Both through her writing and in her work with Israeli-Palestinian dialogue groups, Merle Feld supported the difficult and delicate struggle to make peace in the Middle East. A playwright and poet whose work is widely anthologized, Feld became involved in various peace efforts during a sabbatical year in Israel, including facilitating an all-women Israeli-Palestinian dialogue group on the West Bank. By enabling ordinary women from both sides of the conflict to hear each other’s stories for the first time, the group broke down long-held prejudices and provided opportunities for grassroots dialogue. Feld extended such efforts to Jewish women emerging as community leaders in the Former Soviet Union and then began facilitating writing groups to help people find words for their experiences and communicate in a more authentic way. She has deepened this calling through founding the Rabbinic Writing Institute in 2005, where she serves as mentor to rabbis and rabbinical students across the denominations.

Merle Feld was honored at the 2000 Women Who Dared event in Boston.