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Press Praise for Our Work
Reflections of Ora Kesselman, Jewish Program Coordinator for Federation Early Learning Services, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
My participation in the Jewish Dialogue Group over the past few years has made a big difference in my life.
In the fall 2003, during the Intifada, when hundreds of Israelis were brutally murdered and wounded by suicide bombers I did all that I could to promote my view of the Israeli-Palestinian predicament. I am an Israeli-American, and I think of myself as having a right wing position. I was frustrated by Jews who justified or rationalized suicide bombings, and I felt a moral obligation to enlighten and influence those Jews who were quick to hold Israel accountable for all the Palestinian suffering but wouldn't hold Palestinians equally accountable for Israeli suffering. I was frustrated with Jews who exhibited more compassion for a Palestinian child who was killed unintentionally by Israeli forces than for an Israeli family intentionally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist. I found it almost impossible to listen to listen to people who seemed to hold these views.
I first attended a Jewish Dialogue Group session in 2003 with a few other members of a pro-Israel group that I worked with. We came to a Jewish Dialogue program, frankly, as a "spy" to find out how the group conducted its program and who were the participants. We assumed that the facilitators and all participants would hold left wing positions and the dialogue would be biased against Israel. We felt a moral duty to bring our perspective to this group.
As we assumed, the majority of the participants had a left wing position and only a few were right-wingers. In my small group, for example, I was the only one who held a right wing position. This finding did not surprise me. However, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the methods and the abilities of the facilitators to facilitate a fair and open dialogue. Although I assumed that the facilitator held a left wing position on the issue, I have to admit that, throughout the entire session, she was objective and did not try to impose her view on the group. I felt that I was treated equally and with respect, especially when the facilitator reminded and helped everyone to follow the ground rules. I especially appreciated the fact that each person had an equal time to speak during the first part of the session. The dialogue session was a very good experience for me and was the first step in the long path I have taken with the Jewish Dialogue Group.
After my first experience, I approached Mitchell Chanin, who is the executive director of the group, and shared with him my feeling about the dialogue. I felt that any dialogue couldn't be a true dialogue, in the full sense of the word, unless there are different kinds of opinions. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such a dialogue must include participants both on the left as well as the right.
A couple weeks after attending the JDG session I received a call from Mitchell Chanin, asking me to become more involved in the JDG. Since then I have attended several other dialogue sessions and worked with the Jewish Dialogue Group as a volunteer. I attended a training workshop with the Jewish Dialogue Group as well as their sister organization, the NCBI, National Coalition Building Institute in Rutgers University. The training provided me with methods and techniques to promote my view in ways I found useful and interesting. I found that participating in those workshops helped me tremendously in all areas in life.
Now in 2006, I am no longer as frustrated by people who have a different position from me. When I engage in dialogue with people who do not hold my position, I try to understand more deeply what they think and why. I ask them questions to understand them better. I talk with them in a calmer way and answer their questions. In this tone, they seem more willing to understand who I am, what I think, and why. I believe that the Jewish Dialogue Group, the National Coalition Building Institute, as well as changes in the reality in Israel, have changed me in many ways. Therefore, I encourage everyone who cares about Israel, no matter your perspective, to participate in these dialogues.