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…

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…

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…

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…