Dis­agree­ment has long been inte­gral to the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty from our con­ver­sa­tions to our foun­da­tion­al texts. Sim­i­lar­ly, debate is a core aspect of Amer­i­can iden­ti­ty. Yet, we have lost the abil­i­ty to engage respect­ful­ly with indi­vid­u­als hold­ing oppos­ing views, whether regard­ing Israel, Amer­i­can pol­i­tics, or even every­day mat­ters. Dis­putes have dri­ven friends, syn­a­gogues, schools and com­mu­ni­ties apart, mak­ing it dif­fi­cult for peo­ple with dif­fer­ent opin­ions to even share the same space. Con­ver­sa­tions That Mat­ter pro­vides a map for how to suc­cess­ful­ly nav­i­gate con­ver­sa­tions with peo­ple you dis­agree. It is uncom­fort­able but we must become com­fort­able being uncom­fort­able hav­ing the con­ver­sa­tions that mat­ter as this is the way we will move for­ward and unite as a coun­try and a peo­ple. The prac­ti­cal, evi­dence-based strate­gies for fos­ter­ing con­struc­tive civ­il dis­course and improv­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion with oth­ers are culled from insights and expe­ri­ences gained from over 25 years of facil­i­tat­ing Civ­il Rights jour­neys for Jew­ish par­tic­i­pants and orga­niz­ing exten­sive trips across Amer­i­ca that encour­age engage­ment with diverse viewpoints.