“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
There is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
Rumi
According to Rumi Forum`s 2023 Dialogue Award honoree, Micah Hendler, this quote from Rumi has been his email signature since the first time he had an email signature. He made this connection with his life`s work in his speech:
“I have been really chasing that field for almost 20 years now. It speaks to the journey I have been trying to follow as best as possible to find and create those spaces where people can experience that beyond. The idea is that maybe there are other ways of being and being together that don`t necessarily need to be defined by what other people think separates us or what maybe actually separates us. Still, there are other ways, other layers of human experience that people can choose to draw if they were.”
Micah was presented by his long-time friend Aziz Abu Sarah, a recognized peacebuilder working around the globe as a cultural educator, travel innovator, and inspirational speaker, who spoke about Micah`s important work in his remarks:
“I can`t think of anyone more deserving today of receiving this award, especially with everything going on, so much fighting, suffering, and death happening in Israel and Palestine today. I think it`s extremely important to see an example of what is possible and not just what is happening in the world. What Micah is doing is exactly that: what is possible and what the future can hold for us.”
Micah is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus (JYC), an Israeli-Palestinian music and dialogue project. Aziz mentioned his encounter with the JYC and what it means for the youth and the world today:
“It`s beautiful to watch something from its inception and then see its success through the years. I watched this organization go from just a few kids singing together and Micah trying to bring it together and figuring out how to make it work to eventually becoming such an amazing organization, a place that brings hope, especially in these times.
I also got to see how it influences these kids and other people. I got my travelers to go and start not just listening to the music but also meeting with them and hearing their stories and hearing how they can have dialogue, how they can disagree and not hate each other, and then sing together and let music help them get closer to each other. Afterward, I could ask my travelers what they thought of this; that encounter was always the trip’s highlight. Nothing is more holy than these kids being together, listening to each other, and learning that we are not enemies.”
As a renowned musical changemaker, Micah mentioned the universal and transcended message of music with these eloquent words from his encounters:
“Music, in many ways, when wielded wisely, can catch people off guard; it can get past some of the armor that we put up, and it can get past some of our preconceptions in our minds and go straight to the heart. Music is also something that we are hardwired as humans to experience and to experience in the community. There is something about when we sing together; we are actually hardwired to trust the people we are with.”
We want to extend our deepest gratitude to the amazing Sufi Melody music ensemble for making this year’s Dialogue Award Ceremony a particularly meaningful one. As Micah mentioned in his powerful message on music:
“It takes a lot of humility, listening, and actual openness to hearing to really create those bridges.”
Rumi Forum`s 2023 Dialogue Award Ceremony was a much-needed message of hope and peace for the future through Aziz`s and Micah`s remarks, which were profound reflections of their personal stories, experiences with the conflict, and exemplary endeavors for peace. We were also glad to see the news coverage of their work and the award ceremony from Washington, DC`s NPR station, WAMU 88.5. You can watch the event highlights and participant testimonies about Micah`s work from Rumi Forum`s YouTube page.