Invitation:
We invite Arab Jewish thinkers to participate in a 5-day immersive retreat, fostering connections through our shared identity and life experiences. Over the course of the week, we will present our personal work on the subject, enjoy meals and discussions and collaborate on a collective project to be discussed together.
We will explore the following inquiries:
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Going beyond “the basics”, what shapes the lived experiences of Arab Jews, and how can we collectively navigate our political alignments?
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In the mosaic of our diverse personal backgrounds, cultures, and lived experiences, how do we as an Arab Jewish community want to present ourselves in the broader global discourse today?
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What role does the Arab Jewish community play in offering an alternative narrative to paradigms of ethno-national religious violence? How can our collective past experiences shape a more liberatory future?
We welcome academics, artists, activists, scholars and those interested in politics, religion, culture, history, identity, and more to join us in this intimate retreat. There will be ample spacious time to work on your own projects and research during the day and in the evenings we will convene for share learnings. Limited to 10-15 participants, the retreat will be a time to connect, ideate and envision collaborations that can reverberate globally.
Purpose:
- Intellectual Exchange and Discourse: Share works in progress and actively participate in the exchange of ideas within the Arab Jewish field. We will cultivate an environment that encourages open dialogue and spirited discussions as we explore various perspectives together.
- Creative Collaboration: Articulate the current interconnected landscape of Arab Jews and map relationally what exists and how we envision our place within it. Contribute insights from your academic pursuits, artistic expressions, and activist endeavors to collaboratively craft impactful works—be it through writing, recorded conversations, or other mediums—sharing our collective creations with the world.
- Envision Political Strategy: Develop a strategy with a global perspective, aiming to reshape our communities worldwide and explore the revival of traditional paradigms of shared space in place of modern conflicting forms of ethno-nationalism.
Who Should Attend:
- Those who identify as Arab Jews and are dedicated to preservation of Arab Jewish identity, history and tradition
- Those who are educated about Arab Jewish political discourse and have contributed work to this field of knowledge
- Those who are dedicated to transform the present political paradigm that often uses us as pawns for personal agendas
Location:
Ewen Mill, Cotswolds, England
The quickest way to reach us from within England is by car or train. Trains run direct from London Paddington to Kemble station in about 70 minutes. Then it’s a 5-minute drive or 20-minute walk along the Thames path to the door. There are bus connections from London and Heathrow to Cirencester (the nearest town). The journey by car from London takes just under two hours.
Pricing
The cost of the retreat per person is £550 including accommodations, food and programming. For couples it is £800 for both together. We want to make this retreat accessible to all regardless of finances.
We invite sponsors and those interested in financially supporting others to attend this retreat to contact us. If it is within your means to pay, we welcome that. If you know people who are interested in sponsoring others who do not have the means to pay, please let us know. If you cannot afford to pay the full price, we still welcome you; please let us know how much is feasible for you to pay.
The Facilitators
Hadar Cohen
Hadar Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic and artist. She is the founder of Malchut, a spiritual skill building school teaching Jewish mysticism and direct experience of God. She is a 10th-generation Jerusalemite with lineage roots also in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq and Iran. Her podcast, Hadar’s Web, features community conversations on spirituality, healing, justice, and art. She has written about Arab Jewish identity for The New Arab, +972 Magazine and more. She is currently working on her personal book on Arab Jewish identity. To learn more about her work check out her website hadarcohen.me or malchut.one.
Avi Shlaim
Avi Shlaim is an Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. His books include Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (1988); War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History (1995); The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2000,updated edition 2014); Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace (2007); Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations (2009); and Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew (2023).
We will accept applications until the retreat is full. If you are interested in joining, we recommend submitting application soon as the retreat will fill up.
Apply Here
Donate
We welcome donations to support this retreat.
We also welcome sponsorship or other funding opportunities. Please do reach out if you are interested in supporting this project.
Any amount is valuable.
We are grateful for your contribution!
Contact
Malchut
This retreat is organized by Malchut, a mystical school teaching direct experience of God. If you would like to join the membership based Jewish mystical school or the God Fellowship check out malchut.one.
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