Join our rabbis this Fall, for a powerful series designed to facilitate dialogue across difference and compassionate listening. We'll work together to build essential communication skills, workshop complex ideas, and explore new possibilities for understanding and navigating Jewish communal issues—such as the landscape of Jewish media, Reform movement positions on the Israel-Hamas war, antisemitism, allyship, and solidarity work. All of our voices, thoughts, and questions are important, and each session builds on the ones before—we encourage you to join us for one session or all! 

These in person sessions are for members only; please register below to attend. 

What to Expect in Each Session:
In each program, we will read from Daniel Taub's Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement, draw on the wisdom of Jewish texts, and introduce a new tool for constructive dialogue and compassionate listening. The conversation will then immediately utilize these new skills to explore pressing issues.

UPCOMING DATES & GUEST SPEAKERS

October 28: Join our rabbis as we launch 'Let's Talk About It.' This initial program will lay the series framework. We will ground ourselves in readings (including excerpts from Daniel Taub's Beyond Dispute, engage in conversation and case studies, and learn essential communication tools to build a community well-versed in dialogue across difference and compassionate listening.

November 11: Guest speaker, Sefi Kraut, Director of the Pardes Mahloket Matters Project will join us from Jerusalem. Mahloket Matters aims to elevate the Jewish value of mahloket le-shem shamayim (argument for the sake of heaven). The project recognizes that engagement with multiple perspectives carries the potential for personal growth, deepening of interpersonal connections, and problem solving. 

December 2: Marc Levine, Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Central Pacific, will present “Changing Hearts and Minds” based on ADL’s antisemitism research. 

December 16: Join Rodef Sholom clergy and Middle Meets (a partnership of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University) for a special film screening and conversation focused on proactive dialogue among Israeli and Palestinian college-aged students. The event will center around the screening of In the Middle, a new 20-minute film that follows a group of Middle Meets students as they travel to the Vatican to promote constructive dialogue across difference.