Jewish Dialogue Group

We are a grassroots organization that formed in Philadelphia in November 2001 to promote constructive dialogue within Jewish communities about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other controversial issues.

We offer the following services: 

• dialogue sessions and workshops to help people talk across political differences in useful ways
• facilitation trainings
• publications to help people conduct dialogue programs of their own
• consultation with people who are engaged in dialogue work

Most of our programs take place in the Philadelphia area, New York, and Washington, DC. We  offer dialogue sessions and facilitation trainings in other cities around North America as well.

Why dialogue?

Many Jews are looking for more useful ways to discuss the situation in the Middle East. Discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be extremely difficult. People with strong convictions about the situation often find themselves in bitter conflict with others whose hold different views. At the same time, people who feel ambivalent or confused often have trouble finding a place where they can discuss their feelings, ideas, and questions openly, without being attacked from one side or the other. Many people avoid discussing the conflict because they feel they don't know enough, or because the issues seem overwhelmingly painful or confusing.

The Jewish Dialogue Group came together to provide resources to help our community to grapple with these problems.

We have found that carefully structured and facilitated "dialogue sessions"—conversations that are set up to foster respectful listening and collective exploration, rather than argument and debate—can enable people to have conversations that would otherwise not be possible. Through dialogue, people with seemingly irreconcilable positions can find ways to talk with and listen to each other, to understand each other, and to look for common ground. We believe that dialogue can strengthen Jewish communities; foster personal clarity and healing; and indirectly, contribute to a resolution to the conflict. Many participants in our programs have written testimonials that describe how they have benefited from dialogue -- click here to read them.

In 2006, we began offering dialogue sessions that focus on other difficult issues as well, including the war in Iraq, ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis in the Conservative Movement, and the role of synagogues in promoting social justice.