Testimonial from Synagogue Leaders in Michigan

Our temple’s Social Action Committee has been aspiring for quite a while to promote respectful conversations within the congregation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are a community, and we need to be able to talk to one another about Israel in order to remain a community. We need to learn how to appreciate and respect one anothers' views without feeling compelled either to agree with them or to deny their validity.

In the past, we hosted speakers or panels for the local area interfaith community about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with discussions or Q&A afterward. Often people who had different points of view would argue or debate, not listening to each other but trying to convince each other that one was 'right' and the others ‘wrong’. This kind of interaction was unproductive and eventually led many individuals not to want to talk about it at all. So the end result was silence. Israel became a topic not to be touched.

After a hiatus, we shifted our focus to promoting dialogue within the Jewish community, but could not decide how to proceed. A breakthrough occurred when we were introduced to Constructive Conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the guidebook published by the Jewish Dialogue Group and the Public Conversations Project. The guidebook’s comprehensive and easy-to-follow format allowed us to hold a structured dialogue among our own congregants in fall 2010, with more than 50 congregants participating, and ten volunteer facilitators leading small groups. We received very positive feedback from the participants, who told us how much they valued having a respectful and engaging conversation. We left with the feeling that there is so much we can learn from each other, provided we are willing to listen with open hearts and open minds.

We are now in the process of organizing small, ongoing groups using the same model. We hope that with more experience in these conversations, people will recognize that there is no need for silence and members of our community will become closer and more willing to talk with each other in the months and years to come. We also hope to sponsor events that promote constructive conversations beyond our temple in the wider Jewish community.

None of this would have been possible without the Jewish Dialogue Group’s guidebook. Constructive Conversations describes this model for dialogue so clearly and in such detail, with such a range of options to choose from, that it continues to be an invaluable training tool and reference for our facilitators and participants.