Daniel Lubetzky

War and horror tend to shake us out of complacency, to force us all to confront ugly realities and say what needs to be said, poignantly, once and for all, even if it is not pretty and requires nuance in an otherwise partisan puddle.

And so The New York Times writers who have been following the Hamas-Israel war seem to have been at their best this weekend, when they poignantly summarized three core themes that are required understanding for those who truly wish to end the conflict:

• Take-away from Ethan Bronner (full article below): Partisan Absolutism will only protract the conflict; for far too long each side has been speaking past each other and does not even understand the meaning of the words from the other side, let alone what historical sacrifices it will take if they want to resolve this conflict and build a future based on co-existence and respect rather than on denial of the humanity of the other side; if each side continues to believe itself the absolute victim and the other side the absolute perpetrator, we will be condemned to eternal war.
• Take-away from Tom Friedman (full column below): Time is really running out for a two-state solution; all parties must be brought to the table for negotiations that will bring about a solution, lest militants from Hamas and militant settlers permanently destroy the prospects for peace.  And we are not far off from getting there.
• Take-away from Scott Atran and Jeremy Ginges (full opinion piece below): it is not just about the substance of what the solution will look like but about the dignity with which the negotiations are approached; the existentialist fears and existentialist rights of the Israelis and the honor and suffering of (and injustice towards) the Palestinians need to be acknowledged by each other if a peaceful solution is ever to be agreed upon.

For OneVoice, too, time is running out.  The Movement was born to propel a resolution of the conflict, not to manage it or endure it with niceties.  We should be bold about the final efforts to make an impact, and either succeed or fail for trying, but not fail because time ran out and we did not try hard enough for fear that we’d fail.

[Read more →]

A very neat experiment I read about from my sister…

A Violinist in the Metro


A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Here and here are a couple of examples of Joshua Bell’s work…

KIND Nut Delight got a nice endorsement from NY Giants’ nutritionist Heidi Skolnik on the Today Show earlier this month.  She recommended it as an energy boosting snack whose natural ingredients you can see and pronounce.(tm)

KIND was the only nutritional bar to make it into Good Housekeeping’s listing of the 100 best convenience foods.

This follows on KIND Mango Macadamia being chosen as the Best Product of the Year out of all thousands of natural food products introduced at the Natural Products Expo earlier this fall (Oct 2008).

If someone had told me that I would enjoy changing diapers I would have thought they have very bad judgment.

But one month into being a Dad, it is my favorite activity of the day.

My attitude all along was that I’d deal with this chore and do what is minimally necessary.  As I work very hard for PeaceWorks & KIND, and for the Foundation’s OneVoice Movement, I figured I’d get a lot of latitude and support from my wife to avoid this task as much as possible.

Then baby Roman was born and changing diapers proved to be such a delicious activity.  You get to help your son, and that goes a long way – I think – to explain why I love doing it, just to care for him and help him with something he cannot do. It also doesn’t hurt that babies’ poop doesn’t smell when they are breastfeeding. (let’s see if this love affair with changing diapers lasts once he starts eating other food)

But I think it’s also because it is truly delicious – to clean his little tushy and rub Aquaphor over his soft chubby thighs (his "pulkes" in Yiddish), to just hug him and kiss him, and clean him, and comfort him.  Nature must have figured babies’ skin should be so deliciously smooth and tender that parents will love tending for them even if they have to wipe them clean eight times a day.

Indeed, second only to changing diapers is giving him a bath and changing his clothes.  Well, maybe that is even better, but not as surprising as the joy of seeing your baby poop and wiping it with gusto.  I also never imagined that my wife and I would derive so much joy from hearing someone pass gas or poop.  It’s such a celebration for us, "yes", "wonderful", as if he just got a dual degree in Medicine and Engineering.

BusinessWeek’s Stacey Perman asked me to share this opportunity with social entrepreneurs:

…BusinessWeek’s upcoming roundup of the most promising social entrepreneurs in the U.S. – those who aim to both turn a profit and solve social problems. We are now in the process of searching for great candidates, and I want to ask for your help.

Please take a look at the criteria below, then complete the http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/social_entrepreneurs/poll.html and pass this note along to your colleagues. I also hope that you will include mention of the roundup on your own Web site or newsletter. If you are interested you can certainly nominated Peaceworks for this as well.

What are we looking for? Candidates should be for-profit companies based in the U.S. that are tackling social problems in new and innovative ways here or abroad. Concepts are great, but we do insist that companies that warrant coverage have been in operation for at least one year. The call for nominations begins January 13, 2009 and ends February 20, 2009. When this nomination period ends, our staff and a few renowned members of the business and social enterprise community will narrow the candidates to 20 finalists – each of whom will be profiled on our Web site. Readers will be able vote for the finalist whom they feel holds the most promise and we will announce the top five vote-getters on May 2, 2009.

Again, nominations are being accepted through February 20, 2009 via this http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/social_entrepreneurs/poll.html I encourage you to participate and help spread the word. It’s an exciting way to participate directly in identifying and recognizing social entrepreneurs who are changing the world.

Some ad campaign ideas by OneVoice Israel to encourage people in the moderate but traditionally passive majority to remember that not voting is a proxy for those from the extremes to speak for them…

The caption translates to "it’s ok, don’t vote.  They will vote for you."

Whether you are an Israeli who supports the IDF’s defense of Israeli civilians and faults Hamas not just for raining 10,000 missiles at Israel over the last 8 years but also for also for booby-trapping civilian homes and forcefully setting rocket launchers in homes of Palestinians who beg them to leave…

…or whether you are a Palestinian who feels the Israeli army indiscriminately attacked and ended up killing 1,000 innocent Palestinians and who feels the source of the conflict is the continuing occupation of Palestine and subjugation of Palestinian people,

…or whether you are an Israeli, Palestinian or international citizen who recognizes the only way out of this conflict is to once and for all achieve a peaceful agreement between two proud peoples and two proud States – Israel and Palestine – to live in peace and respecting the rights of freedom, security, dignity and respect of both sides…

…the words and attitudes of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish at this moment of devastating loss -where 3 of his daughters were killed by an Israeli mortar attack on their home – should resonate with you.  Let his tragic loss be the end of it, the signal to all Palestinians and Israelis to stand up and say, enough, let’s ensure that this tragedy does not repeat itself again, let’s ensure that we lead our political representatives to achieve a historic compromise, to ensure that nobody sells either side with delusional visions of vanquishing the other side and achieving an absolutist victory over the other, to ensure that outside forces do not use Israelis and Palestinians as pawns in their geopolitical games, to ensure that we build a better future for all the children of the region.

Dr. Izzeldin is a respected medical doctor from Gaza who for years has practiced at the Soroka Hospital in Israel.  He worked with OneVoice out of Gaza for a period, and he always exemplified devotion to peace and humanitarianism.  

[Addendum: Even Prime Minister Olmert shared publicly that he saw this report and he cried at learning of Izzeldin's loss.]

I was very proud to support Obama’s Presidential campaign from the primaries all the way to his historic victory.

And like most of the nation and the world, I have high hopes for his leadership and administration.

It is from this vantage point that I am so enormously turned off by all the emails I keep getting from the Obama "campaign" asking me for more money!  What are they going to do with this money? 

I am sure I am not the only one getting these emails.  So many Americans are struggling to make ends meet during the recession and the Obama campaign is still asking them for more money?! After having exponentially surpassed all fund-raising records?

Isn’t there some financial-demagogic addiction going on here? I am sure it’s not Obama himself, but whoever ran the fundraising racket must still be getting some percentage points and is so inebriated with how much the campaign raised that he or she may want to stop.  Did they not get the memo?  The election is over.  Their guy won! It’s time to move on.

This aggressive fundraiser is relentless and resorts to the cheapest steps to continue.  You want to attend the inauguration? Send us $500.  You want to attend a ball? Send us $1,000.  You want to enter a drawing to see if you get tickets? Send us $25.  And buy all your commemorative materials today from us.  An Obama hat for $15, a sweat-shirt for $35 or a commemorative Obama plate made in China.

This is turning Obama the historical transformative figure into Obama the QVC late-night cheesy infomercial money-machine.

There is too much at stake.  Our world desperately needs real leadership.  Hope someone in the Obama team realizes it is high time to be a little dignified.

—————

Here is just one of a couple dozen emails I have received over the last month:

Dear Friend,

Over the next five days, hundreds of thousands of people will be coming to Washington, D.C. to celebrate this historic inauguration.
Once they arrive, our small supply of official Inaugural collectibles and memorabilia is going to go fast.
This is your last chance to secure your piece of history while items are guaranteed in stock.
Visit the official Inaugural Store today and get commemorative merchandise to celebrate the historic Inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Don’t miss your chance to get official collectibles bearing the Inaugural Seal, clothing and accessories from the Runway to Change line, or special Inaugural pieces by graphic artist Shepard Fairey.
These are limited edition items produced in small quantities — and as visitors begin to arrive in Washington, D.C. demand will grow rapidly.
Visit the official online Inaugural Store today:
http://www.pic2009.org/limitedsupply
Commemorate this once in a generation event with your own piece of history.
Thank you,
The Presidential Inaugural Committee

Here is a message I got from Mowaffaq Alami from OneVoice Palestine, who co-directs the Gaza office, and who learned of our baby’s birth amidst the beginning of the war in Gaza:

Habebi Daniel Mabrook.

Thank you Darya for lighting my dark night.

You know what Daniel; yesterday I was counting when you informed us that your wife is pregnant and I told my wife I think it’s the time for Daniel to have a baby.

Congratulation Dad. welcome to the real life.

Roman, you have a great Dad and wonderful Mama, they will take best care of you, listen to them but don’t allow your Dad to engage you in politics, live your life in peace, your Dad and me and all mothers and fathers of our team and our friend working hard for peaceful future for you and our kids.

We love you all.

Mowaffaq and the Family

Indeed, let us all work hard now so the children of those who are working in OV, and the children of the region, and the children of the world, should ideally not have to burden themselves having to fight for peace.  Let respect and moderation take reign today so that tomorrow a durable peace can be enjoyed by all.