Jewish Dialogue Group

Working to promote constructive dialogue within Jewish communities
about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other controversial issues

Events

"...a wonderful opportunity to share candidly, in a safe, confidential environment, which... is paramount...for maintaining a cohesive community"
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Some of Our Past Events

Dialogues     star     Special Events     star     Trainings

(See Upcoming Events)

Dialogues

For more information about our dialogue sessions, see Services We Offer: Dialogue Sessions.

 

Introductory Community Dialogue
Thursday, July 20, noon-2 pm
Big Blue Marble Bookstore
Carpenter Lane & Greene Street in Mt. Airy

The dialogue will consist of small-group discussions that encourage people to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions, and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will use a format created by the Public Conversations Project, a non-partisan organization that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogue about difficult issues.

 

Introductory Community Dialogue
Thursday, July 13,7-9pm
or Monday, July 17, 7-9pm
Children of Abraham
25 Washington Street, Brooklyn
(near the F train's York St station and the High St. Station on the A/C)

The dialogue will consist of small-group discussions that encourage people to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions, and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will use a format created by the Public Conversations Project, a non-partisan organization that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogue about difficult issues. Please read below for more details about the workshop and terms for participation.

 

Dinner and Dialogue Session for Israeli and Non-Israeli Jews
Wednesday, June 28, Dinner 6:15-7pm, Dialogue Session 7-9pm
Greenfield Intercultural Center
3708 Chestnut Street, University City
For information about parking, visit: www.upenn.edu/parking

This program will bring together Israeli and non-Israeli Jews for a dinner shmoozing and then a stuctured dialogue session about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kosher, vegeterian dinners will be provided by Mama's Vegetarian.

We are asking each person to donate $10 towards the cost of the meal. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please feel free to come just for the dialogue at 7pm if you are not interested in the dinner.

The event is jointly sponsored by the Jewish Dialogue Group and Philly Israelim. Philly Israelim provides a meeting place and a “taste of home” for the Israeli and Hebrew speaking community of Greater Philadelphia through unique programs, activities, and services for all ages.

 

Introductory Community Dialogue
Sunday, May 21, 6-9pm
Congregation Kol Tzedek
Calvary Center, 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue, West Philadelphia

Fee: $5 members, $10 non-members

This dialogue session will consist of small-group discussions that encourage people to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions, and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will begin with a screening of a short public television documentary that explores the variety of perspectives that Jews in the Philadelphia area hold about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

Introductory Community Dialogue
Sunday, April 2nd, 3pm-5pm
Center for Jewish Life at Princeton University
Room 1 (Feinberg Cafe)
located at 70 Washington Road, at the intersection of Washington and Ivy Lane (Directions)

The dialogue will consist of small-group discussions that encourage people to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions, and questions, listen respectfully to others, and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will use a format created by the Public Conversations Project, a non-partisan organization based in Boston that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogue about difficult issues.

Open Dialogue Session
Tuesday evening, January 31st, 6:30-8:30pm
Temple Beth Zion/Beth Israel
18th and Spruce Streets, Center City

Jews of all perspectives and backgrounds are welcome! This community dialogue will provide a safe environment in which people can share their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will use a format created by the Public Conversations Project, a non-partisan organization based in Boston that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogue about difficult issues.

Introductory community dialogue
Thursday, December 8, 7:15-9:15pm
Columbia University Hillel
Kraft Center, Room 400
606 W. 115th St.

The dialogue will consist of small-group discussions that encourage people to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions, and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will use a format created by the Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org), a non-partisan organization based in Boston that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogue about difficult issues. Please read about the workshop and our terms for participation.

Please RSVP: We need to know how many participants to expect. Please email info@jewishdialogue.org or call 215-266-1218 by Tuesday December 6.

Doors open at 7pm, and the workshop will begin promptly at 7:15. In order to preserve the integrity of the discussion, we can't let new members join once we've begun.

Workshop on holding constructive conversations with people who hold different views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Thursday, September 15, 2005, 5 - 9pm
Center City Philadelphia

A colleague in New York, Laurence Berg has been developing a new workshop that teaches participants skills for holding constructive conversations with people who hold different views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at family gatherings, in the workplace, and in other informal settings. We suggested that he pilot the workshop here in Philly next month, and he welcomed the opportunity. We'd like to bring together 6 to 15 people to participate, including people with a wide range of political perspectives and varying amounts of previous experience with dialogue.

This workshop will teach you specific skills that will help you to:

Introductory Community Dialogue
Tuesday, June 7, 2005, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad Street

The dialogue will consist of small-group discussions that encouragepeople to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions,and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own andothers' perspectives. We will use a format created by the PublicConversations Project (www.publicconversations.org), a non-partisanorganization based in Boston that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogueabout difficult issues.

Open Dialogue Session
Tuesday, May 24, 2005, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Temple Beth Zion/Beth Israel, 18th and Spruce Streets

The dialogue will involve small group discussions that encourage people to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions, and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will use a format created by the Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org), a non-partisan organization based in Boston that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogue about difficult issues.

Film screening and Open Dialogue Session in Bucks County
Passionate Voices: American Jews and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Sunday, November 21, 2004, 6:45 - 9pm
Congregation Kol Emet
1360 Oxford Valley Road, Yardley (directions)

Come see this provocative documentary and join a discussion led by facilitators from the Jewish Dialogue Group. The event is free, but donations will gladly be accepted. Jews of all perspectives/ and backgrounds are welcome.

About the film:
Philadelphia's Jewish community is splintered among groups who care deeply, but see conflicting truths in the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Passionate Voices shows grandparents and teens, political activists and artists, congregational leaders and lay people as they form their ideas, act on their convictions, and respond to other opinions. The movie, by Cindy L. Burstein, Tony Heriza, and Wendy Univer, aired on public television, WYBE, Channel 35, in 2003 as part of the station's local documentary series, "Philadelphia Stories."

Thursday Evening Dialogue Series
Thursday evenings, 6:30 — 9pm, Oct. 7 through Oct. 28, 2004
Council for Relationships, 4025 Chestnut Street

Like our one-time open sessions, the series will give people a chance to share and reflect on their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions, and questions, listen respectfully to others, and explore their own and others' perspectives. The series will allow for a much fuller exploration than our one-time events, however. This series will in some ways be an experiment. We'd like to pilot some new formats and questions that we're planning to incorporate into our new facilitation manual. We've thought about these new formats and questions carefully, but we haven't tried them in this kind of setting before.

We're asking folks to commit to coming to the entire series, but we won't turn someone away if he or she has to miss one of the meetings. If folks are interesting in continuing on after the 4th session, we'll schedule some additional meetings.

Community Dialogue Session
Thursday, July 15, 2004, 6:30 — 8:30pm
Temple Beth Zion/Beth Israel, 18th and Spruce Streets

Jews of all perspectives and backgrounds are welcome! We especially invite people who'd like to help organize dialogue workshops within their own synagogues, schools, or communities to come to this introductory session and to learn about what we're doing.

This community dialogue will provide a safe environment in which people can share their concerns, hopes, fears, convictions and questions; listen respectfully to others; and explore their own and others' perspectives. We will use a format created by the Public Conversations Project, a non-partisan organization based in Boston that was founded in 1989 to foster dialogue about difficult issues.

Open Dialogue Session
Wednesday, February 11, 2004, 6:45 - 9pm
Congregation Ohev Shalom
2 Chester Road, Wallingford, PA (Delaware County)
(near the intersection of Routes 252 and 320 - directions)

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Trainings

For more information about trainings, see What We Do: Facilitation Training.

Introductory Facilitation Training
Sunday, February 4th, 10am-5pm
Jewish Theological Seminary
Broadway and 122nd Street, New York

Introductory Facilitation Training
Sunday, October 29, 10:30 am - 4:30 pm
Multicultural Center at Bryn Mawr College
229 N. Roberts Road (directions)

 

Introductory Facilitation Workshop
April 23, 2006

This will be a full-day training on Sunday, April 23rd, and then a two-hour follow-up session on a subsequent Sunday or a weekday evening. We will meet in Center City Philadelphia.

Who: This training is designed for people who want to work with the Jewish Dialogue Group as volunteer facilitators or to facilitate dialogue sessions on their own. We welcome people with all backgrounds and levels of experience. Whether you've never done anything like this before or you're a professional facilitator who simply wants to learn our specific approach, we think this training will be useful to you.

What: The training includes four components:

  1. exploration of the basic principles of dialogue and facilitation
  2. discussion about how to prepare emotionally to facilitate dialogue about this topic
  3. step-by-step instructions for leading dialogues using the Public Conversations Project's "Community Dialogue" format
  4. lots of time for practice and questions

Each participant will receive a copy of the new guidebook to facilitating dialogue that we are publishing in collaboration with the Public Conversations Project.

Cost: We will charge a sliding scale fee of $54 to $100 to help cover costs. Scholarships are available, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please let us know if you can't afford the full price.

 

Training Workshop for Volunteer Facilitators
July 10, 2005, 10 am — 4:30 pm

Everyone is welcome — whether you've never done anything like this before, or you're an experienced facilitator who just wants to learn our particular approach.

JDG facilitators help to lead dialogue sessions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in synagogues, schools, and other venues around the Philadelphia area. We are receiving more and more requests for dialogue programs, and our team of 12 volunteer facilitators cannot keep up with the demand. We would like to train at least 6 more facilitators this summer.

(If you're not sure you'd like to work with us, but think you might want to use this training in another way, you are welcome to come. Please let us know what you're looking for, and we can tell you if this training is right for you.)

The training includes 4 components:

  1. exploration of the basic principles of dialogue and facilitation;
  2. discussion about how to prepare emotionally to facilitate dialogue about this topic;
  3. step-by-step instructions for leading dialogues using the Public Conversations Project's "Community Dialogue" format (visit Public Conversations Project for more info);
  4. lots of time for practice and questions.

Cost: We will charge a sliding scale fee of $36 to $75 to help cover costs. Scholarships are available, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds — please let us know if you can't afford the full price.

 

The Power of Dialogue: Constructive Conversations on Divisive Issues
Three-day training for people who want to organize and facilitate dialogue programs
Thursday, November 18 through Saturday, November 20, 2004
Council for Relationships, 4025 Chestnut Street

The Public Conversations Project will hold a 3-day "Power of Dialogue" training here in Philadelphia this fall (2004). We have worked with PCP extensively over the past couple of years and used their materials in many of our dialogue sessions.

Since the last day of the training will take place on Shabbat, we've decided not to co-sponsor the event officially, but we are still helping to publicize it. The PCP staff tried hard to figure out an alternative time so that Jews who are Shabbat-observant could participate, but they weren't able to work anything out. We hope to hold another training like this in 2005 that will be accessible to people who are Shabbat-observant.

For more information, including instructions for registering, go to Power of Dialogue Training.

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Special Events

Chanukah Party and Benefit Concert, co-sponsored by Kol Tzedek West Philadelphia Synagogue
Sunday, December 17th, 3pm
The Rotunda, 4012 Walnut Street, University City

Featuring the Sarah Aroeste Band

Vocalist Sarah Aroeste and her band of some of New York's finest world musicians combine traditional Ladino music with contemporary rock, funk, blues and jazz. Using traditional instruments such as flamenco guitar,and dumbek alongside electric guitar, bass and drums, the band (Yotam Beery: bass; Yaron Eilam: electric guitar; Dan Nadel: flamenco guitar; Liron Peled: drums, percussion) brings a fresh new face to Ladino and Sephardic music. (Read more)

Listen to an interview with Sarah Aroeste on NPR, December 19, 2003.

Read a review of Sarah Aroeste's 2003 CD 'A La Una - In the Beginning' in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

Flyer for this event

Klezmer concert and Hanukkah Bazaar
Saturday, December 17, 6 - 9:30 pm
The Rotunda, 4012 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA

The event features an amazing klezmer band called Shtreiml, which mixes traditional Eastern European Jewish music with jazz, blues, and gypsy music. (Visit www.shtreiml.com for soundclips and more information.) There will also be:

Download Flyer

Special All-Ages Benefit Concert with Mirah Zeitlyn & the Weeds, plus Klezmer with Rachel Lemisch, Jason Rosenblatt & Ilana Sherer
Wednesday, February 9, 2005, 7:30pm
The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street

Suggested donation: $8 to $18 per person, more if you can afford it. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Potluck for volunteers and friends
Sunday, October 3, 2004, 6 - 8:30pm
617 Pine Street (home of Roberta Spivek)

We'd like to take some time out to celebrate our work over the past several months and talk about our plans for the next year. The potluck falls on the one of the "middle days" of Sukkot, and so we hope to organize some kind of Sukkot observance as part of the evening. Everyone is welcome: members, volunteers, friends, or folks who just want to get to know the group.

Fall fundraising event: Dinner and conversation with Dr. Dan Gottlieb
Monday, November 29, 2004
National Museum of American Jewish History, 55 North 5th Street

Please save the date for this important fundraising event with Dr. Dan Gottlieb, family therapist, host of WHYY-FM radio show "Voices in the Family," and columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dan will talk about some of the lessons folks can learn from psychology and family therapy as they try to foster constructive discussion about controversial political issues. Funds raised will support our National Dialogue and Deliberation Project.

Benefit Concert featuring Jewish music from Eastern Europe and the Arab world, with:
The Fabulous Shpielkehs, Klezmer Brass Ensemble and Cantor George Mordecai, Performer of Judeo-Iraqi Music
Sunday, March 7, 2004, 3-5pm
(Purim Day)
The Rotunda, 4012 Walnut Street

Kids and costumes welcome! Hamentashen and other treats for sale. Donations very gratefully accepted. Proceeds will benefit the Jewish Dialogue Group.

About the Fabulous Shpielkehs:
The Fabulous Shpielkehs are five of Philadelphia's finest musicians dedicated to furthering the centuries-old tradition of Klezmer music.

Drummer Elaine Hoffman Watts and trumpeter Susan Watts, descendants of the Hoffman family musical dynasty, are third and fourth generation klezmorim (musicians) internationally celebrated for their musical skill, ingenuity and cultural knowledge. Rachel Lemisch, award- winning trombonist and Philadelphia native also comes from a family of musicians originating in the city Yaash in Romania. Both of these well-known Klezmer families, the Hoffmans and the Lemisches, have handed down repertoire from generation to generation. The Fabulous Shpielkehs base their performances on these familial traditional tunes.

The ensemble also includes Grammy award winner Jay Krush, known for his Tuba virtuosity, composition and arranging artistry and Katt Flagg, celebrated folk accordionist.

About Cantor George Mordechai:
"My journey has spanned three continents. I was born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in a Judeo-Iraqi community. My mother and father came to Australia from Singapore and India, respectively, where both were raised by merchant immigrant families from Baghdad and Basra. The songs of our community influenced me from a very early age. I ... lead services at [a] Sephardic synagogue and later was employed as the assistant Cantor at Sydney' s Temple Emanuel. At the same time, I performed extensively at various multi-cultural and folk music festivals in Australia. I was also a regular performer with Sydney' s Renaissance Players. I came to New York in 1995 to study at the Cantorial Institute at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and began to develop a sound that is a fusion of American Folk and Judeo-Arabic music. My heritage has made me very sensitive to the conflict between Jews and Arabs.

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PO Box 34726, Philadelphia, PA 19101 USA
info@jewishdialogue.org     215-266-1218