“People always ask me, ‘Are you left wing or right wing?’ and I reply, ‘It takes two wings to fly.’”
—Eliyahu McLean

Ghassan Manasra and Eliyahu McLean. (Courtesy photo)

Eliyahu McLean’s eclectic religious background and search for his spiritual identity ultimately led him to a lifelong quest for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. McLean, known as a Jewish peacemaker, will be bringing his message to Harvard Monday, Nov. 19, when he joins Sheikh Ghassan Manasra, director of a Muslim peace center in Nazareth, to present a program at the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church. The pair will present an evening of Jewish and Muslim perspectives on healing the Israeli-Palestinian divisions.

“This isn’t about politics,” said organizer Pat Westwater-Jong, a founder of Nashoba Valley Peace and Justice. “We don’t hear about the peace work being done in the Middle East. This will be a chance to hear about that.”

McLean, son of a Jewish mother from Brooklyn and a Christian father, was raised in Hawaii, in the religious tradition of a mystical branch of Sikhism, and rediscovered a deep connection with his Jewish heritage when he attended a bar mitzvah at the age of 12. In college, he studied at Hebrew University and the University of California at Berkeley. He has lived on a kibbutz in Galilee and worked side-by-side with Palestinian Muslim construction workers in Jerusalem. He has studied with a West African Sufi in Egypt and with a rabbi at the Israelite Institute.

When he was 25, he found himself engaging in intimate dialogue both with extremist Muslims and pacifist Sufis. While living in Tamra, an Arab village in Galilee, he trained to become a professional in the field of Arab-Jewish coexistence, working in local high schools to bring together Jewish and Arab students for encounter sessions. Until 2003, he was director of the Israel Chapter of the Peacemaker Community, ‘Mevakshei Shalom,’ and was involved in many projects integrating spirituality and reconciliation efforts in the Middle East.

McLean and Manasra have often appeared together in support of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Westwater-Jong said, “This talk offers a different perspective on this subject. This will not be a litany of injustices. We will not focus on what people or groups or governments might be doing that is wrong. We are instead providing a forum for these two men to share their stories of the peace work that is happening in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Holy Land. I think this is very exciting and courageous work. It gives me hope.”

Monday’s talk is being co-sponsored by Nashoba Valley Peace and Justice and the Harvard and Stow Unitarian Universalist churches. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the program starting at 7:30 p.m. Refreshments will follow.

A $10 donation is requested to benefit Jerusalem Peacemakers, the Center for Religious Tolerance, and peace work in the Holy Land.

For more information about Eliyahu McLean, visit the website www.jerusalempeacemakers.org. For more information about Monday’s program call 978-779-2921.