Starting in October, the Women's Council of Beit Shemesh began meeting  for dialogue in a group consisting of 16 women, representing many different sectors of the city's population;  from Hiloni to Masorati - Dati Leumi and Hareidi . The dialogue is facilitated by two professional facilitators, Adi Bluth of Nechusha and Rachel Lifshitz of Mevasseret Tzion, and is funded by Partnership 2Gether Beit Shemesh - Mateh Yehuda - Washington - South Africa of the Jewish Agency. This is one of four dialogue projects initiated by the Partnership in 2012 as a response to the violence which occurred against women and girls  and the negative image Beit Shemesh received in the press last year following these incidents. The meetings are held at the Matnas in Ramat Beit Shemesh which has provided a home for the Women's Council since it was founded by Miri Shalem and others in 2009.

The group is meeting for 12 weeks in a row to discuss a range of issues such as personal and community identity. The first meetings were about the complex issues of personal identity and belonging to a community and each woman shared with the group the uniqueness of her community as well as how others see her community from the outside. Difficult questions were asked such as: Do the women feel like they are an integral part of the city? Do they want to continue living here? Do they want to leave and if so, why?  The women did a role play where they had to switch communities and pretend to be the other, which led to a very animated discussion.

The women also started to examine the conflicts that are part of our reality, such as having separations between men and women in the public sphere. In the coming weeks they will  delve into the roots of some of these conflicts and will bring to an examination of their behavior in conflict situations and to find ways to effectively act on their own and in a wider framework.

Aside from delving into serious issues in the city, there are also fun and interactive exercises that the women do in order to get to know themselves and the other women in the group better and to bond with them.

At the end of three months of dialogue, the group will create a community initiative that will expand the circle of dialogue within the city and further advance women's initiatives that are geared for women from all sectors.