We are a people in the middle of an argument - about Israel, about identity, about what we owe one another - and yet the spaces where that argument can happen honestly, across real differences, are vanishing. Conversation has migrated to platforms that reward polarized opinions over thought. The discourse infrastructure we need won’t emerge organically. It requires the collaborative investment of time and effort, goal-driven funding, careful design, and commitment to intellectual pluralism even when uncomfortable.

Machshavah - the Hebrew word for “thought” - was launched as a Jewish intellectual salon that revives the historic tradition of salons as spaces for open dialogue between critical thinkers. Machshavah offers a model that’s nimble, intellectually rigorous, and capable of attracting diverse participants precisely because it is not beholden to established institutional positions.