Hanna Jaffe Jerusalem Coordinator for Spirit of Peace

Hanna writes: I see myself as a bridge builder.  No, I’m not an engineer! My background is in music, storytelling and the arts. The bridges are between people in Israel/Palestine   who normally wouldn’t meet one another and also in The UK.

The first multicultural project I did was to work on recording the lullabies of many of the diverse cultures here in Israel/Palestine, and a few years ago, I released a CD called “Lullabies from Jerusalem”.  It is an anthology of traditional folksongs in Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Amharric, Russian, among others.  Working with singers and musicians from such varied cultures was an amazingly vibrant journey and the CD won an award from the Martha Stewart Living Magazine, and was also used by the Abraham Fund.

I invite you to listen to some of the lullabies and stories at my website.

 My website Stories 4 Peace is about harnessing the power of stories to bring more peace and harmony into the world. A whole lot of conflict and strife in the world can be alleviated by creating a space, a sacred space for understanding one another. Once you’ve heard someone else’s story, it’s so much harder to be afraid of them, to demonize them. Storytelling is my vehicle for this effort, enabling people to awaken to their shared humanity and universal themes. 

I am now working as the Jerusalem coordinator of Spirit of Peace. We are currently developing a project bringing together women from different sides of the conflict to address the wounds caused by years of living with the instability in this region. I am also assisting  Sheikh Ghassan Manasra in other peace projects and networking widely, including taking visitors to settlements.