Israel Reflections–Negotiation Aikido Israeli-Style

On our very last day in Israel, with the sun shining and after spending an hour on the beach, we forced the students back on the bus to Tel Aviv University to have a joint class with Moty Cristal’s class from the International Master’s in Dispute Resolution program.  If ever I was worried that the students would really resent us, this presented the golden opportunity.  Luckily, Moty was outstanding and here are two student comments about his presentation:

From Mary Ferwarda: It was the last day in an exciting, but very packed and exhausting schedule. We had just come from free time on the beach in Tel Aviv on the most perfect morning — sunshine, light breeze, few crowds — and I, personally, was dreading having to sit inside for yet another lecture.  When we all packed into a room at Tel Aviv University, and the speaker pulled up his Powerpoint, I took a deep breath to pool all of my energy to pay attention.  I should have taken a deep breath to prepare to be blown away.  Mr. Moty Cristal lectured, or rather, preached, his piece on crisis negotiation to a roomful of rapt students and professors.  Combining a pointed wit, quick humor, and a couple of Hollywood movies, Mr. Cristal walked the class through his experience negotiating with Palestinian militants who barricaded themselves in the Church of the Nativity in 2002 to avoid capture by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). 

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Please Stop

I recently jested that I would spend some blog time on fashion. Then, on Thursday, the fates decided to jest with me a tad. My hospital has a large summer program for local high school students. The students will basically be assigned a mentor and spend the summer learning from the mentor and going to job-related training sessions. Very internship-y.

Anywho, I got wrangled into providing the “Dress For Success” session. Stop laughing, Jake. It’s in July so I have a while to figure out what I am going to say. However, one thing keeps coming to mind. One “rule” to provide to a future job seeking male. And a way to stymie a growing pet peeve.

Ties = Accent pieces. Dudes, they are not, NOT meant to blend into your shirt like some silken chameleon. ACCENT. 

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Restorative Justice Conference: Keeping the Victims Foremost

The eight-year-old who wasn’t there: That was one of the most important people involved in last week’s impressive two-day conference at Eckstein Hall on dealing with clergy sex abuse scandals.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, the Most Reverend Diarmuid Martin, brought the eight-year-old into the conference.

Of course, no children were literally present. But Archbishop Martin, who has attracted substantial international attention for his strong stands in the aftermath of large-scale scandals in Dublin, recounted how he had a bit of time before a program at a school he was visiting. The principal asked if there was anything he wanted to see. He said he wanted to visit a class of eight-year-olds.

The reason, he said, was that he wanted to look at their faces and underscore in his own mind their images. When people deal with issues related to the scandals, they tend to see the victims as the adults they are when what happened to them comes to light, the archbishop said. He said, “It is important to see the face of eight-year-old.”

When dealing with the issue of sex abuse, it is the images of the victims, both as children and adults, that should come to mind first, not the images of clergy members or the situation of the church overall, Martin said.

That was one of the key messages of the conference, “Harm, Hope, and Healing: International Dialogue on the Clergy Sex Scandal.” The sessions, the Law School’s annual Restorative Justice Initiative conference for this year, brought together experts from around the world and attracted wide attention, particularly in the Catholic press.

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