Beyond Dispute Reflections

At the beginning of the month, Na’aleh, The Macks Jewish Connection Network, The Center for Countering Antisemitism and Hate, The Baltimore Jewish Council, and The Associated’ s Israel Insight Forum came together for a special event focused on healthy arguments and meaningful dialogue.

The evening invited our community to explore how we can engage in challenging conversations while continuing to build understanding and connection.

Here are a few highlights and key takeaways that participants shared from the event.

“Especially in our polarized world, the need to hone our skills for disagreeing productively with each other is an acute one. It’s also something my synagogue community is engaging actively in. For all of these reasons I was excited to participate in Beyond Dispute with Abi Dauber-Sterne. I very much appreciated her candor in naming the challenges that get in the way of disagreeing well for so many of us. I especially look forward to applying her “stretch tools” for approaching arguments with curiosity, both in my own life and in my synagogue.”

“Attending this event was such an eye-opener for me. I realized that I often struggle with wanting to be ‘right’ and convincing others—especially when I feel something important is at stake for our community. Aby reminded me that, in many cases, there’s actually less at stake than I think, since we’re not the ones setting international policy. It was a powerful reminder to pause, reflect, and engage with more perspective and calm.”

“This event highlighted the importance of creating more opportunities for our community to learn this framework and engage in meaningful conversations about topics like Israel. I believe it’s essential to learn how to have healthy, respectful discussions around big issues to foster empathy and understanding for others.”

“Identifying and engaging in civil discourse is an important leadership quality in our divisive world, and the large crowd at Beyond Dispute showed just how important it is to the Baltimore Jewish community. The robust conversation and interaction between participants could have gone on beyond the session’s allotted time, and I am sure that Na’aleh’s agility as an organization will allow the conversation to continue, bringing our community to a higher level.”

“I was reminded that I can set the tone in any conversation by leading with curiosity, regardless of whether the other person has been trained in these techniques.”

“The percentage technique was especially valuable. In my role, I often need to ‘win hearts and minds,’ and both modeling the percentage of agreement between my brain and gut—and inviting others to do the same—creates a stronger shared framework for getting on the same page.”