Pluralism & Tolerance Initiatives

NIFC and NIF believe that a tolerant Israel will be a more socially cohesive Israel – within Israel itself, in its connection to Jews in the Diaspora, and in its relationships with the world at large. We work for an Israel with all members free to conduct their religious, spiritual and cultural lives according to their own conscience; an Israel where Jewish and Arab citizens live together with dignity.The following are some recent projects of NIFC's with a focus on relious pluralism.

BINA

Bina is a way for young secular Israelis to explore their Jewish roots in a pluralistic environment that stresses the humanist aspect of Judaism and strengthens Israel as a democratic, tolerant society. NIFC works with the Bina Secular Yeshiva, the only non-Orthodox institute of its kind in Israel today. Pre or post-army young adults study Jewish texts and Jewish culture intensively from sources ranging from the Bible and Talmud to classic Israeli literature and Zionist history.

NIFC works with Bina on their Bina BaShchuna (“Wisdom in the Neighborhood”) program, building a community of young adults that studies Judaism, lives, works and volunteers within an impoverished neighborhood. This model has been successfully implemented for eight years in three disadvantaged Tel-Aviv neighborhoods and is being replicated in the impoverished Shchuna Dalet in Beer Sheva. This year, Bina will work with a special track in the army, the garin nahal, in which young people choose to be part of a close-knit group which combines army service with community service.

Conflict Transformation and Management Center (CTMC)

With its Conflict Transformation and Management Center, Shatil educates and trains NGOs to manage and transform conflict. The CTMC helps organizations deal with internal staff conflicts, conflicts with other organizations or with constituencies. This includes providing tools to prevent the escalation of conflict as well as networking with other organizations dedicated to nonviolent conflict management. One of NIFC’s projects is working with CTMC’s Arab-Israeli-Jewish Dialogue Project among local leaders in Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Israeli communities. These leaders engage in intensive dialogue on various difficult issues pertaining to shared living, which will inform both grassroots groups and policy makers on ways to improve inter-group equality in Israel.

Liberal-Orthodox Coalition

To strengthen communities and truly impact Israeli society at large, it can be more effective for organizations to speak with one voice.

Shatil has been working closely with a coalition consisting of seven cutting-edge liberal Orthodox organizations, including the Herzog Center, Kolech, Mavoi Satum, ITIM, Yud-bet Heshvan and the Religious Kibbutz Movement. Shatil has provided ongoing consulting to the coalition which, with Shatil's assistance, can claim a number of achievements thus far, particularly in providing information about gender-segregated buses. The coalition has also created a hotline for religious women called Hashmi'eini (“make your voice heard to me,” taken from a verse in the Song of Songs) for women who are suffering physically and/or emotionally from gender segregation. The coalition maintains a blog on the Internet forum Tapuz that encourages Haredi women to openly discuss negative incidents that they have witnessed or have experienced firsthand. The coalition runs training seminars for the women who staff the hotline and moderate the Internet forum on being effective listeners, and giving important, relevant advice.