A dinner table peace

The daughter of a client of mine has taken a semester away in Tel Aviv for her junior year in college. Part of her process is writing a blog. She makes me laugh with almost every post since she’s an avid foodie, and almost every post is filled with superlatives about what she’s eating.

Despite that, there are some solemnities in her posts. A recent one came after she witnessed checkpoint irregularities that made her so angry and hurt that I could feel the spitting rage in her words.

An earlier one held these magic words: Peace should always be made over the dinner table.

She wrote these words after experiencing Iftar with a Muslim family in Israel who hosted 20 Jewish-American students. For those of us who are unfamiliar with Iftar, Wikipedia says:

“Iftar refers to the evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Iftar is one of the religious observances of Ramadan and is often done as a community, with Muslims gathering to break their fast together. Iftar is done right after Maghrib (sunset) time. Traditionally, a date is the first thing to be consumed during Iftar when the fast is broken.”

I don’t think my young friend mentioned dates, but I do know that her idea that peace will be easier to make over a meal is an excellent one. It’s hard to break bread with someone without an appreciation of our co-humanity—even if it’s in a Howard Johnson’s or a Wendy’s. Really!

In the U.S., we celebrate Thanksgiving this week. It’s that holiday commemorating the group meal of the indigenous and the pilgrims before contention took over. Again I turn to the wiki wizards:

“Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is a holiday celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

“The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention. Though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida, the traditional ‘first Thanksgiving’ is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621. The Plymouth celebration occurred early in the history in one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States, and this celebration became an important part of the American myth by the 1800s.

“Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.”

Won’t you consider making a wish and a prayer for peace a part of your celebration?

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