Editor’s note: This following was addressed as an open letter to Mel Gibson.
I live down the street from where you are building your church. Even though I was spearheading the opposition to an unethical development next to National Park Service’s Peter Strauss Ranch, less than a mile away from your planned church, I met with your church elders in our community meetings and did not oppose you seeking permits for your church. I believe that at its core, Christianity, like its Abrahamic cousins, Judaism and Islam, hold the pursuit of a sacred relationship with God as their sole purpose to exist. Later, I was dismayed to find out that your father, a Christian teacher, denied that the Holocaust ever happened. My father, a member of the Jewish underground who smuggled in Israel children that survived the concentration camps, witnessed a very different story than what your father believed. I had hoped your father’s comments were not a reflection of your beliefs.
After your anti-Semitic comments and your remorseful remarks about the “despicable” things you said, I want to share with you a dirty little secret. You are not alone in your prejudice. In my peace education work, I encounter ignorance, prejudice and hate daily. Ignorance, prejudice and hate are what cause wars, not Jews. If you really want to do some good in the world, do whatever you can to melt away the ignorance, prejudice, and hate that dehumanizes the children of God to the point where we permit ourselves, in the name of religion, to break God’s commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”
I am also a member of Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue and I have an invitation for you. I head one of three programs that focuses on interfaith relationships and peace education. We are also developing a collaborative teacher training program between Israeli and Palestinian teachers in Jenin (one of the areas in the West Bank that was the source of so many suicide bombers).
Mel, we’re right down the street from you. Jews in your own neighborhood working for peace and religious tolerance. We have good programs in place and I invite you to visit us and to work with us to see what we can do together to make this world a more peaceful place.
Shepha Vainstein
Director of Development
Salaam Shalom Educational Foundation