Friends fast for Gaza in Holy Week
‘What am I willing to sacrifice for peace?’ Quaker John Choe on his reasons for fasting for Gaza.
Quakers from around the world took part in a day of fasting this month, in solidarity with people in Gaza.
‘We hope the experience will connect us to the Light and Power that take away the occasion of war,’ the group Quakers for Peace in Palestine and Israel said.
The idea for the witness grew after some US Friends discovered that they were independently fasting. Diane McHale, from Sandy Spring Meeting in Maryland, told the Friend: ‘This year Nadra Newash, Claire Cohen and John Choe were independently led to fast in solidarity with the people of Gaza during Ramadan. Both Claire and John also visited mosques and participated in evening meals there. I was curious about this, although I did not think I could fast for a month. We talked and decided we wanted to invite other Friends to fast for one day. We also invited people to contact their Congress members, contemplate five queries, and join us for a worship-sharing to reflect on our experiences.’
Roughly twenty people tried to join the online worship-sharing. ‘It’s hard to know how many more participated,’ said Diane McHale. ‘One Friend from Chestnut Hill contacted me to say that she was fasting and writing to her Congressional representatives, but couldn’t come to the worship-sharing. Another person told Nadra she was fasting.’
The seventeen participants were from Ireland, Venezuela, and the US. ‘A third were people of colour (two African Americans, two Asians, one Latino, and two Palestinian Americans). Though small, the virtual worship service was very spiritual and wonderfully inspirational. Our Irish Friend read a spiritually powerful but beautiful poem [“The Cure at Troy” by Seamus Heaney].’
John Choe, from the People of Color Worship Group at Flushing Meeting, explained his motivations on a Facebook reel: ‘It’s really important for us to be in solidarity with the people in Gaza who are being deliberately starved by the Israeli military. I thought of this because I had been protesting; I’ve been writing letters and contacting my elected officials, but I felt I could do more, and then Aaron Bushnell, an active duty service member in the US Air Force, self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy. I asked myself: what am I willing to sacrifice for peace?’
Claire Cohen and, another faster, Wanda Guthrie are members of Pittsburgh Monthly Meeting.
Nadra Newash is from First Meeting in Richmond, Indiana.
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