For the Sake of Argument works with Jewish communities to learn and argue about Israel, Zionism, and belonging — without losing one another.
The fight may be over Zionism, grief, loyalty, fear, or communal red lines. But underneath is a deeper question:
Can we continue to disagree about what matters most, and still be a community? We give communities the skills to answer yes.
We teach a shared language
so people can understand what kind of argument they are in, and what it asks of them.
We use a story-based pedagogy
so educators have materials and pedagogies to help learners hold opposing ideas and ask better questions.
We practice with real issues
so the work stays grounded in the questions communities are actually facing.
We build communal capacity
so disagreement becomes a practice of learning and relationship, not a force that pushes people out.
We help communities move toward tension with more skill
not to force agreement or paint over real difference, but to argue without turning each other into enemies.
Most communal conversations about anti-Zionists happen without them. We listened directly to young Jewish anti-Zionists to better understand their journeys, their grief, their assumptions, and their relationship to Jewish belonging.
Read it, and see why people call it the start of a conversation their communities could no longer avoid.
Learn how to engage in healthy arguments in your family, school, campus, workplace, or community.
Stories for the Sake of Argument features 24 short stories about contentious issues relating to Israel and the Jewish world.
Our resource center is packed with hands-on tools and materials to help you master the art of healthy argument.
Our resource center is packed with hands-on tools and materials to help you master the art of healthy argument.
Bring us to your community
The session helped me to envision how facilitated conversations on Israel might play out in select communities that we are now approaching about hosting similar conversations. These would be less about navigating disagreement and more about toeing into hard conversations about Israel.
Using stories as a jumping-off point, participants learn to direct their emotions and opinions in constructive ways that lead to productive conversations and new understandings. I highly recommend this unique, groundbreaking educational program for Jewish educators everywhere.
Yet in their latest educational resource, Stories for the Sake of Argument, Robbie Gringras and Abi Dauber Sterne do just that. Their book is an invaluable platform for students and teachers alike to explore some of the thornier and more divisive questions that Israelis and Americans face daily.
Abi Dauber Sterne and Robbie Gringras’s book, Stories for the Sake of Argument, reminds us each week that knowing our perspective requires that we constantly shift the seat we are in so we are seeing situations from more than our own eyes. I am so grateful to have Stories for the Sake of Argument as an integral part of our Shabbat conversations as each week, we turn to a new story and discuss. Not only has this book shifted how we argue but also we are better listeners and have learned to take in all the information before stating opinions or debating.
The feedback from the students was exceptionally positive, all stressing just how helpful it was - the role of argument, the specifics of that as pedagogy, and of course, applying it to education about Israel.
I appreciate the practical ideas and tools you shared.
This book represents the creative handicraft of two master educators, who use the format of stories and the processing of narratives to help shape more dignified, enduring, respectful and meaningful conversations across differences. Stories for the Sake of Argument has an important place in homes, classrooms, boardrooms and libraries world-over.
Your support equips leaders, educators, and communities with the skills to navigate fracture without losing one another.
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