While Thanksgiving Day has passed, the spirit of Thanksgiving should be cultivated and expressed all year long. While not necessary a religious holiday, Thanksgiving’s cornerstone theme, gratitude, is one with deeply religious roots. In Islam, gratitude is shown on three levels: to recognize when gratitude is necessary, to express gratitude, and to demonstrate that gratitude [...]
Social media is a key tool for communication today, particularly in areas marred by political conflict. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are well-known for giving a voice to those who likely wouldn’t have a platform otherwise. In recent years, these same platforms have played a major role in how religious and ethnic groups relate [...]
Agriculture has played a central role in shaping world history and the stories in religious texts for thousands of years. Famine and drought have triggered many mass migrations from biblical Israel -- Abraham’s first journey to Egypt was driven by the lack of food and water; famine drove Elimelech and Naomi to Moab, which led [...]
Rosh Hashanah and Muharram, the Jewish and Muslim new year celebrations, fall out on the same dates this year (Sept. 21-22, 2017). The two holidays are celebrated very differently. Rosh Hashanah is considered one of the holiest days of the year in Judaism, with days spent in prayer, self-introspection and pledges to do better next [...]
Pollution problems in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank are well-known and seem to be getting worse. The World Health Organization has identified high levels of pollutants in all the region’s urban areas. In Gaza, chemical and microbiological contaminants in drinking water are causing health problems. And in the West Bank, there’s an ongoing battle [...]
It was just a few short months ago that our umbrella organization, Islands of Peace Inc, received its not-for-profit status. Since then, we’ve been hard at work doing what we do best: building bridges. Collaboration and connection are at the very core of the Menorah Islands Project. Every inch of our artificial island complex is [...]
The summer is in full swing, and many of us are in vacation mode. Whether we’re taking a road trip with friends, boarding a plane to an exotic destination with our families or just relaxing at home for a week, summertime is synonymous with just kicking back and enjoying the beautiful weather. There’s a lot [...]
There’s a beautiful coexistence project coming out of Israel, and we at the Menorah Islands Project couldn’t be happier to see it take off! Artist Liron Lavi Turkenich has developed an Arabic-Hebrew script called “Aravrit” which stitches the two alphabets together into one joint typeface. This writing system, which contains 638 characters, consists of Arabic [...]
The most important mission of the Menorah Islands Project is to unite people from all backgrounds, nationalities and religions to be a part of something greater than themselves. We firmly believe that the everyday people affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict yearn for peace -- and that the only way to do so is to create [...]
It is almost impossible to take a step in the Middle East without bumping into a place with historical and religious importance. Ancient tombs, houses of worship, sites of revelations and prophecies, and even entire cities have been written about in scriptures, accounted for in historical records and held tightly in the collective memories of [...]
