The Essential Jewish Conversations: Unpacking the Tools & Trends

Confronted as we are by divisive national politics and serious generational and policy divisions around Israel, along with an array of religious and cultural differences among us, this is the moment for there to be serious and managed conversations that Jewish Americans among others are craving to have.

Conversations that Connect:

Today, we can identify a communications model where the objectives and outcomes are designed to bring different constituencies together around a common idea or value.

Committed to specifically elevating conversations of concern to Jews and other Americans about the Middle East, Daniel Lubetzky through his family foundation, has been a major supporter in creating several new dialogue initiatives. Lubetzky is specifically  “focused on empowering people to work across divides to solve our toughest problems together.”

To better understand this model, listen to Daniel’s Ted Talk of May 2024. In that presentation Lubetzky lays out his formula for self-reflective conversations, built around “curiosity, compassion, creativity, and courage.”

Lubetzky has also supported Builders, a global initiative that seeks to replace “us vs them” with a “movement of flexible thinkers and constructive problem-solvers.” Its aim is to “equip people to overcome extremist ideologies and work together on solutions.”  Here, as elsewhere, there is a specific focus on finding the tools for constructive and engaging conversations around Israel and Palestine.

This has led to the construction of a Builders Toolkit, which according to Lubetzky begins with two core elements, critical thinking and critical listening, such conversations can now be carried forward in communities and other settings, as he has attempted to expand such dialogue networks to involve millions of people.

With the creation of OneVoice Movement, Lubetzky established a grassroots movement of Israelis and Palestinians designed to unlock the status quo and expand efforts committed to conflict-resolution and peacebuilding.

It is important to note that this type of engagement is not based on a traditional Israel advocacy model but rather is designed to uncover alternative approaches to political solutions and human relationships.

This specific focus is being carried out by PeaceWorks on Campus, a new initiative of PeaceWorks Foundation with support from Heart of a Nation. Here, the primary objective involves identifying future “influencers,” those individuals, Jews and others, who will likely be key leaders in civic and public settings by creating the types of experiences and conversations that allow these folks to hear one another when discussing, for example, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the wider issues impacting the Middle East.

This organizing approach seeks to target key university undergraduate and graduate students, exposing them to the complexities of the Israel-Arab controversy, enabling them to better navigate the conflicting political discourse that today dominates both the campus and community market space. If the United States is to remain a major foreign policy player in the Middle East, it is essential to provide the tools for engagement and dialogue for those individuals who are likely to be shaping policy and molding public opinion; this becomes strategically important to this nation and the broader international community, and of vital concern to our community.

Exploring Other Models of Communal Conversation:

 As we experience social incivility and contend with cancel culture, one of the significant new operational realities that we are uncovering inside the Jewish world is the presence of an array of initiatives all designed to foster and promote such dialogue and civil discourse.  Beyond some of these newer interventions designed to advance such conversations, various Jewish professional organizations are expending resources in focusing on creating “safe, respectful and equitable” work environments where discussions around difficult issues are being more directly managed and promoted.

Currently, the federation system, the ADL, and some foundations, along with more generic organizations, are committed to ensuring the effective transmission of ideas and in helping communities to engage in these difficult spaces. Many organizations have developed their own tool kits for training and managing complex discussions with their key constituencies.

The origins of much of this work comes from the interfaith dialogue experiences that Americans Jews had been deeply engaged over the past century. The techniques introduced in those spaces today are being artfully and appropriately applied to intra-communal discourse.

Today, there are several organizations that have as their mission to promote cross-community conversations and dialogue among different factions. Several of these initiatives are introduced below:

Resetting the Table https://www.resettingthetable.org/ founded in 2014 is committed to “transforming the public conversation”.  Its program model employs five operating principles: Directness, Multiplicity, Stabilization, Expressiveness, and Ownership. Their offerings extend to campuses, congregations and clergy, central agencies, and community leaders.

For the Sake of Argument: https://www.forthesakeofargument.org/  represents another dialogue initiative. Their statement reads:We develop tools and techniques to help you engage in healthy arguments in your home, school, campus, workplace, or community.

In the first phase of our work, we’re using Israel education as our core focus area. As we research and understand more about the impact of our work, we plan to develop new resources encompassing other issues.

The art of listening becomes the critical glue in allowing for such managed civil discourse. There are today various platforms and numerous articles seeking to define the principles and best practices for effective conversations.

 Reflections:

 Or Mars suggested the following:

…Avoiding all difficult conversations will prevent the most important kind of learning, that is, knowing what is in the hearts and minds of the people we live and work with so that we can move forward with compassion and mutual understanding.

Moving forward, these essential efforts must take place on a number of different levels, as intra-communal discussions remain central if our organizations are to be able to bring warring constituencies into the same room. Communication seminars will be critical as well in connection with our community relation’s agenda, as we seek to open and sustain dialogue with other key constituencies.

Such conversations and discussions will be important as well if we want to connect with future national and community leaders, who in such communication’s settings learn about the history and diverse cultures and constituencies of the Middle East, the centrality of Israel to America, and the complexities associated with conflict and culture.