Can Jewish Peoplehood Have a Future?

In a recent talk Noam Pianko, a contemporary scholar of Jewish Peoplehood, and professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Washington, offers a stimulating and thoughtful challenge to those of us interested in the future of Jewish Peoplehood, both as a concept and as a way of building collective Jewish identity. See here for…

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,…

Peoplehood’s Overlooked Origins as a Critique of Zionism and Nationalism

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…