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In Israel
“Crying is not shameful and it is not embarrassing, it is a need… a baby does not only cry when he needs to eat, many times he cries in order to release what he feels inside. I feel a need to cry in order to get out and melt the pain that has built up inside me over the years.” --- M. Arab man on his insights about crying.
“…several times I arrived to the class feeling cold, rebellious and shut down. By the end of the meeting I found myself feeling softer, gentler and more open to the suggestions and ideas of the course.” --- S. Jewish participant
“After one session with Aura (one of the facilitators) where I talked, cried and was angry, I was able to be focused and centered and experienced a deep sense of relief.” G. Jewish participant
“There were many meetings to which I came feeling confused and when I listened to myself talking I understood a great deal. I went into the depths of my soul and suddenly things seem clearer and simpler. This is a tool I will take with me my entire life believing that I will listen to others and through that listen better to myself.” H. Jewish participant
“The listening created a sanctuary for me when I felt unaccepted, unloved or disrespected by those around me. My relationship with my father improved after we started listening to one another.” T. a religious Jewish woman.
“This course has helped me a great deal, it’s the only thing that changed my prejudices about people. Due to this course I learned to love them and to love myself.” --- G. a Jewish woman who served in the Israeli military police force and had very negative experiences with Palestinians from the Occupied Territories and was on duty as a medic when some of her friends were killed in a terrorist suicide bombing in Beit Lid.
“I learned to say No out loud and that I don’t always have to say yes especially when I am not happy about something.” --- L. Arab woman participant
“No is one of the most important words in any language and until we learn to say No, our Yes will not be a Yes.”
--- Jim Ryan
“For the first time I feel that I am being treated as a human being.”--- G. A Palestinian participant in the leaders group from the Occupied Territories
I am aware of the changes I go through during the meetings. Each meeting I become more conscious of my feelings and actions. --- Arab woman in the Mgrar course
I feel an incredible sense of release and relief. This work is sacred and my own transformation will affect the lives of many others. --- N. Jewish woman from leaders course
I am not sure what I will do when these meetings are over. When I cannot come I feel like I have missed something that is so beneficial to me.--- L. Arab woman in the Mgrar course
I have been consistently impressed not only by its high professional level, but also by its absolutely crucial role in imbuing the values of equality in the true sense of the term. --- MK Naomi Chazan about Beyond Words
I feel that enhancing genuine coexistence is of supreme importance and would highly recommend enlarging the Beyond Words program. --- Chusnia Gabara –
In light of the current events the program becomes extremely important.
--- MK Mossi Raz
I have no doubt that the best way to address the problem is through education and preferably at the level of the younger Jewish an Arab children. This is exactly what the BW initiative for teachers is all about. ---Prof. S. Ben Ami –
In the USA
In October 2007 Silvia and Nitsan visited the United States to lead 10 workshops and meet with different organizations about spreading our work. Below is some of the feedback we received:
“It was a very powerful and moving experience for us all. You are doing important work that has implications that go far beyond what is happening in Israel and Palestine. There are so many ways that it is relevant for our work in the United States too—and to the work of our students at Wheelock (who will all be working with children and families when they graduate). “ --- Diane Levin, Ph.D, Professor of Education, Wheelock College
“The work you are doing is very inspirational, and the students that were at your presentation were left with the mindset that there are projects that can be started overseas and move far beyond where it has been started, and make an impact all over the world. “--- Patrick Frazier, Office of International Education, Quinnipiac University
One of the issues we spoke about in the Post - Traumatic Stress Center we visited in New Haven is the need to teach people who live in situations that can be stressful or traumatic the practice of deep listening they can then use with their neighbors, friends, partners and children. If they are confronted with some painful situation they do not have to wait for their meeting with their therapist on Thursday to share their fear, anger or helplessness. They do not have to keep it bottled in and have it affect the way they relate to themselves and others. Instead, using this simple yet powerful listening tool, they can release some of their daily anxiety and fear.
“I would like to thank both of you for the inspiring presentation at the Post Traumatic Stress Center on October 11, 2007. The staff found it helpful and meaningful way to communicate and support a fellow human being. The notion that support needs to be readily available within the community rather than preserved only to the therapeutic settings is of great importance.” --- Hadar Lubin, MD Co-Director, Post Traumatic Stress Center
We have just experienced the remarkable power of the exercise led by Nitsan and Silvia to help us feel comfortable with, supported by and connected with one another. But now imagine what their work is like with groups of Palestinian and Israeli teachers, many of whom have lost a sibling or a parent in the violence and nearly all of whom have lost someone in their family. We can appreciate the challenge, the emotional intensity and the importance of the work they are doing…. It is very difficult to feel comfortable with people who are different from us. It is very difficult to listen to and acknowledge another person’s pain, especially if we have our own pain, or feel that we may have indirectly contributed to the pain of the other person. Yet these two things are of great importance in conflict resolution and it is these two things that are facilitated by the movement and deep listening exercises that Nitsan and Silvia showed us this evening.”
--- Bruce E. Wexler, Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University
“The work you are doing to bring people together in creativity and deep heartfelt connection is exemplary and I look forward to our continuing conversation in the future.” Vivien Marcow Speiser, PhD ,ADTR Professor, Leslie University
In NZ workshops led by Nitsan using the BW model
“ As I assume most of us have experienced before, some of the magic that happens in some workshops cannot be explained by "what" was done, but by "how" it was done, just as Nitsan's organization is called - beyond words. Nitsan had presented us with exercises of deep verbal and nonverbal listening, trust, and reflection of our body language with movement and games. But the main feature that was built in such a short time was a subtle yet powerful feel of mutual strength that we all shared by being women (as it happened, we were only women in the group), and by recognizing the potential power we hold as maintaining peace within ourselves and for the people around us.
As Nitsan quotes:
Women prevent the threads
of life from being broken.
The finest minds have always
understood the peacemaking
role of women.
- Mikhail Gorgachev
This was a very moving workshop, that was not only important for self development but for building a connection to spread around with true intention for peace. ---- Edna
I was going to write something about her workshop as it was the one that touched me most. I felt a real emotional connection that did not happen with any of the other workshops. I enjoyed others but was not 'moved' as I was by Nitsan. She has a very special quality of gentleness and strength. I hope to participate again in a workshop facilitated by her. --- Gwen
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