Another type of inter-community encounter involves students at a high school in Antwerp, Belgium who, as part of a required community service project, chose to study the work of the Foundation in Israel. This decision was made against a backdrop of tension between Belgium and Israel related to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Project “Israel-Palestine”, as the students called it, exposed the children to information through the internet, mail, photographs, and a special visit by the program coordinator in Israel. Monique, the coordinator, visited the different “Seeds of Creation” projects and spread a message of solidarity with the different communities.

A different type of encounter was arranged by Foundation representatives in the framework of the British “Limmud” program. This is the largest meeting of the Jewish community in England, which offers a wide range of activities intended to form a unique and meaningful learning experiences related to Judaism. The Raz-Ram Foundation installed a photography exhibition at the center of the Limmud conference, which documented the Foundation’s activities around the country. At a special session, a presentation was given which included lectures and a discussion on the rationale behind the Foundation’s activities, as well as ideas for possible cooperation between different sectors of the British Jewish community and the communities participating in the Seeds of Creation projects in Israel. 

A visit by a group of Conservative Rabbis from New York to the Seeds of Creation project in Hurfeish, was a unique and unforgettable event. The rabbis, who came to Israel as part of a year of study sponsored by the Shechter Institute in Jerusalem, was invited to visit the Druse village of Hurfeish. What made the visit unique was the central place of art and the creative process, which quickly brought the visitors and the hosts together in a meaningful exchange, overcoming the language barrier. The young rabbis were exposed to Druse culture from a truly unique perspective. In an activity at the community memorial site, together with the children who had lost parents in military action, they sculpted bells out of clay. The names of all the participants were inscribed in the clay. At the end of the activity, the children presented the rabbis with gifts of small bells that they created together, with the names of the children they worked with.
One of the rabbis said: “This bell will remind us, every time it rings, of the magical place in which it was created”. And for the Druse children, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. An inter-cultural meeting that brought together hearts and souls through artistic creation.

Israeli artists and students, orphans of IDF and victims of terror will tutor American orphans victims of the September 11th terror attack in New York. The ‘creativity grant’ will serve to help them with the cost of their studies. The goals and objectives of the program are to assist the subtle mourning process and to bring about a transformation, through the arts, among victims of wars and terror incidents in Israel and New York. These aims are to be achieved by a unique method that promotes creativity and that regards art as a significant tool having the capability of bringing people together, and healing them on the personal and community level. The program joins and bonds an artist, of either sex and in any one of the arts, together with a boy, or girl, or teenager of either sex who wishes to develop and receive a training in the arts through individual tutorials as well as through joint creativity meetings. The Foundation provides them with a “creativity mantle” and promotes their joint artistic endeavors right up to the production of a finished work of art in any field such as: literature, art exhibition, theater, music, design, dance etc.

 The Raz-Ram Foundation represented Israel as a non-governmental organization, at a General Session on Children held at the U.N. in New York. During this session, the Foundation established connections with organizations active in similar areas, with the aim of creating joint projects. In the framework of the meeting, representatives of the Foundation held an event that included a photography exhibition documenting the Foundation’s projects around the country, and a presentation on its different activities. Numerous connections with different organizations in a number of countries were established during the course of the meeting.

The Raz-Ram Foundation will be participating in joint international projects with these different organization and host artists and academics from overseas who are interested in learning directly from our experiences. This inter-organizational cooperation is a source of inspiration, learning and energy for continuing our creative and integrating activities, between peoples, cultures and traditions, using artistic creation as a positive and constructive force.

Raz-Ram at the U.N.