“There’s nothing squishy about it. Good conflict is not about surrender or unity. It’s about walking into the fire, not walking away.” Journalist Amanda Ripley highlights Resetting the Table’s transformative work with an influential congregation in New York as a model of “good conflict.”

“[Resetting the Table] works not only with clergy and congregations but also with entertainment industry workers [and] journalists. But its work among religious groups is especially critical because those communities are among the last places where people with differing worldviews gather together.”

“Everyone sort of felt this huge weight was lifted off their shoulders and off their chests,” [NYU alumnus Elyza Veta] said. “The fact that we were all able to sit through this program, to understand where everybody was coming from … No question that by the end of that, everybody came out more empathetic to the people they disagreed with.”

A feature on RTT’s Co-Founding CEO, Melissa Weintraub. “The ultimate goal, according to Rabbi Weintraub… is to build ‘a more cohesive society, a shared society, in which we don’t erase our disagreements but make them generative, in which we see our counterparts as our partners in sustaining our democracy.’”

“When Resetting the Table approached us, we were inspired by a dual aspiration: One, to mobilize regional evangelicals to contribute to healing across divides in Greater Buffalo, in the face of tragedy and pain that risks separating us further from one another. Two, to surface our own internal differences and hard conversations, both because that is the Christian way and because it is what our community and country need,” writes Pastor Dan Trippie, evangelical pastor in Buffalo, NY.

“What if journalists covered controversial issues differently — based on how humans actually behave when they are polarized and suspicious?... The goal is not to wash away the conflict; it’s to help people wade in and out of the muck (and back in again) with their humanity intact.” This powerful essay by Amanda Ripley of The Atlantic, catalyzed in part by an RTT training for journalists, went viral in the journalism field.

“The idea for the New Pluralists came about in the wake of Donald Trump’s election. Jennifer Hoos Rothberg of the Einhorn Collaborative…kept getting calls from people who were alarmed by the level of polarization and thought they could help fix it. One call came from Melissa Weintraub, a longtime conflict resolution practitioner who had worked with Israelis and Palestinians.”

“Resetting The Table” is a national effort to prevent political violence through collaborative discussion. Recently, various local religious and civic leaders joined the initiative to address the threat of political violence. On today's show, welcome Kelly Wofford, the Director of the Erie County Office of Health Equity, Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein, a local Jewish Community leader, and Dr. Dan Trippie, a local Christian Community leader."

“When differences are present and go unaddressed, they tend to become more destructive,” Melissa Weintraub, co-executive director of Resetting the Table, told Sara. “They chip away at relationships, distract from missions, and can cause a lot of harm.”

“The million-dollar question is how we shift ourselves and others from the usual rigidity of how we listen across differences,” facilitator Eyal Rabinovitch said. “Can we support people to move beyond their confirmation bias so that they can actually take in information, take in views and people that they might otherwise dismiss?”

"To be clear, this does not mean abandoning our convictions and principles. In fact, we do not agree on many things. However, we are united in our commitment to build a safe and flourishing community for all of us.”

“Being open-minded to differing perspectives is essential for children’s development, resilience, and capacity to become effective citizens in a thriving democracy, says Melissa Weintraub, co-executive director of Resetting the Table, an organization that works to build collaborative deliberation across political siloes in American life.”

"They talked about their hopes and fears. They built an understanding of how they had arrived at certain conclusions…We are now much better equipped to prevent tension and sustain open lines of communication in the coming year.” Rabbi Aaron Lerner, President and CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, describes bringing Resetting the Table to Hillel@UCLA for intergenerational dialogue between Board and students.

"My faith teaches me that everybody is made in the image of God, and that means they're worthy of dignity and value. And by listening to the other person, I'm recognizing the dignity and the value that they have….We can disagree, in fact, our entire republic is based on the fact that we're going to disagree, and then we're going to bring the ideas to the table, and we're going to work those out."

"For change to happen we have to be able to see the humanity in each other and talk to each other, listen to each other, and build the bridges to create and build the society we know we are capable of…," said Kelly Marie Wofford with Impacting Love Global Ministries.

"We’ve learned that this involves seeking out unlikely partners and listening. This does not mean abandoning our convictions and principles. In fact, we do not agree on many things. However, we are united in our commitment to build a safe and flourishing community for all."

“I saw our country and my community breaking apart before my eyes," explained Klein. "I was really worried about this moment that we're in right now. But because of the work that I've been doing over the past two years, I have a lot of hope. I think in general, in this region, we're a place of good neighbors. People do want to work together. The messages that we're getting are not completely accurate."

 “We had a wake-up call that our own country was degenerating into intractable conflict and that our toolkit was desperately needed more broadly here.” An interview with Melissa Weintraub by Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson, for NBC in Utah.

Paul Solman cites RTT as a leading organization working to bridge political and cultural fissures in the U.S.

“We are starting with ourselves. The Council is partnering with Resetting the Table to train our staff and board in the art and science of constructive dialogue across difference.”

“In several sessions together we were able to dispel years of misconceptions and even form friendship and fellowship beyond the RTT workshop… Our neighbors are not our enemies. They are the people we will need most if we want to live as our founders intended, in a just and free democratic society.” A Letter to the Editor, Buffalo News¸ by Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein and Southern Baptist pastor Eric Farley.

“Faith communities are an endangered species in America. There is so much ideological siloing. We have self-sorted by neighborhood, workplace and school. Faith-based communities are one of the last communities with political diversity,” said Resetting the Table founder Rabbi Melissa Weintraub.

“Everyone was super-angry and crying and emotional, but it was a respectful, honest conversation,” said [NYU alumnus] Rachel Bell. “And it was a really magical space, never before seen on campus. All of us were confronted with things we agreed with and things we disagreed with and became more empathetic and knowledgeable.”

“Some topics Melissa tackles include: Why bother engaging with people with whom I disagree? Are there ‘red lines’ for people we shouldn’t engage with? Is what you do ‘both sides”-ism’? Is it promoting a mushy centrism? What’s a concrete example where you’ve seen this kind of bridge-building effort pay off?”

“I work with RTT precisely because I share my friends’ feelings of fear and pain, sometimes even verging on hopelessness. For me, participating in conversations across lines of difference is an antidote for political despair.” An op-ed from RTT facilitator and partner, Josh Rolnick.

“Following a year of tragedy and hate-fueled violence in Buffalo, NY, local faith and community leaders with close connections to directly impacted communities spoke with Resetting the Table to channel this painful moment into connection, collaboration, and repair. This project will build crucial local infrastructure for relationship and resilience across political divides: a bench of local practitioners who will disarm tension and fear and open much-needed lines of communication; a network of local norm-shapers – including faith leaders and sports figures – who can shape public narrative in the direction of empathy and hope; and community-led forums for Buffalo residents to connect, engage, and problem-solve across silos, proliferating opportunities to see and understand each other, make meaning together, and imagine steps forward.”

“Resetting the Table…sat down with hundreds of voters in the Driftless Area to promote dialog across political lines. One thing it found was ‘just this sense of frustration to the point of repugnance with the ... political class, shared on the left, shared on the center, shared on the right,’ said Eyal Rabinovitch, the group's co-founder.”

“Resetting the Table’s framework and tools were specifically designed to overcome the toxic discourse unfolding around us today—splintering coalitions, campuses, workplaces, and communities alike.”

“This is not about singing Kumbaya and group hugs and just riding off into the sunset together and pretending we don't have real differences or setting aside our fundamental moral commitments in favor of some mushy middle ground. It is about creating the conditions in which we can figure out where we actually diverge and who our counterparts actually are and we can challenge each other and stretch each other's thinking.” Melissa Weintraub speaks in the UNUM: Democracy Reignited series that has included Jonathan Haidt, Monica Guzman, Daryl Davis, and other bridge-building luminaries.

“If the Talmud tells us what we ought to do in the face of differences, Resetting the Table taught us how. At the retreat...we drilled mediation and listening skills. We learned to demonstrate that we fully understand our conversation partners before speaking ourselves… I realized that the reasons I disagree with an opponent’s positions are seldom the reasons my counterpart supports them.”

“It is only through persistent dialogue and engagement that we can tease out who is actually Pharaoh — who is so wrongheaded, malicious, or dangerous that they’re actually not worth talking to — and who is someone with whom we are simply trapped in a Plague of Darkness. Caught up in a cycle of polarization and escalation that’s kept us from seeing each other, taking each other in, having a chance to reach each other and discover the ways we might connect and impact each other’s thinking.”

"What makes Purple truly compelling is its ability to challenge preconceived notions and inspire students to actively listen to understand rather than respond with knee-jerk reactions or engage while in defense mode. Through witnessing authentic conversations, students begin to evaluate their own beliefs, opening the door to more nuanced reflection."

“Her organization creates toolkits, trainings and workshops for clergy, community leaders, educators and journalists. Weintraub is optimistic – but realistic about her timeline: ‘I think we are at the beginning of building a 25-year cathedral; there is a long way to go. Polarization has been on a forward march for decades in our country, and it will take decades of work to overcome and transform.”

“We hope to disrupt everybody’s echo chambers, both on the right and the left, equally,” said Weintraub. “[We]…need a communal intelligence that we’ll only get from everyone pushing each other in different directions. Everyone needs to be pushed and challenged and heard, in order to respond to the dilemmas that Israel faces.”

“All defied the boxes into which political pundits and speculators from across the country have tried to shove them over the last months and years…I don’t have the answers yet, but for now I’ll stick with an insight that a pastor shared with me last week during our interview: Every time you share your story with someone and receive another in return, you come just a little closer to the truth.”