For three years Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion, and these said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion. Ultimately, a Divine Voice emerged and proclaimed: Both these and those are the words of the living God. However, the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel. (Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 13b)

Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure … Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Hillel and Shammai. (Mishnah Avot 5:17) 

In a moment of deep polarization across the United States, in Israel, and globally, the ability to engage one another with respect has become not only rare, but urgently necessary. We are living through a time when disagreement often escalates into suspicion, hostility, violence, and moral dismissal. And yet, Jewish educators also know the next generation can learn to........

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