Hebrew and Arabic are closely related as sister Semitic languages. They have a great degree of grammatical, morphological, and lexical similarity, as well as the common characteristic of Classical vs. Modern language distinction. There are, however, major socio-linguistic differences between the two languages (especially in size of the native speaking populations, spread of the languages, and the phenomenon of Arabic diglossia). The lack of communication that exists today between Hebrew and Arabic speakers could be attributed mainly to political reasons. Given this background, the Hebrew and the Arabic programs at Yale University have worked together to create a class in which both languages are introduced, emphasizing their linguistic resemblance, engaging the students in shared cultural themes, and using the Levantine Arabic dialect as the regional colloquial dialect spoken in closest proximity to Israeli Hebrew. The course, titled Languages in Dialogue, has a twofold aim: to introduce a new Semitic language to speakers of the other, in order to ease their way into the acquisition of the new language, and to have Hebrew speakers and Arabic speakers participate together in one class to promote cultural and social interaction. This course is a pioneering model in higher education. In my presentation I will elaborate on the course’s structure, its achievements and challenges and its potential to contribute to original pedagogy and to innovative curriculum-building in higher education.