As head of an organization for religious freedom and equality in Israel, Regev focuses on the threat to a sense of Peoplehood brought on by the lack of religious pluralism in Israel. He points to the conflict between Israel’s unifying role for world Jewry and its current laws that discriminate against “the overwhelming majority of…
Kelman gives a short history of the struggle surrounding Israeli religious pluralism since the mid-1980s, when the Israel Religious Action Center was founded to promote liberal Judaism in Israel and create a more level playing field for non-Orthodox Judaism. She concludes that, "pluralism has the potential to strengthen peoplehood. That is the challenge facing us.…
Israel education is a persistent dilemma in Jewish education with practices that fail to inspire or make the case that Israel is integral to contemporary American Jewish life. This book offers a new strategy and an educational paradigm shift for the success of Israel education in the Diaspora.
This article offers guidelines for individuals, foundations, or organizations that aim, through their philanthropy, to either increase Israel's resilience or help Israel respond better to crisis. The context for this paper is that while philanthropists can and should play a significant role in enhancing the preparedness of Israel's civil society, during future crises it may…
This report offers a conceptual framework for understanding the place and potential role of the Israeli Diaspora within the changing paradigm between Israel and the Jewish world. While the 'old relationship' between Israel and world Jewry was based on an unwritten covenant grounded in classical Zionism, the emerging paradigm is shaped by partnership and mutuality,…
In this short pamphlet, published by Beit Hatfutsot, Shlomi Ravid offers a reinterpretation of the narrative of the State of Israel as “the vision and venture of the Jewish people”, in order to frame the conversation about the future of Israel from a Peoplehood perspective. The pamphlet addresses the questions of: • What is my relationship,…
For Israelis, the natural collective identity is Israeli, and being part of a national majority in the Jewish State is not conducive to a Jewish Peoplehood conversation. Jewish Peoplehood is not really part of their identity. They recognize the importance of the world Jewry in times of crisis, but they lack a general interest in…
From the Peoplehood Papers #8, this article discusses the perception of the diaspora from the perspective of Israelis. The authors argue that there are three factors that have shaped these views in Israel, including the classic Zionist narrative, politics and religion, and American philanthropy. Ezrachi and Rafaeli believe that meaningful educational initiatives will enhance their sense…
The author argues that strengthening the sense of Jewish Peoplehood can only take place around the connection between Israel and the Diaspora: By strengthening already existing short and long term Israel programs for Diaspora youth, but also the opposite: It is wrong that the only connection of Israeli youth to the diasporas will be through…
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…
On the occasion of Israel's 62nd Independence Day this (the 5th) issue of the Peoplehood Papers is dedicated to exploring the relationship between Zionism and JewishPeoplehood. For individual articles, click here
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,…
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…
Based on the position that intellectual activity around the expression of Jewish peoplehood is aligned with a sense that the bonds of Jewish peoplehood are declining, the authors focus on the implications for Jewish communal settings, especially surrounding tzedaka and community-building – raising money and the level of consciousness around collective Jewish values. Using research…
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…
Religion, nationalism and peoplehood are highlighted as the anchors of Jewish identity. Historically, first religion dominated the three, and then nationalism in the form of Zionism. Changes in classical Zionism in the 21st century have made room for religion and peoplehood to be complimentary rather than contradictory to Jewish nationalism, with a move from state…
The word “Israel” has multiple meanings and associations. The author discusses the intentional ambiguity of three terms associated with Israel – am (people), eretz (land), and le’om (nation) – signifying a rootedness in a particular geographic locale and the aspiration that all Jews are part of the Jewish collective regardless of where they live. She…
One of the underlying issues in today's conversations about the meaning of "peoplehood" is situating the term's relationship with historical expressions of Zionism. There is a lot at stake in establishing precisely where the concept falls on the spectrum between nationalism's inclination to place the state at the center of collective cohesion and a more…
The author argues that Mordecai Kaplan's notion of Jewish peoplehood is central to Judaism. However, she sees this notion as needing to be revisited and restructured; a reframing of the idea in order to give it more power and meaning in the 21st Century. For her, the term is not only about belonging or for…
