Remarks at Goldberg Peace Prize Ceremony

The Arab-Jewish Community Center

Jaffa, Israel
22 June 2006

by Dr. Allan E. Goodman

A few weeks ago, at our Epiphany Church in Georgetown, the Bible reading was the story of Tabitha.  What immediately caught my attention was that it happened here in Jaffa.  But what stayed with me long after was the message.

Tabitha, a woman known to be "full of good works and acts of charity … fell sick and died."  Peter, a very ordinary man for most of his life, was called to her bedside from a nearby town and, after praying, said "Tabitha, rise."  And this, we believe, she did.

The story has deep meaning for us gathered here tonight.  It shows what an ordinary person can sometimes do and that our works can sometimes have transforming results.

The winners of the Goldberg Prize achieve those results every day, as we have learned.  And out of their good works and acts of charity arise a vision for us all, not only of what can make all the people who inhabit this land safer and more secure, but our whole world a less dangerous place.