Jewish Dialogue Group

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

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"[This guidebook] is a landmark work and incredible resource for anyone wishing to compassionately and openly discuss this complex issue. The JDG/PCP approach puts the emphasis on Jewish values and personal relationship building, offering any group of any background a way of building community while dealing with an often difficult and polarizing subject."

—Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Director of Outreach and External Affairs/Tikkun Olam, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

View our new supplements and updates to the guidebook.

The Public Conversations Project and the Jewish Dialogue Group are happy to offer our guidebook:

Constructive Conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
A Guide for Convening and Facilitating Dialogue
in Jewish Communities in the U.S.
by Maggie Herzig of the Public Conversations Project with Mitch Chanin of the Jewish Dialogue Group
Download a Copy (free)

This guidebook will provide you with step-by-step instructions and all of the other materials you will need to conduct dialogue programs that bring people together to:

  • listen to and understand one another across political differences
  • clarify their feelings
  • examine difficult moral and intellectual questions
  • think through the choices they face
  • seek common ground

A “dialogue” is a conversation in which people seek mutual understanding rather than trying to convince each other, come to agreement, or reach a solution. Dialogue can occur spontaneously, among friends, in classrooms, in synagogue discussions, or among strangers. When people are experiencing polarized conflict, however, they may need to agree on an explicit purpose and structure for the conversation in order to hold a constructive dialogue. In the sessions that this guidebook describes, participants meet in small groups to listen carefully to each other and reflect on their own perspectives. An evenhanded facilitator works with the participants to create a structure for the conversation and then guides them through it. People have used this approach to dialogue for many specific purposes, including to:

  • repair painful divisions in synagogues, schools, or organizations that are wracked by internal conflict
  • open up new conversations in communities that have shied away discussion of Israel
  • give people an opportunity to explore their questions and dilemmas in a welcoming atmosphere
  • bring together activists with differing perspectives to find more useful ways to talk with each other

The guidebook provides step-by-step instructions for convening and faciliating dialogue programs, plus background information, Jewish texts that support the practice of dialogue, and sample handouts. The book will lead you through each step of the process: determining what kind of dialogue might be helpful in a community, deciding who to invite, planning an agenda, facilitating the program, gathering feedback, and following up. You can use the guidebook to work with small and large groups, and for one-time meetings as well as multi-session programs.

The guidebook is designed for both beginning and experienced facilitators. No specialized training is needed. People with a wide range of backgrounds and occupations have led successful dialogue sessions using our approach: students, teachers, rabbis, social workers, attorneys, artists, scientists, landscapers. Read testimonials from people who have used or reviewed the guidebook.

To obtain the guidebook, you can:

If you find the guidebook useful, please use this form to tell a friend about it.

Supplements to the Guidebook

Since we published the guidebook in 2006, we have developed a number of new questions, exercises, and materials that you may find useful in your dialogue programs. We have begun to write them up in ways that are suitable for publication. You may want use them as they are, modify them to suit your group's particular needs, or just read them for inspiration. We are continuing to create additional supplements. Please check back soon! 

Sample Dialogue Agendas

Agenda for an Introductory Dialogue Program
We use this agenda for many of our one-time community dialogue sessions. It includes several new features that we've developed over the past few years. 

Agenda  for a  Dialogue about the Gaza War -- January 2009
In January 2009, the Jewish Dialogue Group held several special dialogues focusing on people's responses to and questions about the Gaza crisis. It is similar to our regular agenda for one-time dialogue sessions, but includes questions focused on current events.


Dialogue in the Jewish Tradition

This thirty-page booklet explains a number of Jewish teachings about dialogue, respectful communication, and listening, and describes ways you can bring these teachings into your dialogues. This material appears as an appendix in the facilitator guidebook, but we have also published it as a separate article. You may download a copy free of charge or purchase a printed, bound copy for $6 plus postage.