The Beresheet LaShalom Foundation is dedicated to the creation and perseverance of dialogue of children across diverse groups. The object of this dialogue is to educate and imbibe a positive spirit in confronting the difficult problems they face. The youth from these seemingly opposed cultures can unite around the positive interactions of theatre and can put the horrors they have faced into a perspective that does not foster that same hatred. The foundation seeks to create a generation which will approach other cultures with greater compassion and more understanding.
“Beresheet” is the first word of the Hebrew Bible,
and means “In the beginning. . .”
Beresheet La'Shalom is the name of our foundation,
and signifies “A Beginning for Peace”.

Current Foundation projects include:

The Arcobaleno~Rainbow Theatre

The members of the Community Theater Group are boys and girls from the many communities in Galilee. They come from towns and villages, kibbutzim and moshavim; they are Arabs and Jews, Druze and Circassians, religious and secular. Their performances are a dance of hope for freedom. They were created by the group at its meetings over the course of a year. In a difficult period of the history of the world there was the will to create a positive message, capable of inspiring hope and fulfilling the dreams of those who knew war, but now aspire to peace.

Drop the masks…
Don’t be afraid to say that I want to be loved.
To be able to choose friends without preconditions.
Don’t be afraid to say: "No" without fear.
To accept the others who are different from me.
To give all of myself for a dream.     
To be “SHALEM”- whole with myself- and obtain
“SHALOM”- peace with the entire world.

"Our performance Beresheet is a Hymn for peace. I can't accept terrorism, I'm glad that I can show, through our performance that coexistence between Jews and Arabs is possible.

And we show this with our living presence!"

Abir Hleihel, 18, Muslim from the village Jish.

"In all our differences, in this theatre I feel that we are all equal. It's not important in which God we believe, or where we live because we are all human beings. The strong connection between us is convincing me more and more of the fact that many in the world should understand: it's possible that a Christian and a Jew can walk hand in hand, that religious and secular can speak without offending each other and that all creatures can live peacefully together."

Tamar Ben Lulu, 16, Jewish from Safed

"I felt a voice inside me that said:
It's time to change! To go to another direction!
And I understood how the difference between us is something so special !    
I took off my mask. . .
If I could, everyone can! "

Moussa Michail, 18, Arab Christian from Pkiyin

The performances of Rainbow~Arcobaleno are in dance theatre with music,
sounds and a universal language that reaches everyone in the world!
To be a part of this theatre gives you a chance to reach the hearts and souls of people.

www.masksoff.org


Radio Program by the Rainbow~Arcobaleno Theatre.

We have started an extraordinary new project!
It began by chance, and now it has expanded into something unique and special.

The All for Peace Radio Station, that broadcasts simultaneously from Jerusalem and Ramallah, having heard of our work for peace and dialogue, invited us to experiment and produce a short pilot of an hour's broadcast from young people to young people.

For the young actors of the Rainbow – Arcobaleno Theatre it was a whole new challenge, because now they had to express themselves in words instead of the body language which characterizes their performances of dance – theatre.

On-air, broadcasting since the first of January 2006 our programs are interesting and moving. We interviewed people who work for peace. The youngsters of Arcobaleno gave birth to a whole new concept of communication. Through the programs they expressed all their yearnings for a new world that will be better to live in.  We searched for a local radio station in our area to produce the pilots and Radio Galil Eliyon offered their help. They invited us to be their guests. After they saw how we create and work together they were so enthusiastic that they offered to be part of this project.
These are some of the items that we decided to include in the programs:

• Interviews with Israeli and Palestinian youngsters of the Peace Delegation that recently returned from a trip to Italy.
• An interview with a young group of Rappers (two Arabs from Fassouta Village and two Jews from Maalot) who sing songs about peace.
• A brief dialogue by a young team at the radio station about Yonathan Gefen`s poem on "The Little Green Man" – the story of a green man with a green family, a green house, a green car, in a green city; one day when he goes out he sees a little blue man in this green city.
Meytal, a 15 year old girl, asked a few questions:
"Is it possible to live in a whole green world?”
"Has it happened that you were once the little blue man of the story?”

Generally, all the programs are performed with music and songs in Galilee, Jerusalem and Ramallah Arabic, Hebrew, or English chosen by the youngsters.

To be able to continue this wonderful new project, we need financial help and sustenance, to make it open new bridges between the North and the South of the Country, between the Galilee, Jerusalem and Ramallah, between Jews and Arabs, between Israel and Palestine.

We believe that many "doors" and opportunities are opening before of us !
Having the ideas, the deep willingness to create, the vision and the patience to work with these youngsters, we can succeed.

www.radioshalomsalaam.org


Workshops

Workshop participants get experience in dialogue and conflict resolution. They address issues of identity, stereotypes, equality in a democratic society, as well as cultural similarities and differences.

Role playing, monologues, dance–theatre, social games and improvisation, are among the numerous tools used to facilitate a journey into the very soul of each and every participant to this project.


Summer Children’s Activities

The foundation creates activities for children and their families who have been wounded by terrorist attacks: camps, trips, encounters of teaching and listening in an atmosphere of love and joy. These summer camps of Kvuzat Hai – Group of life, in the project "To draw a smile on their faces" have elevated the children's spirits and have given them and their families the desire to continue to live:

"The dedication and good spirits of the staff of Beresheet Lashalom, made this an unforgettable event for our daughter, and the friendship and good spirits our daughter brought back from this camp raised the spirits of our family and gave us the energy we need to carry on with a good future in mind."       The Levin Family.

In collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture, Beresheet LaShalom, organizes Summer Camps for children who want to deepen the knowledge, the traditions and the folklore of Italy through games, arts, scouts and life amid nature.

 

Special Activities

Beresheet LaShalom Foundation is the promoter of some special events that spread out to the world as the Bread for Peace Day: www.breadforpeace.org

Israeli and Palestinian women bake bread together to create, to collaborate and to teach their children that good can always prevail.

Lectures all over the world about
Education to Dialogue.



The Founders

Angelica Edna Calo` Livne is the coordinator of all educational activities of the Foundation.

Born in Rome, Italy, she was one of the leaders of the youth Zionist Movement Hashomer Hatzair and she studied in the Rabbinical College of Rome. She has a B.A. degree in Social Theatre, M. Ed. in Integrating the Arts in Education and a PhD in Italian Literature.

She has received several awards for her activities for peace and was candidate to Saharov Prize by the Euro Parliament and Nobel Prize for Peace 2005. She has written two books in Italian and lectures all over the world about her rich experience of education to peace.

 

Yehuda Calo` Livne is the administrator and the executive manager of Beresheet Lashalom.

He was born in Kibbutz Sasa. He teaches Communication and Technology and he has 25 years of experience in formal and non-formal education. He specialized in educational work with special needs students. As educational director for three years of the youth movement Hashomer Hatzair in Israel, he led several pedagogical and political projects for peace.

Yehuda and Edna live in Kibbutz Sasa on the Lebanese border and they have four boys.

 

Foundation Needs 
The Beresheet LaShalom Foundation welcomes your support.

The foundation can use all kinds of help. It needs connections with other organizations and foundations similar or interested in our activities and it needs financial support to realize its annual activities.

We'll be happy to be invited to perform and to meet youngsters, students and adults to transmit our desire for dialogue and peace.

The youngsters of the Rainbow~Arcobaleno Theatre have been invited several times to Italy to perform for audiences of 800-1200 people of all ages. There were several programs on Italian TV (Canale5, Rai 1, Rai 2, Rai 3) and over the Radio (Vatican Radio, 24 Hours Radio, local radios in all the Regions they performed), and several articles in different newspapers all over the country.

October 2006 ~ Parma, Italy

Video Presentation ~ Geneva

Contribute
 Beresheet LaShalom Foundation invites you to be a part of the "circle"!
 Don't stay apart - take part !
 Become a member of Beresheet LaShalom.

Your support is deeply appreciated ! 
For information on how to make a financial contribution to
The Beresheet LaShalom Foundation Projects
or to donate materials and equipment or your time please feel free to contact us:

Contacts
 THE BERESHEET LA'SHALOM FOUNDATION
 KIBBUTZ SASA
UPPER GALILEE
13870 ISRAEL
Dr. Angelica Calo`Livne` + 972-52-5796818
 e-mail: edna@sasa.org.il

Yehuda Calo`Livne` + 972-52-5796819
 e-mail: beresheet@ksasa.co.il

Links


Drop the mask…
        Don’t be afraid to say that I want to be loved.
        To be able to choose friends without preconditions.
Don’t be afraid to say: "No" without fear.
To accept the others who are different from me.
To give all of myself for a dream.     
To be “SHALEM”- whole with myself- and obtain
“SHALOM”- peace with the entire world.

Music is from the sound-track of "Anne in the Sky" composed by Amir Yaakoby & Rami Harel.

 

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