Our Jerusalem Group comprises influential professionals and leaders from a broad range of sectors.
Wondering what all of this looks like on the ground? Our Jerusalem Group is one example of Sia’h Shalom’s direct response to the crisis surrounding judicial reform. This group comprises very senior and influential professionals and leaders from a broad range of sectors: right and left, religious and secular, along with the ultra-Orthodox and LGBT communities. Participants are high-level professionals: senior journalists, doctors, rabbis, high-tech CEOs, businesspeople and others, many of whom have been among the most prominent organizers of the protests in Jerusalem. This group formed on its own and then approached Sia’h Shalom seeking facilitation. Despite the intensity of raw emotion motivating this group, with the appropriate facilitation, the participants began to listen to one another. Communicating in the way that Sia’h Shalom teaches, they began to discover each other’s back stories and appreciate the sources of pain and anger that motivate the public expressions of protest. Participants have begun to perceive that empathy and understanding can move Israelis toward the resolution of this ongoing crisis. They also see that without such dialogue, a “victory” by one side will only result in a new cycle of conflict in the future.
What kinds of understanding emerged in the Jerusalem Group? Preserving anonymity, we can provide a taste: Based upon experiences growing up in a communist regime in the former USSR, a Russian immigrant expresses fears of Israel losing its democratic ethos. A settler from the West Bank explains the traumas experienced in the disengagement from Gaza. Many feel this disengagement was an unconstitutional decision, pushed through the Knesset by a biased ruling of the Supreme Court. These narratives, and many like them, play a huge role in the attitudes and fears that surround the current crisis. Yet, opportunities for listening empathetically and deeply to the experiences of others are few and far between.
One of the most striking outcomes of this process so far is that the leaders of the protests began to understand that “victory” in their struggle against the government is not necessarily the most impactful outcome. While this is clearly the objective that animates the protests, through the Jerusalem Group, the desire to “win” has been replaced by the desire for dialogue. We believe that the lessons learned here are crucial for Israel’s capacity to strengthen its democratic institutions, deepen the uniqueness of its Jewish identity and evolve a culture of peace.