What We Learned at Ladies Night Out
by Rebecca Rosenheck
As soon as I heard that Ladies Night Out was featuring Yael Luttwak, director of the documentary A Slim Peace, I knew I wanted to attend the program. The Slim Peace program brings Israelis, Palestinians, Bedouin Arabs, and American settlers in the West Bank together weekly with the stated shared goal of weight loss and better health. But it is the unstated goal that is so compelling — intimacy happens during this 10-week program. The “other” becomes humanized and dialogue replaces generic hate. These women, who would otherwise never meet, begin to relate to one another. The program works as a foundation toward building bridges and empowering the women in their respective communities. This first group has led to the creation of 29 Slim Peace groups of women in the past six years, spanning all ages and socioeconomic ranges, encompassing secular and religious Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Israel and the West Bank as well as in the U.S. The program has been applied broadly to groups here in America that experience strife. Slim Peace provides a model to promote dialogue and tolerance.
The women I spoke with who attended Ladies Night Out with me were inspired by the results of Slim Peace; we women can make a difference as we relate to each other. There was much discussion after the program. Meryl Nadell said, “Any ongoing grassroots efforts to bring people together are a beginning. If these efforts can be broadened, maybe there’ll be some effect to counter the dreadful things people say about each other.” Holly Simon added, “We should reach out to other people to understand those who aren’t the same as we are. Women do it differently than men. Women know how to talk.” Leah More commented, “It comes down to life and the life cycle — it comes down to people with the same problems.” Joan Levinson concluded, “I would like to see that people realize that we share more similarities than differences.”
I asked the women around me what they would like to take away from this experience. . Many said they would like to see our own Slim Peace program held in the Greater MetroWest community. Another suggested that the Slim Peace model be applied to the formation of an Arab/Israeli women’s cancer support group. Many others said they would like to reconvene to watch the movie A Slim Peace in its entirety. In fact, subsequent to the program, individual women who attended and purchased the movie took the initiative and arranged for small groups to come together for movie viewings.
Overall, I feel that the evening was inspiring and illuminating. I was left with a feeling of hope that maybe somehow women can uniquely find a way to resolve problems in the world. I was proud that our Women’s Philanthropy brought this important program to our community.
To see photos from this event and upcoming Women’s Philanthropy events, visit the Women’s Philanthropy website at http://www.jfedgmw.org/womens-philanthropy