Mutual Responsibility – Video
The concept of mutual responsibility between Jews is explained in this short and engaging video clip from the CJPE.
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…
Our Untapped Potential: Nurturing and Leveraging “living bridges” – Wherever They Are
Flint points to an untapped resource of global Peoplehood change agents: individual Jews who relocated to other countries on the globe. Using the examples of Israelis who reside abroad and Olim who moved to Israel, she proposes that our goal should be to cultivate and nurture those individuals who can serve as “living bridges,” and…
A Less Spoken About Angle: The Threat Israel Presents to Jewish Peoplehood
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…
The Israeli Diaspora as a Catalyst for Jewish Peoplehood
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,…
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…
Jewish Peoplehood: The Israeli Challenge
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…
Klal Israel – Are we in it Together? Israelis and Jewish Peoplehood
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…
Jewish Peoplehood and Zionism – Towards a Historical Synthesis
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…
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…
Zionism and Peoplehood: Toward a Historical Synthesis
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…
Ahad Ha’Am At Last
The author argues that the new era of Israel-Diaspora relations isn’t a rejection of classical Zionism, but rather, it is the acceptance of the classical Zionist model propounded by the “cultural Zionist,” Ahad Ha’Am. He argues that Ha’Am’s notion is uniquely suited for the today’s generation of college-age Jews, the Millennials, who are the focus…
Educating about Israel and Jewish Peoplehood: Murmurings about a Field in Formation
The author argues that Zionist and Israel education are in tension with Jewish Peoplehood education. The former stresses the significance of place, the latter, the virtues of space. One narrows yet focuses options for identification; the other broadens yet dilutes options for belonging. In making sense of the the complexity of Israel and peoplehood education,…
Reflections on Israel, Peoplehood, and a New Jewish World
At the ninth annual Herzliya Conference in February 2009, the concept of “Jewish peoplehood” emerged as an important concept, and the author discusses some of the proposed definitions of the concept and arguments raised by Jewish scholars and thinkers in previous volumes of the Peoplehood Papers. While many questions about the concept still remain, the…
Institutionalizing Peoplehood?
The author argues that the Jewish community is facing an evident paradigm shift that stems from a need voiced by younger people through the Jewish world to create a different and more appropriate paradigm that meets the external challenges facing our global society, the existing trends within North American Jewry, and the desire among Israeli…
The State, the People and the Promise
Just as Jewish prayers ask that that the Jewish community be mindful of the people in the State of Israel, the author argues that the Jewish community must continue to be mindful of the challenges and opportunities it faces in trying to strengthen and bind the relationship between the People of Israel and the State…
Capitalizing on Jewish Vision and Venture: The Role of Israel in an Age of Individualism
Despite frequent dismal reports that young people today identify less and less with Israel, the author explains that those who do come and spend time in the country are affected by their stay. Based on this information, the author argues that the State of Israel can continue to play a powerful role because it is…
Israel and the Jewish Nation
The author examines Israel’s essential position as the center for the Jewish people but argues that there needs to be a joint, ongoing and institutionalized forum for North American Diaspora and Israeli Jews that addresses the issues important to both communities. He also discusses the primary issues for leaders of the Jewish people as well…
Jerusalem as a Metaphor for Jewish Peoplehood
The author argues that as the Jewish people work towards conceptualizing the term “Jewish peoplehood,” they will need to determine the role of Jerusalem as a metaphor for Jewish unity and diversity. Just like Izhak Ben-Zvi gathers Jews from all corners of the world to solidify the message of Israeli Jewish unity, Ezrachi argues that…
Peoplehood Papers 3: Is Israel Still the Vision and Venture of the Jewish People?
In this (the 3rd) edition of the Peoplehood Papers we asked our contributors to examine Israel through the lens of Jewish Peoplehood by addressing some difficult questions: • What does it mean to be the State of the Jewish People in 2008? • Is a new paradigm required to frame the relationship between the People…