, and begin to heal. In the early months, the pain was too raw for the two sides to meet together; each community needed to tend to its own heartbreak, to be witnessed and held by those who shared its experience.

Gradually, as people found steadiness within their sorrow, we began bringing Jews and Arabs together — to listen, to be seen, and to recognize the humanity that exists beneath the layers of fear and trauma. These encounters are tender and courageous moments of truth-telling and repair.

Through this work, we are learning again and again that healing is not a luxury, it is a form of peacebuilding. When pain is held with care, it no longer needs to be passed on.