Rahel Warshaw-Dadon - Founding Member, Board Member and Director - emigrated from the United States to Jerusalem, Israel in 1979. She has a B.A. in Physics and the Philosophy of Science (Boston University, 1971), an M.Sc. in Biophysics and Molecular Genetics (M.I.T., 1976); she continued her studies towards a PhD and conducted research in Molecular Biology (Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem). For many years, Rahel also worked as a music teacher. Years ago, at the urging of her physician, Rahel sought alternative treatments for severe chronic asthma. In 1995, Rahel found Reiki and started on her own healing path. Soon after, she learned first and second degree Reiki, and started working as a Reiki practitioner. In August 2000, she was initiated as a Traditional Reiki Master. Rahel now spends most of the year in Israel and part of the year in the US (and sometimes Europe) teaching Reiki, treating Reiki clients, and directing Reiki for Peace.

Elik Yaari - Founding Member and former Board Member - was born in Jerusalem, Palestine (!) in June 1942 (before the state of Israel was founded). He has B.A. in Political Sciences and International Relations; and cooperated in the organizational development of the Open University. He is a high ranking Officer in the Israeli Police Force.

Presently, Elik serves as a volunteer representing the public at the Jerusalem Area Labor Court. Elik's connection with the Arab population in Israel started when he served as a police officer in Ramle, and continues to until today. He believes that beyond the complicated political situation, personal connections lead to mutual understanding and an improvement in the atmosphere and feeling between the two peoples.

Naazem Shredi Jabari - Founding Member - is Originally from Umm alFahem, and presently lives in Haifa. He studied television communication and theater arts in Czechoslovakia. Trained as a Reiki Master, he works for Israeli Television as a producer and director. He met Rahel at a meeting of Reiki Unity in Israel, and immediately offered to help found Reiki for Peace.

Rabbi Carol Glass (USA) - Founding Member and former Board Member - has a BA in Religion (Barnard College, 1975), an MA in Jewish Education (The Jewish Theological Seminary, 1977), and Rabbinic Ordination (Hebrew Union College, 1984). In 2001-2003, Carol was on sabbatical in Jerusalem. She was an active participant in MachsomWatch, an Israeli women’s volunteer organization that observes at checkpoints/roadblocks outside of Jerusalem. Carol also studied Jewish hands-on energy healing and first degree Traditional Reiki. She joined Rahel in writing and editing explanatory texts and grant proposals for Reiki for Peace, and in doing so added her own energy and highly valued contribution to building Reiki for Peace as a functioning not-for-profit organization.

Beverly Seligson - Founding Member and former Board Member - is originally from Glens Falls, NY (USA) and has lived in Israel since 1987. She lives with her husband Joel in Manof, a rural community in the north of Israel near Karmiel. Bev is self-employed as a Clinical and Regulatory Affairs consultant to the medical device industry. She is a registered nurse (RN), an avid organic gardener, an amazing cook (had her own restaurant for five years), and is Rahel’s second degree Reiki student. Bev is mother to four daughters (one is also a second degree Reiki student) and Savta to three grandsons.

Aida Shibli - Founding Member -has been a political activist since the first Intifada, fighting against the Israeli Occupation and for empowering women. Aida, a Muslim Beduin, born in Shibli village in the north of Israel, is Rahel’s first degree Reiki student. When we founded Reiki for Peace, Aida Shibli lived with her daughter Neel, then 18 months old, in Jerusalem. At that time she worked in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, at the Hadassah Medical Center in the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit, and studied at the School of Nursing of the Hebrew University. After years of dedicated political work in several Israeli-Palestinian peace organizations, Aida discovered her essential need to combine inner peace work and spirituality, and to find the parallel lines between the war and oppression between men and women to the war and oppression between nations. With her daughter Neel, Aida lived and worked in the Peace Village, in Tamera, in Southern Portugal an international training and experimental site for the development of peace research villages. Aida is no longer associated with Reiki for Peace. She returns regularly to Israel/Palestine to continue her work with other organizations that further peace and co-existence in Israel/Palestine.

Eliyahu McLean - Founding Member and Board Member - grew up in Hawaii and studied at UC Berkeley. He currently lives in Jerusalem and is the director of Jerusalem Peacemakers. One of the projects is the Abrahamic Reunion, a group of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Druze religious leaders working together. Eliyahu also is advisor to the Sulha Peace Project.

Eliyahu was initiated as a 'Rodef Shalom' ('Pursuer of Peace') by Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi. Eliyahu's work is described in the book At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with the Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land by Yossi Klein Halevi.

Eliyahu has Second Degree Reiki training. He believes that to do outer peace work one must also increase our inner peace, for example through the practice of Reiki.

Rahel Warshaw-Dadon - Founding Member, Board Member, and Director - emigrated from the United States to Jerusalem, Israel in 1979. She has a B.A. in Physics and the Philosophy of Science (Boston University, 1971), an M.Sc. in Biophysics and Molecular Genetics (M.I.T., 1976); she continued her studies towards a Ph.D. and conducted research in Molecular Biology (Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem). For many years, Rahel also worked as a music teacher.

Years ago, at the urging of her physician, Rahel sought alternative treatments for severe chronic asthma. In 1995, Rahel found Reiki and started on her own healing path. Soon after, she learned first and second degree Reiki, and started working as a Reiki practitioner. In August 2000, after five years of training, she was initiated as a Traditional Reiki Master. Rahel now spends most of the year in Israel and part of the year in the US (and sometimes Europe) teaching Reiki, treating Reiki clients, and directing Reiki for Peace.

David Myers - Board Member- I was born and grew up in London. In 1976, aged 28 I arrived in Israel, and felt that I had arrived home. As a young Jew growing up in the Diaspora in England, I had been taught that Israel had been the historical homeland of the Jews for thousands of years. No one told me that this was also the homeland of the Palestinians, or that Palestinians had lived here for hundreds of years before Israel was declared the official Jewish homeland in 1948. For many years, I was oblivious to these facts, oblivious to the existence of another People whose home I had unwittingly invaded. When I finally awoke from this Jewish dream to the reality of what it meant to my Palestinian neighbors, I felt shame as a Jew, and responsibility as an Israeli for the great injustices that had been done to the Palestinian people in my name. This awakening also led me to examine the nature of conflict, and the role it plays in relationships both within the community and, more importantly, between different communities. I also sought an alternative to conflict in relationships, because, too often as we know, conflicts are resolved by brute force, not by human kindness and generosity. It was during this search to find a peaceful way to resolve the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis that I met Rahel and Reiki For Peace.
In July 2010 I took Rahel’s first degree Reiki course, with a group of Palestinians and Israelis. Not only was this my first introduction to Reiki, but it was also the first time in the 35 years that I have lived here, that I was sitting down together with my Palestinian neighbors. Learning Reiki together with them was a very enlightening experience. Rahel gave us the ability to receive and to pass on to others Reiki energy, she taught us to heal ourselves and help others to heal themselves. Once these channels for healing have been established and the energy begins to flow into you and through you into others the connection cannot be broken, you will always have the ability to access and use this life force, universal energy.
One of the first questions that I asked Rahel during the course was “How do you as a trained scientist justify the existence of Reiki? Now I see that without completing the Reiki course I could not receive the answer, I understand now that my physical senses are very well developed but my spiritual senses are not. Today I am aware of this Reiki energy as a very tangible presence, as a healer and a guiding hand that ensures the success of my endeavors.
I still do not have the experience or the confidence to believe that I can help others to heal themselves, I know I can heal myself. I know this energy exists as sure as I know the sun shines. I feel its glow like a light at the end of my tunnel. Reiki is a positive healing energy every bit as real as the negative energies of fear and hatred that fuel conflicts. Reiki has become the central focus of my life, I believe it can be the basis for a new order that will replace the one based on physical power that exists today.
Reiki replaces the brut force that dictated how relationships between societies evolved in the past with a new way to communicate in a language of care, kindness and generosity.
Once you are aware of this energy and know to use it you cannot return to conflict, it is a life changing event – a cure for conflict.
Since completing the first degree Reiki Course, I have been helping Rahel to develop the web site. We would eventually like it to be in Arabic, Hebrew and English, currently only the English is complete, if you would like to assist in translating the site into either Arabic or Hebrew please contact us.

Nafiza Badarin - Board Member -I was born in Jerusalem and attended elementary school in the Shuafat Refugee Camp. I attended the al-Mamniya School high school in Jerusalem, and studied Business Administration in Al Quds University in Abu Dis. I have worked in several places in Ramallah and in Jerusalem. Now I am an administrative assistant at the Open University in Jerusalem.

I was always a great deal over weight; I was always sick, and I was always surrounded by doctors. Each time the doctors said that there was no problem, but I knew that I must have a problem because I was so overweight. My environment was full of a very sick mentality, which gave me the feeling that there must be something wrong with me, and that made me very depressed. I sought nutritional guidance in the Health Clinic; I became active in a gym; I lost 35 kilos. But even though I lost so much weight, I still did not feel healthy, and I was very unhappy.

In late 2008, I met Rahel, who told me about Reiki, and the advantages of learning Reiki. I brought her to my house because my mother was sick with cancer. Afterwards, I decided to learn Reiki because of my mother’s illness. So, in January, 2009, I took the course with Rahel. It was very good for me to start learning Reiki, not only because of my mother’s illness, but also because of myself. My mother wanted to rest; I am grateful that I was with her, giving her Reiki, when she died. I also felt that Reiki gave me more self-confidence and has helped me to improve my health a great deal in every way.

All this made me feel that I want to help other people to learn and enjoy Reiki! I want to introduce Reiki all over the world (!!) starting with the West Bank. Working on the Board of Directors of Reiki for Peace will give me the opportunity to help other Palestinians, and to further peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Eliyahu McLean - Founding Member and Board Member - was born in California, grew up in Hawaii, and returned to California to earn his BA at UC Berkeley. He currently lives with his wife and their two little daughters in Tzfat, and is the director of Jerusalem Peacemakers (http://jerusalempeacemakers.org/). One of his projects is the Abrahamic Reunion (http://abrahamicfamilyreunion.org/ ), a group of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Druze religious leaders working together. Eliyahu also is advisor to the Sulha Peace Project, and has been a prime mover in the Jerusalem Hug Project (http://www.jerusalemhug.org/). Eliyahu is training to become a tour guide, and has already led successful tours, mostly in the Hebron Area, through which he furthers inter-faith understanding and tolerance.

Eliyahu was initiated as a 'Rodef Shalom' ('Pursuer of Peace') by Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi. Eliyahu's work is described in the book At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with the Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land by Yossi Klein Halevi.

Eliyahu is Rahel’s Second Degree Reiki student. He believes that to do outer peace work one must also increase our inner peace, for example through the practice of Reiki.

Andrea Meier, EdM, PhD - Board Member - is a retired professor from the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Social Work (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA). She is an applied social psychologist and an expert on intervention research, stress resilience, and the use of telephone and internet to deliver interventions. While at UNC, she was involved in numerous projects in the development of public health interventions. Andrea now lives in Boulder, Colorado (USA) where she is practicing as an International Coach Federation certified life coach, specializing in doctoral, career and wellness coaching. Andrea is also a Second Degree Reiki practitioner. Since the inception of Reiki for Peace, she has worked with Rahel in organizational development, planning projects, and developing grant proposals for Reiki for Peace.

Mufida Abd elRahamin - Member of the Committee for Quality Control - lives in Abu Ghosh, not far from Jerusalem. She has a BA in English and Arabic Literature (Hebrew University), and is trained as an Insurance Agent and as a Travel Expert. She is especially interested in Children's Literature, and is a serious Yoga student. Mufida first "tasted" Reiki in 2004, and was immediately convinced that she wanted Reiki in her life. She continues to give herself Reiki regularly.

One of our dreams is that Mufida will create organized tours in which participants will come from abroad to learn Reiki in Jerusalem, and participate in Reiki for Peace.

Moshe Avni was born in Palestine before Israel became a state. He grew up in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, in the northern Galilee. As he learned to read and write, he started to paint, and since then, his art has been the center of his life. Over the years, his work has been shown in various art exhibitions (www.mosheavni-art.com ). In 1989, he happened to participate in a massage course, where he was introduced to the magic of touch and alternative medicine. Since then, he has taught and practiced holistic massage therapy.

Moshe is a second degree Reiki student. At Rahel’s request, he painted the poster that has become the logo for Reiki for Peace (see home page). He supports Reiki for Peace by loaning his car to Rahel so that she can travel to the West Bank. When she must meet with her students there, he transports her and her treatment tables and other equipment to Beit Jaala, and picks her up after her activities. Her Palestinian students insist on meeting with him, and are happy to share Reiki treatments with him.

Tal Pinkerfeld - Former Member of the Committee for Quality Control - was born in Israel on Kibbutz Revadim. She has learned several 'alternative' treatment methods, including Shiatsu and the Elbaum Method, and has mostly treated children with learning disabilities. Today, Tal works in Jerusalem as a teacher in a Waldorf kindergarten, part of the Anthroposophic Educational Movement. For a few years, Tal and Rahel were neighbors, and it seemed natural for Tal to come to learn Reiki and to join Reiki for Peace. Tal believes that creating real, deep meetings between individuals is the key to change and growth at both the personal level and the human level.

Tal, with her husband and small daughter has left Jerusalem to return to Kibbutz life, and presently is not active in Reiki for Peace

Mohamad Abed Fatiha has lived all of his life in Jabel alMukaber, near southwestern Jerusalem. He is trained as an electrical engineer (in particular in Program Logic Control) and has worked as a free lance electrician in the Jerusalem area. He has also taught Hebrew to Arabic speakers. He writes poetry in Arabic. Mohamad came to Reiki because he was curious, and stayed because he got hooked. He is presently working in a hospice for retarded adults. Mohammad is a first degree Reiki student, soon to take second degree Reiki training.

He is presently working at AKIM-Jerusalem, a parent and professional run association that offers services to people with intellectual disabilities and to their families. He frequently gives Reiki treatments to his colleagues at work, and encourages them to get Reiki training themselves. He has shared Reiki with many others at AKIM, and the director is so impressed that he as requested an introductory lecture/demonstration about Reiki at AKIM.

Eli Binyamin - formerly active in Reiki for Peace - lives in Jerusalem and has a B.A. in French Literature and Psychology (Hebrew University, 2006). While looking for the right job, he is spending large amounts of time making sure that this web site will be created.

Yeshai Dadon, Rahel's son (born 1982) received first degree Reiki training when he was 13, and second degree training when he was 14. Music, sculpture, carpentry, fine cooking, and gardening are all important parts of his life. He presently divides his time between Jerusalem and San Francisco, where he has met people in the large Palestinian community there, some of those will join us in our work. Yeshai is learning Permaculture and hopes to bring agricultural techniques for saving water back to Israel.

Gary Weissman - formerly active in Reiki for Peace -We thank Gary, a first degree Reiki student, for generously putting our site on the web in its initial stages.