Witness Toolkit

About Us

Welcome to the Witness Toolkit

is an open, deep, and fun online toolkit to support individuals and communities to grow and reflect on moral questions. It is for anyone who wants to make a difference with courage and compassion. Through stories, study, conversation, and practices, we are here to support you, whoever you are, to grow in clarity, creativity, and effective action.

The Witness Toolkit is an initiative of the Witness Institute, a 501c3 organization, founded by Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger and Elisha Wiesel, dedicated to continuing the work of Elie Wiesel. It is through offering these tools and resources to the public that are continuing to honor the life and work of Prof. Wiesel.

Welcome to the Witness Toolkit

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Reflect and Transform

Learn how to navigate your own morality with a sense of compassion and courage
from tough conversations to sending blessings to those around you.

Tools for Tough Conversations

Tools for Tough Conversations

How do we argue well? How do we hold space for disagreement and harness the potential for learning and growth in encounters with others? How do we develop clear, strong, values-driven positions on issues, while remaining open to others?

The seven steps toward moral transformation

The seven steps toward moral transformation

How can we cultivate compassion and courage in our daily lives? Dive into the seven steps toward moral transformation: Commit to being a witness, choose hope, celebrate questions, explore otherness, be wildly creative, take action, and pass it on.

Thou shalt not compare thyself to others

Thou shalt not compare thyself to others

What do you aspire to live by? This exercise gives you the chance to pause and think about your values and to express them in personally meaningful way.

Sharing blessings

Sharing blessings

We all need positive articulations in our lives — encouragement and clear reminders of our goodness and strength, support from friends, family members and even strangers. Share a blessing and join our community of blessings.

Testimonials

  • John Cos

    Jonathan Cos

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  • Ashley J. Franklin

    Ashley J. Franklin

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Join Membership

Global Community for Moral Thinkers

Witness Institute is working to be a global community where people can ask deep questions around their morality. Through connection, memory, and storytelling, both in-person and online, we strive to create a community based in compassion and courage across all different backgrounds, identities, and histories.

Membership Form

Resources

Dive deeper into your courage

Explore our library filled with conversations and articles that look at hope, connecting and working across lines of difference, morality, and wild creativity.

  • Global Oneness Project: Community Conversation

    In this recorded webinar, Ariel Burger and Global Oneness Project executive director, Cleary Vaughan-Lee, share ways to teach from the heart in our troubled times. Ariel, a friend a former teaching assistant to Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, shares ways to foster empathy and resilience. This webinar was a follow-up to Share My Lesson’s webinar held on March 25, 2020 during their annual virtual conference.

  • Response Is Different From An Answer

    “The current moment calls for moral ferocity. We should not sleep well at night when we know others are suffering. Ferocity itself, though, holds danger. Let’s not forget that some of the worst perpetrators of evil have often claimed to act in the name of the good, or God, or the national interest, or a future utopia. By claiming the moral high ground, and labeling our opponents misguided, we run the risk of doing great harm in the name of good.”

  • Global Oneness Project: 
Moral Education

    In September 2020, Parker J. Palmer and Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger joined us for an engaging and inspiring webinar conversation. We explored the mechanics of moral change and discussed the ways in which we can transform our suffering into positive motion. In this conversation we explore ways to cultivate moral education across multiple levels and perspectives, from personal to societal. As Palmer wrote in his book The Courage to Teach, “The human condition is vast and varied, and fear is only one of its faces. But whether the focus is fear or power or ego, or grace or humility or love, an effort to understand the inner lives of teachers and learners not only makes for compelling conversation but for better teaching and learning as well.”
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