Judaism as a Civilization – Video
Learn about the notion of Judaism as a Civilization and its components in this short and engaging video.
Does Jewish Peoplehood Have a Future?
In this video talk Dr Noam Pianko, Director of the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington, looks back at the origins of the term "Jewish Peoplehood". Finding it in the 1930s and 40s he then asks whether it is still a useful concept for the 21st Century and offers a new…
Of Local and Global: "Jewish People Leadership"
Sarah Mali develops a conceptual framework for Jewish belonging that is built out of what she terms neighborhood and peoplehood attachments. She argues that Jewish personal and moral fulfillment requires actualizing and synthesizing both of these seemingly contradictory attachments. In Section 2 of the paper she applies the conceptual framework to the field of leadership development and presents a leadership training…
The Never Ending Debate
Fein argues that the tensions between particularism and universalism can and should never be resolved. He believes that this is a tension that is "meant not only to challenge us but also to enliven us." He believes Rabbi Hillel's statements, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" and "If I am…
The Future of Peoplehood: From Nationhood to Neighborhood
Pianko proposes a paradigm shift, from nationhood to neighborhood. Peoplehood based on a neighborhood rather than a nationhood model promotes understanding of Jewish collectivity as the sum of divergent processes of Jewish exploration and community building. "Neighborhoods" broadly construed, either in-person or via focused global networks, create a platform for engagement, meaning, creation, and innovation,…
Spreading the Word on Jewish Peoplehood
The author discusses several connotations of the concept of peoplehood, arguing for a positive, informed study of Jewish peoplehood. He argues that a study such as this would help both diaspora and Israeli Jewry better understand the ties that bind them together, ties that he explains are increasingly important in today's world. The author also…
Interrogating Jewish Peoplehood: Concepts, Challenges, and Policies
Final report on four-part series "Interrogating Jewish Peoplehood: Concepts, Challenges, and Policies," presented by the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner, with support from the Commission on the Jewish People, UJA-Federation of New York.
Building Jewish Peoplehood: Change and Challenge
At a time when Jewish communities have become increasingly anxious about weakening Jewish identity, one response strategy is to engage with the concept of Jewish peoplehood as a social phenomenon, in its varied contexts and processes. This volume offers an in-depth effort to address the concept of Jewish peoplehood since the initial attempts of early-20th-century…
A Post-Modern Jewish Peoplehood for Israel
The author compares different ways that scholars, writers and activists understand the concept of Jewish peoplehood and provides an analytic framing of the concept. Overall, he sees peoplehood as a concept invented by American Jewry and discusses what happens when it is imported into the Israeli context. He believes that peoplehood has the potential to…
Jewish Peoplehood: Why?
The author introduces the concept of peoplehood and Jewish peoplehood in Hebrew and English), both both in general and Jewish frames. He goes on to explain the resurgence of the use of the term and concept. He points to two notions, the first a harmless notion of a bond formed between Jews from different locales,…
Rethinking Global Jewish Collectivity in a Post-Statist World
The author frames Mordechai Kaplan's thinking on the Jewish State and Jewish nation (people), using it to argue that it is time to move from priveleging state over nation and political sovereignty over global collectivity. He suggests that we need to modify the current paradigm which puts the Jewish State at the center, and consider…
On the Relationship Between Peoplehood and Zionism
The author questions the relationship between peoplehood and Zionism, distinguishing between dimensions of meanings of the term peoplehood, and offering four propositions that civer the different schools of thought regarding the idea/ideology of Zionism. He concludes that the idea of peoplehood is fully congruent with the basic underlying proposition of the Zionist idea. He notes…