{"id":1188,"date":"2025-07-31T09:32:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T09:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/motj-dev.moonsite.co.il\/?post_type=event&#038;p=1188"},"modified":"2025-09-28T07:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T07:25:07","slug":"women-take-the-lead-in-healing-jewish-divides-at-motj","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/motj-dev.moonsite.co.il\/en\/event\/women-take-the-lead-in-healing-jewish-divides-at-motj\/","title":{"rendered":"At the MOTJ, Women Take the Lead in Healing Jewish Divides"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":1189,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"class_list":["post-1188","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"type":"full","external_link":null,"headers_main_image":"","date":"20250731","time":"","booking_link":"","carousel":[1191,1193,1195,1197,1199,1201,1203],"headline":"At the MOTJ, Women Take the Lead in Healing Jewish Divides","subtitle":"In the days leading up to Tisha B\u2019Av, a date etched in Jewish memory as a symbol of internal destruction and exile, 150 women gathered at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem for a bold and hopeful mission: to dismantle the deep divisions tearing at the fabric of Israeli society.\r\n","meta":null,"description":"On Thursday, the Museum hosted the official launch of the\u00a0<i>Women\u2019s Jewish Unity Project<\/i>\u00a0(WJUP), a new initiative\u00a0 founded by Professor Ren\u00e9 H. Levy. Grounded in the teachings of his newly released book,\u00a0<i>Jewish<\/i>\u00a0<i>Unity in an Age of Sinat Chinam (in English, Hebrew, and French)<\/i>, the program sets out to tackle the enduring emotional and psychological roots of\u00a0<i>sinat chinam<\/i>\u2014baseless hatred\u2014that has plagued the Jewish people for two millennia.\r\n\r\n\u201cTonight\u2019s launch of the Women\u2019s Jewish Unity Project is the culmination of 17 years I devoted to implementing the vision of one woman, my wife of 60 years,\u201d Prof. Levy shared, reflecting on the project's origins. At her urging, he left academia to devote himself fully to researching Jewish disunity. That research led to the startling realization that\u00a0<i>sinat chinam<\/i>\u00a0remained, even in modern times, \u201can intractable challenge for our people for more than 19 centuries,\u201d primarily because it was a condition that neither we fully understood nor knew how to treat.\r\n\r\nThrough years of lectures and private consultations with thousands of individuals, Prof. Levy began to identify patterns: denial, blame-shifting, and emotional barriers that prevented people from taking responsibility for their negative feelings toward others. \u201cSome people scapegoat others by setting themselves as victims,\u201d he explained, citing the example of a man who publicly blamed his mother-in-law for his resentment. \u201cVictimhood can be a dangerous mental trap.\u201d\r\n\r\nHis research further revealed that religious observance alone does not immunize a person against\u00a0<i>sinat chinam<\/i>. \u201cSome didn\u2019t worry about\u00a0<i>sinat chinam<\/i>\u00a0because they believed that, one day, it will be automatically replaced by \u2018ahavat chinam,\u2019\u201d he said. Others believed that since even righteous Jews struggled with it, there was little point in trying. But Prof. Levy was unwilling to accept such fatalism.\r\n\r\nThe Women\u2019s Jewish Unity Project offers a practical and transformative path forward. With a two-track model\u2014one for learners and one for teachers\u2014the program focuses on self-awareness, impulse control, forgiveness, and the rejection of tribal mindsets. Teachers are trained via regular Zoom sessions and are encouraged to build their own learning communities, using both institutional support and the power of social media to reach others.\r\n\r\n\u201cIsraeli society is fragmented in groups by culture, geography, ethnicity, and religious denomination,\u201d Prof. Levy said. But in recent years, this fragmentation has intensified into a dangerous form of \u201cpolitical tribalism,\u201d what social psychologists call\u00a0<i>affective polarization<\/i>, and what Jewish sages long ago identified as\u00a0<i>sinat chinam<\/i>. \u201cRegular citizens\u2026 now show moral disdain toward a person who watches a specific TV channel,\u201d he noted. \u201cSuch a society is infected by a lethal, suicidal form of tribalism which requires urgent intervention.\u201d\r\n\r\nThat intervention, he believes, must begin with women. \u201cThe idea of a Women\u2019s Jewish Unity Project is not new,\u201d he said. \u201cIt had always been a women\u2019s project since its inception.\u201d Women, he argued, are uniquely equipped to reverse the patterns of division by modeling empathy, honest introspection, and moral courage. They are being asked to become role models, not just participants\u2014builders of peoplehood rather than defenders of political or religious factions.\r\n\r\nThe event dovetails seamlessly with the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem\u2019s broader mission to bridge societal divides, promote dialogue, and combat polarization\u2014values that lie at the heart of both the institution and the Women\u2019s Jewish Unity Project. The women who took part left with that hope\u2014determined to replace cynicism with compassion, and tribalism with enduring unity.","short_description":"In the days leading up to Tisha B\u2019Av, 150 women gathered at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem for a bold and hopeful mission: to dismantle the divisions tearing at the fabric of Israeli society.","good_to_know":"","additional_content_icon":"file","additional_content":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>At the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, Women Take the Lead in Healing Jewish Divides- MOTJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, Women Take the Lead in Healing 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