Meeting Point – an initiative to Commemorate Shira Banki
The Public Shiva was created in response to the murder of Shira Banki at a gay pride parade. It was clear to us in the Jerusalem Movement that we could not simply go on, and that we were not willing to tolerate the public dialogue, which transforms too quickly from shock and regret to polarization and divisiveness.
We decided to hold a public shiva in Zion Square, a public space, which is Jerusalem’s town square. It is a place which had become quite violent in the past two years, identified with gatherings of youth from Lehava, an ultra right wing organization. We wanted to recapture the square and turn it from a place of violence and incitement into a place of dialogue and tolerance.
During the shiva, we held dialogue and sharing circles every evening, organized by influential professional volunteers. The discussions attracted thousands of participants – Arabs, haredim (ultra-orthodox), secular and religious Jews, gays from eastern Jerusalem, people who had been stabbed a decade earlier, all came. We were able to create common and significant ground for all the communities in Israeli society. We succeeded in creating a meeting point where anyone who believes that it is possible and necessary that things should be better here – to have a place where they can come and attempt to institute change. We invited everyone to sit together, to meet and think how this crisis could be used to build a better Israeli society. People came and met, joining in song, in silence, in discussion.
The Jerusalem Movement has since pursued the initiative. At 8 pm every Thursday, at Zion Square, people from Jerusalem’s various communities meet for a moderated discussion. People from various communities, with different opinions, from different generations, sit down and sometimes stand, talk and sometimes shout, laugh and, at times, rage. They talk.
Our distant vision is to turn Zion Square into a place of culture and tolerance, a center that will serve as a model for common ground that allows life together.
The movement’s objectives:
- To promote Jerusalem as a pluralistic, tolerant, equal, and inclusive city.
- To create a space for common public civic activity for Jerusalem’s residents.
- To strengthen the standing of civic social organizations in Jerusalem and in Israel.
- To prevent religious extremism in the public sphere in Jerusalem and in Israel.
- To improve the quality of life and the environment in Jerusalem, for all segments of the population.
- To work for the social, cultural, and economic advancement and strengthening of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, by recruiting and managing volunteers, community organizations, legal means, community empowerment, education, initiatives, demonstrations, and public protests.