What connects an ultra-Orthodox man from the Jerusalem Municipality, a secular woman from the Ministry of Health, and an Arab businessman who works for an international corporation?
The three of them, all MAOZ Network members, came together to distribute packages to the medical staff at the Sha’are Zedek Hospital. This partnership was born following an initiative by Network member Meir Aghay, who founded the “MAOZ Jerusalemites” group.
In a message to the MAOZ Network WhatsApp group, Aghay, Head of the Community Administration in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, wrote: “A while ago, some Network members from Jerusalem and I started talking. We care about our city, and the pandemic has not been good for the public discourse. This city is a microcosm of Israel, and the hateful discourse and atmosphere of incitement here has become very extreme.
But we think something can be done about it. We believe that through the collaborative action of Jerusalemites from all demographics and neighborhoods, we can take responsibility and change the discourse in our city.
And where else to find such a group, which acts out of a sense of shared responsibility and deep-rooted trust, if not here in the MAOZ Network? In recent weeks, over 20 of us have worked to raise money and express support for medical workers. We visited Herzog Hospital’s COVID-19 ward to distribute care packages to the medical staff.
But this is just one act, a symbolic one. We want to do much more. So we turn to you, Network members from Jerusalem. If you are interested in collaborating to improve our lives here, we invite you to join the MAOZ Jerusalemites group. Together, we will think about the problems we have in common and work collectively to address them.
And along the way, we’ll prove that even a city as complex as Jerusalem – with its diverse group of Arabs and Jews, secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox people – can collaborate and create genuine change on the ground.”
Following the announcement, 51 Network members who wanted to work together joined the group, which then partnered with SodaStream to distribute care packages to the staff at Sha’are Zedek. But this is only the beginning: additional collaborations have also come out of the group, each in a different field with its own specific needs.