In October 2018, The Covenant Foundation published a volume of Sight Line titled Contemplating Civil Discourse: The Jewish Imperative.

It was a fraught moment in American life. Contentious midterm elections were approaching. A Supreme Court confirmation process had further divided American citizenry. Debates over immigration were conflagrating. Across the country, civic discourse felt stymied and almost impossible.

At the Foundation, we felt a responsibility to engage our community of educators in a conversation about what was unfolding around us. We asked legal scholar Martha Minow—former Dean of Harvard Law School and a former member of The Covenant Foundation’s Board—to write an introduction for that volume of the journal, together with Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at Harvard University.

In the opening of that journal back in 2018, Minow and Singer offered a powerful charge: “Civil discourse requires us to listen generously and to act as though—and to really believe—we could be open to persuasion,” they wrote. “We each may think: ‘I did not cause this situation, I am not to blame.’ Yet we each have the capacity to help society turn the corner, if we honestly ask what went wrong and what we can do about it.”

Minow and Singer’s words were prescient then, and they feel even more urgent now. It’s eight years later, but the need for a daily practice of listening, empathizing, being open and being curious is just as pressing as it ever was.

Equally pressing is the need to continue to protect democratic ideals. Jewish communal life in America has flourished within an open-minded democratic framework that protects religious freedom, encourages civic participation, and makes space for diversity.

The people and projects highlighted in this volume reflect the field’s thoughtful response to these ideals. Across so many settings in Jewish education, educators are designing programs that cultivate dialogue across difference, strengthen civic skills, and model principled, values-driven disagreement. They are teaching students how to engage in the world with empathy. They are building spaces where complexity is welcomed and where relationships can endure even amid profound disagreement. They are securing the building blocks for a more democratic future.

We hope this volume offers inspiration and opportunity for conversation in your homes and in your workplace. We are glad you are here.

B’Shalom,

Joni