by Wayne Firestone The new era of Israel-Diaspora relations isn’t a rejection of classical Zionism. Rather, it is the acceptance of a different model of classical Zionism, the one propounded by “cultural Zionist” Ahad Ha’Am. And it is uniquely suited for the today’s generation of college-age Jews, the so-called Millennials that are the focus of the work of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. Asher Ginsberg’s pen name, “Ahad Ha’Am,” proclaimed that the writer was, modestly, “one of the people.” A slight twist on his pseudonym, “Am Ahad,” or “one people,” may be more appropriate. Unlike his “political Zionist” contemporaries, he did not seek to create a bipolar world of Israel versus the Diaspora. He understood that the Diaspora would continue to … Continue Reading
Zionism and Peoplehood: Toward a Historical Synthesis
by Gidi Grinstein Pesach is an intellectual feast for those of us that are engaged with Jewish identity. As we read the Haggadah and go through the Seder, we leisurely engage the three anchors of our identity - religion, nationalism and peoplehood - and have an annual opportunity to revisit the center of gravity of our identity. For more than 22 centuries, at least since the days of the Hashmonaim, the collective identity of our people has three distinct poles: our religion that emphasizes belief and ritual; our nationalism that calls for sovereignty over and self-determination in Eretz Yisrael, and peoplehood that focuses on the shared memories, fate, and destiny that bond us. For most of this period, since the destruction of the Second Temple in the first century, it was religion that … Continue Reading
Leadership Development As a Best Peoplehood Practice
by Ezra Kopelowitz I participated in a research project in late 2008 on Jewish leadership programs in Israel. The research found 22 organizations which run 43 programs. 69% of the programs were founded within the last 10 years. In total they claim 7239 alumni as of 2009. All the programs covered by the research are pluralistic in orientation and almost all include intensive Jewish study as part of the curriculum. Since completing the leadership research project I've come to realize that many of the best organizations who are working to build a connection to Jewish community and the global Jewish People have a focus on leadership development. I'd like to share some of these insights here. The concept of “leadership development” denotes an expectation that an organization has a … Continue Reading
Jewish Peoplehood Hub Launched
Yesterday, at The Jewish Federations of North America 2009 GA, the NADAV Fund, in partnership with UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Agency for Israel, launched the Jewish Peoplehood Hub (JPH). This groundbreaking project aims to promote activities that strengthen collective Jewish identity and is being developed in a unique partnership between the world’s largest federation, a private foundation and a major Jewish NGO. The Jewish Peoplehood Hub (JPH) will serve as a center for discourse, knowledge dissemination and program development on the subject of Jewish Peoplehood. It will operate as a global think tank and project lab for enhancing commitment to this issue among world Jewry. The JPH will focus on influencers - educators, younger lay and professional leaders and academics - in … Continue Reading
Peoplehood: A Sense of Belonging
The Peoplehood Papers: a selection of essays from a diverse group of Jewish leaders and thinkers on Jewish Peoplehood including pragmatic suggestions on how organizations can create new understandings and action plans around the issue. Created as a platform for enriching the Jewish Peoplehood conversation, The Peoplehood Papers is a collaboration of United Jewish Communities, the International School for Jewish Peoplehood Studies at Beth Hatefutsoth and KolDor. In response to great interest in the pilot issue (published for the 2007 UJC General Assembly), this resource has now become a regular publication aimed at providing a space for sharing ideas about Jewish Peoplehood, the Jewish future and related matters. eJewish Philanthropy thanks Kol Dor for allowing us to share selections from The … Continue Reading
A Framework for Strategic Thinking About Jewish Peoplehood
by Dr. Ezra Kopelowitz and Ari Engelberg (Excerpt from paper commissioned by the NADAV Fund) Introduction Since 2000, a small but growing number of Jewish organizations and foundations have started using the concept of “Jewish Peoplehood” in their work. What is the significance of this new concept? What is the added value of the “Jewish Peoplehood” concept for the world of Jewish organizations? Why use the concept as a basis for organizational development, whether for strategic planning, program development or fund raising? Is there a difference between an organization or program run under the banner of Jewish Peoplehood and one which is not? We don’t aspire to answer all of these questions in this paper, but we do hope to make a first contribution towards organizing existing … Continue Reading
Spreading the Word on Jewish Peoplehood
by Dr. Michael C. Kotzin (as published in The Jewish Week, November 21, 2007) Editor’s Note: In October, The Jewish Week sponsored its third annual retreat, The Conversation, for a group of American Jews who are leaders and emerging leaders in a variety of fields. They were invited to contribute essays about the conference itself or about ideas that emerged from their discussions. This is the first in a series of responses. The subject of Jewish peoplehood is in the air, with attention now focused on what practical steps might be taken to ensure the continuity of the Jewish people at a time when that continuity is challenged by a number of factors. Those factors include high levels of assimilation, low birth rates and small numbers to start with. Surely this is important work. All the … Continue Reading
Breaking the Glass: Jewish Peoplehood and Beyond
by Dr. Alisa Rubin Kurshan Every Jewish wedding ends with a broken glass. But right before the groom raises his foot, the Rabbi tells those assembled that the tradition symbolizes the brokenness in the history of the Jewish people, especially the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. He reminds the congregation that their fate and fortune are forever bound up with the destiny of the Jewish people. There are very few examples in Judaism of customs or mitzvot that are - peoplehood mitzvot, acts that remind us that we are all tied to each other‘s destiny. This is one that resonates every time a Jewish couple stands under the chuppah. While the Torah may not offer many specific mitzvot related to peoplehood, the exact moment Jews became a people is well documented. Throughout the first … Continue Reading
Making Peoplehood Work: The Institutional Challenge
by Dr. Shlomi Ravid Most people mistakenly view Peoplehood as a global, amorphous and abstract concept that presents an optional ideological approach towards the Jewish collective. The truth, however, couldn't be farther from this interpretation. In reality, Peoplehood provides the basic rationale for the whole Jewish communal system. If it were not for the need and desire to do things with and for other Jews, how could one explain and justify Jewish Federations, JCCs, Hillels, Jewish summer camps, not to mention Jewishly focused political, philanthropic and advocacy organizations. My claim is that the notion of Peoplehood constitutes the communal and institutional framework of Jewish civilization. Making Peoplehood work is a challenge for local, national and global Jewish institutions. The … Continue Reading
Israeli-Jewish Diaspora Relations
by Professor Gabriel Sheffer Israel and the Jewish Diaspora are both experiencing major transformations which influence their relations. These include demographic changes: shifts in the centers of the Jewish diasporic communities, the creation of new communities and the reemergence of communities especially in East Europe; improvement of the political, social and economic positions of Diaspora Jews, but at the same time an increase in anti-Semitism and enmity in certain states, the emergence of new cultural, social, political and economic forces in Israel that strongly impact the Israeli society and, consequently, its relations with the Diaspora. It should be added that all these changes occur against the background of globalization, individualization and substantial use of sophisticated … Continue Reading
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