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Israeli youth group tours Philadelphia in a call for
peace
by Lila Bricklin
When Melisse Lewine-Boskovich graduated from Cheltenham
High School in 1971, she made a beeline straight to Israel.
She was on a personal crusade!
Influenced by Meir Kahane (1932-1990), the Orthodox and militant rabbi
who founded the Jewish Defense League, Lewine-Boskovich joined the JDL
in high school and then made aliyah, hoping to nurture the Jewish people.
At 18, already an activist, Lewine-Boskovich was arrested and jailed for
three days after protesting the arrival in Israel of the Nigerian general
who was responsible for genocide of the Biafrans.
Fast forward over 30 years, after earning degrees in voice and theater
at Temple and Villanova Universities, becoming an opera singer and actor,
marrying and giving birth, and doing a 180-degree political flip from
her JDL days, Lewine-Boskovich, a native of Laverock, is on another mission
— during one of the most volatile times in Middle East history,
and just as the future political landscape of Israel is way up in the
air.
The director of Peace Child Israel since 1996, a Tel Aviv nonprofit founded
in 1988 that uses theater to teach tolerance and mutual respect to Arab
and Jewish teens, Lewine-Boskovich is bringing a delegation to Philadelphia
on a peace mission, Jan. 15-24.
And, it is no coincidence that the Arab and Jewish Israeli teens arrived
in America on Martin Luther King’s birthday.
The PCI group will tour the Delaware Valley participating in cultural
exchanges with diverse groups of American teen hosts, including workshops
and performances of “On The Other Side,” an original PCI play
about how the Palestinian-Israeli conflict affects the lives of young
people in Israel today. The Israelis are working diligently to perfect
an English version, especially for the trip.
Lewine-Boskovich, who has also taught voice for over 20 years, said in
a recent interview that Philadelphia was chosen as the primary site for
the PCI tour, not only because it is her hometown, but due to the “sister-cities
relationship between Tel Aviv and Philadelphia.”
The Art Sanctuary North Stars, a teen arts after-school program in North
Philadelphia, will host the PCI troupe on Jan. 18 at the Church of the
Advocate at 1801 W. Diamond Street, and Congregation Mishkan Shalom in
Roxborough will feature a performance of the PCI play on January 20.
The tour will culminate on Jan. 21, when the Israeli and American teenagers
join together at the National Constitution Center in a call for peace
and global tolerance, performing the PCI anthem, “We Brought Peace
Upon Us,” drawn from Arabic and Hebrew texts written by PCI teens
in 2000. A new peace anthem, “The Time has Come,” written
and recorded by local artists in Philadelphia, will also make its debut.
Invited guest, Mayor John Street, is slated to read a citation honoring
PCI’s visit. The event is sponsored by the Abraham Fund Initiatives.
Lewine-Boskovich concedes that doing peace work in Israel is an extremely
complex process. “The kids want to love each other, but on a day
when there is an attack, they want to hate each other and they’re
confused. This is the insane context that we’re doing this work
in.”
[Editor’s note: Lila Bricklin, of Chestnut Hill, along with her
sister, Shoshana Bricklin, also of Chestnut Hill, and their mother Bernice
Bricklin of Roxborough, are members of the steering committee responsible
for organizaing the Peace Child Israel 2006 Tour for the last 16 months.
Lila, who is a professional fundraiser and former regular contributor
to the Local, has raised funds for the tour and is working with the press.
Shoshana, who works for the Goldenberg Group, has arranged for members
of Mishkan Shalom to host the Israeli teens during their visit to Philadelphia.]
Celeste Zappala, long-time Mt. Airy resident and member of the First
United Methodist Church of Germantown, will offer a prayer for peace at
the finale on Jan. 21. Zappala who has dedicated herself to working for
peace since her son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in Baghdad in April
2004, is a member of Gold Star Families Speak Out, the anti-war group
comprised of individuals who have lost loved ones who served in the military
during the period leading up to the war in Iraq to the present.
Intercultural Journeys, a nonprofit that brings Arab and Jewish performers
together in public to perform and share their cultures, will also participate
in the peace gala. Co-founded by Philadelphia Orchestra cellist Udi Bar
David, Intercultural Journeys strives to break barriers and shift the
Mideast discourse from political and military arenas to the artistic celebration
of common heritages.
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