In 2012 the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education published Peoplehood Papers 7 (and here, individually), Reinvigorating Jewish Peoplehood – the Philanthropic Perspective. The Center has decided, together with Taube Philanthropies and the Jewish Funders Network, that in 2020 it may be worth turning the topic on its head and dedicating an issue to Reinvigorating Jewish Philanthropy – the Peoplehood Perspective.

In the decade that transpired since the previous publication on this topic, Peoplehood has become a common concept in the Jewish professional jargon and a cornerstone in framing the Jewish conceptual and practical conversation on Jewish identity and the Jewish collective enterprise.

In general, some of the topics the Center is interested in pursuing are:

•        What makes Jewish Philanthropy unique?

•        How does it connect conceptually to Jewish Peoplehood?

•          How does embracing a peoplehood perspective influence our specific vision and mode of operation? What does it entail in terms of our relationship with other Jewish philanthropies and with communal bodies, like Federations or national agencies?

•         What are the key challenges the Jewish people are facing today and how do they impact our specific work?

•          What are some possible responses to today’s challenges?

•         How can philanthropy (which is becoming mostly an individual activity rather than a communal one) be a way of strengthening a sense of peoplehood? In that sense what is the interplay between individual and collective in philanthropy – and in the Jewish Community writ large?

•          What is philanthropy’s role in ensuring the cohesion of the Jewish People and even in defining what the Jewish People is?

•          What are the issues/factors that threaten the strength of the peoplehood and how can philanthropy address them?

The Center would be happy to receive essays of up to 1,000 words addressing the overall topic or any of the above questions. The deadline for submission is February 15. 

Publishing is planned to coincide with the 2020 JFN International Conference.

eJewish Philanthropy is the exclusive digital publisher of the individual essays.

Questions should be directed to Dr. Shlomi Ravid, Executive Director, the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education. ravshlomi@gmail.com