CONTACT SPRING 2008/IYAR 5768 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 3 THE JOURNAL OF THE STEINHARDT FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH LIFE

JEWISH PEOPLEHOOD: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? contact FROM THE EDITOR

SPRING 2008/IYAR 5768 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 3 Eli Valley JEWISH PEOPLEHOOD: Editor WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Erica Coleman Copy Editor s the most recent buzzword occupying the minds of Janet Mann Administration Jewish professionals — replacing “continuity,” Yakov Wisniewski “renaissance” and “Matisyahu” — the term Design Director A “Peoplehood” has been given much attention lately as THE STEINHARDT FOUNDATION the newfound rhetorical panacea in Jewish life. FOR JEWISH LIFE

Michael H. Steinhardt But what exactly is “Peoplehood”? Is it just another empty phrase Chairman carted out by Jewish communal professionals determined to keep Robert P. Aronson procreating with other Jews? Or does it have intrinsic meaning beyond President catch-phrase pabulum? Where does Peoplehood end and tribalism David Gedzelman Executive Vice President begin? Is it possible to articulate Peoplehood in a manner that is inspiring yet not exclusionary? Rabbi Irving Greenberg Founding President The hazards of “Peoplehood” were on full display in a recent Op-Ed in Jonathan J. Greenberg z”l Founding Director the Forward by the Founding President of the Jewish People Policy CONTACT is produced and Planning Institute. The author claimed that the needs of Peoplehood — distributed by The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, 6 East 39th Street, specifically, the survival of the Jewish People — demanded an abrogation 10th floor, New York, NY 10016. of morality in every issue (Turkey, China) that might have even a tertiary All issues of Contact are available for download at www.jewishlife.org/journal.html effect on Israel or on Jews. Leaving aside questions of ethics and Individual subscriptions are free of charge and morality, the fact that such viewpoints might actually reduce the number are provided as a service to the community. To subscribe, please send your name and of Jews who want to belong to such a People did not seem to concern mailing address to [email protected]. the author. It would appear that for some, Jewish Peoplehood is a cause Phone: (212) 279-2288 Fax: (212) 279-1155 to rally around even if its constituents number in the tens. Email: [email protected] Website: www.jewishlife.org This issue of CONTACT explores the idea of Jewish Peoplehood from a For media inquiries about The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, please contact wide variety of perspectives. Included are contemplations on the Richard Dukas at [email protected]. meaning and purpose of Peoplehood, on language as unifier of the Copyright © 2008 by The Steinhardt Foundation Jewish People, and even on the possibility that Peoplehood is a for Jewish Life. destructive concept in . In the end, the many voices presented The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life is here offer evidence that if there is indeed such a thing as Peoplehood, dedicated to strengthening and transforming American Jewish Life to ensure a flourishing, it is defined by a multiplicity of viewpoints — a reflection of the sustainable community in a fully integrated free society. We seek to revitalize Jewish compelling diversity of contemporary Jewish life. identity through educational and cultural initiatives that are designed to reach out to all Jews, with an emphasis on those who are on the margins of Jewish life.

Eli Valley

2 CONTACT THE PRIMACY OF PEOPLEHOOD ’S CONCEPT REMAINS AS RADICAL,AND AS POWERFUL,AS EVER

by RABBI DAN EHRENKRANTZ

eoplehood is a concept so deeply ology of the time called for the submer- cultivate this sense of shared purpose, and ingrained in those closely involved gence, rather than the promotion, of ethnic chief among them is the . By cre- P with Jewish life that we forget it’s a differences. Comfort with hyphenated iden- ating a culture of interdependence and com- relatively new construct. Credit for introduc- tities (e.g., Irish-American, Italian-Ameri- munal responsibility, are ing the idea belongs to Mordecai M. Kaplan, can) came much later. In effect, Kaplan’s particularly effective at combating our cul- the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. Peoplehood concept was a challenge not ture’s celebration of the purely individual In his 1934 book, Judaism As a Civiliza- only to the status quo within the Jewish and transitory. tion, Kaplan talked a lot about Jewish world, but within the larger culture as well. Israel also plays an important and spe- “nationhood.” Yet just a few years later, he Kaplan’s immediate hope was that a cial role in bolstering Peoplehood. The vis- had become uncomfortable with the term. strong sense of communal identity would ceral sense of being part of the Jewish He even turned down a reprinting request strengthen Jews’ connection to Jewish life people that comes from spending time there because, among other things, he felt that and to each other — something he felt was lies behind the power of programs like “nationhood,” as applied to the Jewish peo- in danger of being weakened by the restric- Taglit-Birthright Israel. Engaging in day-to- ple, had come to be closely identified with tive visions of the Orthodox and Reform day life in Israel can be both inspiring and statehood, and was, therefore, in need of movements. But his ultimate goal was noth- dispiriting. But whatever our individual being replaced by “Peoplehood.” ing less than universal salvation, a healing experiences, being in Israel means coming The first time I know of that Kaplan of the world brought about by people’s face-to-face with the living reality of Jewish used the term Peoplehood was in the commitment to one another. nationhood, both in the modern sense of November 27, 1942, issue of The Recon- Kaplan was radical in proposing an the word and in the sense of Peoplehood structionist, the movement’s journal. By organizing principle, Peoplehood, that ran which Kaplan wrote about. 1948, he had fully developed the concept, counter to the American ethos of the day, Making Peoplehood primary implies that laying it out in The Future of the American transcended Jews’ understanding of what Judaism is, at its core, a family of families, . Although Steven Cohen and Jack lay at the root of their identity, and insisted which is Kaplan’s definition of a civilization. Wertheimer have lamented that “[t]he that the Jewish enterprise was not an end in It means that while Judaism contains beliefs, once-forceful claims of Jewish ‘peoplehood’ itself. While the ethical culturists and the creed is not primary; while it contains time- have lost their power to compel” (Whatever Reform were also engaged with universal tested patterns of behavior, is not Happened to the Jewish People, Commentary, rather than merely parochial concerns, the primary. Embracing Judaism as a civilization, June 2006), we need to remember that this idea that there was value in a multi-faith, as an ever-changing, evolving family of fami- concept, which we take for granted, was multicultural world was revolutionary. lies rather than as a divinely-ordained belief considered radical not too long ago. To Kaplan understood that people are shaped or behavioral system means embracing a reinvigorate the idea of Peoplehood, we by their cultures and civilizations, and that people-centered Jewish life. must recapture its radical nature. groups have greater power than individuals What makes this concept radical is its Kaplan’s purpose in developing the idea to help bring about a world of peace and outward focus. Peoplehood demands that of Peoplehood was to create an understand- wholeness. He also fervently believed that a our attachments to each other serve a ing of Judaism broad enough to include revitalized Jewish people could use its wis- greater purpose than our own, our family’s, everyone who identified as a Jew regardless dom and energy to serve all of humanity or even our immediate community’s well- of one’s individual understanding of or and, in the process, strengthen itself. being; and that those attachments be part of approach to that identity. In the first half of The concept of Peoplehood continues to a multi-faith, multicultural effort to make the Twentieth Century, Judaism was gener- be radical today. It is a formidable counter- the world a better place for all its inhabi- ally seen as either a system of behaviors point to the glib universalism that ignores tants. By harnessing the power of culture (the Orthodox position) or one of beliefs the power of religions and cultures to attract and religion, Peoplehood has the potential (the Reform stance). Kaplan found both and shape adherents, and it flies in the face to be a powerful force for change. Using approaches lacking. He saw in the idea of of our society’s consumer-inspired individu- that force to confront the major challenges Peoplehood a way to transcend these alism. Kaplan’s vision makes clear that if we of our time is perhaps our chief obligation approaches by suggesting a sense of belong- are to act on our connections to others, we as 21st-Century Jews. ing as primary to the Jewish experience. have to align ourselves with groups to It’s easy to pay lip service to the idea of Kaplan arrived at this approach well which we feel naturally obligated. Most of Peoplehood without accepting its radical before the ethnic pride movement of later us recognize the sense of obligation that nature. Making Peoplehood primary means decades. In fact, America’s melting-pot ide- comes from being part of a family; People- nothing less than fully embracing that radi- hood insists that our obligations go beyond calism and using it to change the way we Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz is President of Reconstruc- our families to our people. define Jewish life and order our individual tionist Rabbinical College. There are many Jewish institutions that and communal priorities. ■

SPRING 2008 3 Jewish Peoplehood Young& Adults by LEONARD SAXE

s Jewish Peoplehood, a sense that all Jews are connected and responsible for one another, an I archaic notion irrelevant to modern Jews? Are young Jewish adults in the vanguard of a shift away from Jewish values of communal connection and concern? Although secular research under- scores this concern, in the Jewish community, recent developments suggest a different scenario. General survey data of American young adults indicates that they view fellow members of Gener- ation Y as more concerned with becoming rich and famous than with being communal or spiritual. They are, these surveys suggest, a group of indi- vidualists who worry about money and posses- sions and are, seemingly, blasé about their relationships and about the needs of others. To the extent that young Jewish adult share the outlook of this generation, the prospects for foster- ing Jewish Peoplehood seem bleak. But how, then, do we explain the success of the American Jewish community’s largest-ever social experiment, Taglit- Birthright Israel, a collective experience whose key reward is in the currency of Jewish Peoplehood? Since its inception in late 1999, Birthright has provided educational trips for more than 125,000 North American young adults. Almost universally, participants report that their trips are extraordi- nary experiences. When they return, they talk about what they have learned about the , but mostly they reflect on how it feels to share a connection with other Jews. The program provides young adults, whose backgrounds vary dramatically in terms of prior contact with Jewish life, with an opportunity to feel that they are a part of the Jewish People. Unlike the ritualized Passover seder, where Jews

Leonard Saxe is Professor of Social Policy and Jewish Community Research at Brandeis University and Director of the Steinhardt Social Research Institute. He is co-author of a new book, Ten Days of Birthright Israel: A Journey in Young Adult Identity.

4 CONTACT reenact their people’s historic journey to expands these networks by leveraging The level of interest in the program the promised land, Birthright Israel is an them to engage new participants. The is both a proximal and a distal indicator actual experience. Even among young more who go on the ten-day trips, the of its success. In the immediate sense, it adults immersed in the 24/7 world of more applicants seek subsequent trips. indicates the success of program educa- text messaging and computer-mediated As one indicator of interest in the pro- tors to engage participants. In the long social networking, it seems that there is gram, summer registration for Birthright term, if the program continues to attract a thirst for genuine interaction and Israel opened in North America in mid- a large stream of new recruits, it experience. Birthright allows partici- February of this year. Within 24 hours, increases the likelihood that participants pants to connect the dots of their nas- nearly 15,000 applicants registered to will have peer communities to join once cent Jewish identities. participate. An additional 25,000 com- they return. If the program can send Evidence that the active ingredient pleted applications over the next two close to 50,000 young adults from North underlying Birthright Israel is a sense of weeks for one of the 20,000 coveted America each year, it will enable more connection (a key element of Jewish slots expected to be available. than 50 percent of that cohort of Jews to Peoplehood) comes from systematic The as-yet unresolved question travel to Israel by their mid-twenties. It evaluation data about the program. On about Birthright Israel is whether alumni will have made an educational experi- multiple surveys, the dominant response will maintain their newly-stimulated ence in Israel normative for American from participants is that the experience identification with the Jewish People. Jews and, perhaps, a tipping point will felt like a “journey to their Jewish roots” It’s possible that feeling a sense of have been reached where being part of and “a group Jewish experience.” The Peoplehood is a transitory phenomenon the Jewish People becomes fully opportunity to live for ten days with a — a fond memory but not a lasting expressed. group of fellow Jews, and to do so in the element of their identities. When partici- Long ago, the schools of Hillel land of Israel, alters their social identi- pants return home, almost universally, and Shammai debated whether study ties. It makes being part of a Jewish they report being attitudinally changed or action should have primacy. Clearly, group not simply a religious statement, and, particularly but also an affirmative statement of Jew- when compared to ish identity. others who have not Birthright Israel provides Central to producing this transfor- been on a trip, mative effect is the mifgash (encounter) it is clear that they a taste of the honey of Jewish that is part of each Birthright experi- are fundamentally Peoplehood. For ten days, it ence. The mifgash involves a group of changed as well. But Israeli peers joining the Diaspora youth these same, highly creates a cultural island that allows for all or part of each trip. Given the motivated partici- program’s exclusive focus on 18 to 26 pants find it difficult participants to see themselves as year olds, the Israeli peers are typically to enact their identi- soldiers. The power of the mifgash is ties by becoming part of something larger than reflected in the fact that it alters the active in Jewish com- themselves. identities of Israeli participants as munities where they well those of Diaspora Jews; they, too, live or go to school. come away feeling not just that they There are exceptions, and those who the two are intertwined. In the Dias- are Israelis doing service for the State have gone on trips with members of pora, Jewish education has floundered, of Israel, but that they are also linked their own communities (campus and perhaps because the study of Jewish by history and culture to a larger group otherwise) are more likely to find and tradition is meaningless without enact- of Jews. join a Jewish community when they ment and interaction. The success Those who study social identity for- return. But most are unable to find a of Birthright Israel derives from incorpo- mation recognize that it does not take community that is as compelling as what rating multiple forms of learning, and much for individuals to identify with a they experienced as part of a group trav- from its central message of group identi- group. What social psychologists call eling in Israel. Herein lies the real fication. “minimal group identification” can, opportunity. Furthermore, Birthright Israel is suc- however, have powerful effects. Birthright Israel provides a taste of cessful because it allows young adult Although ten days is not, by the stan- the honey of Jewish Peoplehood. For ten Jews to experience life as a part of a Jew- dards of most educational initiatives, a days, it creates a cultural island that ish community. In an era in which indi- lengthy period, by the criteria of what it allows participants to see themselves as vidualism is privileged over the takes to form a sense of groupness, it is part of something larger than themselves. communal, the behavioral lesson of Jew- a very long time. It provides educational experiences that ish Peoplehood taught by Birthright One outcome of Birthright Israel par- are cognitively rich, emotionally stimu- Israel is, perhaps, revolutionary. It is, ticipants’ enhanced sense of being part lating and behaviorally engaging. The however, the essence of what Jewish tra- of the Jewish People is that they return program provides a framework for iden- dition is about, and it provides a path from Israel highly motivated to recruit tification with the Jewish People and, at for a new generation of adults to find others to participate. The program both least on a small scale, opportunities to meaningful connection in a confusing fosters Jewish social networks and engage in this identity. world. ■

SPRING 2008 5 different times in his- as not as an afterthought in THE tory have had different the but at the foundational notions of what the moment of Jewish Peoplehood, the Jewish people is or Exodus from Egypt. This passage might be. I will attempt even begins with mention that a to present a number of “great mixing” of people not born highlights that point in Israelites left Egypt together with IdeaOF THE an abbreviated way to those genealogically descended from one possible articula- the Twelve Tribes of Israel. tion of the idea of the The goes out of its Jewish Jewish People. way continuously to prescribe the In the Hebrew Bible, just treatment and love of strangers there is a continuous whether or not they choose to join People strand of outlook that their blood to the People of Israel. posits the Jewish Peo- We are told to do that because “You by RABBI DAVID GEDZELMAN ple, or Israel, as a were strangers in the land of Egypt.” dialectical hybrid of In fact, in a very telling passage in birth and choice, blood the Book of Exodus (22:20 – 23:9), s of late, “Jewish Peoplehood” and faith. In the Biblical narrative, the enterprise of creating a just soci- has become a new rallying cry Israel, from its beginning, is not a ety is framed, at the passage’s begin- A in the Jewish communal single tribe but a cluster of tribes. ning and end, by the prescription to world similar to the way “Jewish Birth is important, but it is not every- not mistreat the stranger because we Continuity” was the preferred slogan thing. A constant thematic refrain were strangers in Egypt. The just in the wake of the findings of the challenges the privileges of the first society that Israel is meant to create 1990 Jewish Population Survey. As a born: Isaac replaces the older Ish- is the “Anti-Egypt.” A central char- student of the teachings of Mordecai mael, Jacob usurps the firstborn acteristic of that society is openness Kaplan, I am wary of the swallowing Esau, Judah takes prominence over to the other. up of Kaplan’s original and nuanced the older Reuben, Menasheh takes Egypt, it should be remembered, term into the machine of empty rhet- second place when Jacob extends his was not only a brutal society in oric that is used simplemindedly as a right hand of blessing to the younger which Israel suffered, but the most call for Jewish unity without defining Ephraim. This value of the usurpa- powerful empire of its day. Its sover- who the Jews are and what is their tion of primogeniture highlights the eignty was not limited to the straits reason for being. When Peoplehood is notion that while birth is central to of the Nile. Indeed, Egypt ruled over not defined substantively, its meaning the Covenant of Israel, it is not what would be known as the land of is left to speculation that can justifi- exclusively determinative. Israel well past what we assume to ably assume a narrow xenophobia, Likewise, at the moment of the have been the conquest of the land. tribalism, even racism on the part of Exodus from Egypt, the text exhorts In other words, the formulation of those who champion the idea of the us to remember the Exodus experi- the just society of Israel in its land is Jewish People. ence in the future by re-enacting set not only in contradistinction to a Contrary to such speculation, every year the memory of having memory called Egypt but in conflict however, the Peoplehood of Israel, tasted the Paschal Offering, whose with the Empire against which Israel from its earliest articulations in the blood secured the redemption of the revolts (see Norman Gottwald, The Hebrew Bible to the Universalist children of Israel (Exodus 12:37-50). Politics of Ancient Israel, 2001). Zionist thought of Kaplan, Martin That same passage then makes it Whether it was Egypt, Assyria, Baby- Buber and A. D. Gordon, has been clear that if there are “strangers” liv- lonia, Persia, Greece or Rome, our informed by a tradition of openness, ing with us, not born of the stories, holidays and commemora- universal mission and an affirmation Covenant, who also want to taste of tions are full of the memory of an of the value of all human beings that the Paschal Offering and remember ongoing conflict with Empire. When stands in tension with competing the Exodus with us, they should be the Book of Deuteronomy teaches us traditions of who the Jewish people encouraged to do so as long as the how to go about selecting a king, we should be. That is, different Jews at males among them are willing to are warned to make sure that such a show profound commitment by king cannot aggrandize wealth, Rabbi David Gedzelman is the Executive Vice undergoing the blood of circumci- women and horses to himself President of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jew- sion. That is, joining the Covenant of (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). He cannot ish Life and is writing a book about the Idea of the Jewish People. Israel is extended to those not born return the people to Egypt. In other

6 CONTACT words, he cannot make of himself an obligation to welcome the stranger extended family, and it is one which emperor; Israel is not meant to be an and to accept the sojourner into the is meant to have an open adoption Empire. Rather, as the Book of Isaiah Covenant. Obviously, the Biblical tra- policy. In our foundational texts, articulates, Israel is meant to be a dition is not univocal; it offers contra- being born into this extended family “Covenantal People; A light of dictory answers to the question of is of co-equal value with choosing to nations” (Isaiah 42:6). The Jewish who the Jewish People is meant to be be a member of this family. Yes, it stand against empire is made in in relation to others. Again, there are would be easier to define being Jew- many ways, from the revolts against competing visions throughout Jewish ish either as a closed line of familial both Pharaoh and Rome to the spiri- history from which we have the free- descent or as a system of values and tual discipline of the Sabbath, which dom to choose. wisdom divorced completely from teaches us to recognize both the This is highlighted by the famous the notion of birth and family. That wholeness of creation and our limi- Talmudic story in Tractate being Jewish is both of birth and of tations in the universe. concerning a series of non-Jews who choice, of belonging to an extended Biblical Covenantal Openness is approach both Hillel and Shammai family and subscribing to a wisdom demonstrated in a pointed way in the to be converted to Judaism (TB and spiritual tradition, makes the Book of Ruth. Ruth is born of a sup- Shabbat 31a). In each case, the non- definition of Jewish Peoplehood posedly hated people, the Moabites, Jew offers impossible conditions for complex and essentially of a dialecti- but she is the great-grandmother of his conversion. Shammai harshly cal nature. The idea of the Jewish People cannot be neatly fit into Joining the Covenant of Israel is either/or categories of nation, reli- gion, biology or culture. Because the extended to those not born as Israelites not as Covenantal Family of the Jewish an afterthought in the Torah but at the People combines birth and choice, foundational moment of Jewish Peoplehood, its very existence teaches the values of both openness and belonging as the Exodus from Egypt. well as the value that affirms both the particular and the universal at King David, who represents the rejects each applicant. Hillel gently once. is told that he will future wholeness of the People of takes each of them in and subse- become a great nation for the pur- Israel. His genealogical line is at once quently shows them, pedagogically, pose that all the families of the earth established and clear, leading back to why their conditions do not make will be blessed. Jewish particularism Judah, at the same time that it sense. Over the generations, we have is meant to realize a universal goal. includes a progenitor who has cho- been able to choose whether to fol- The universalism of our tradition sen to make the fate of Israel her low the model of Hillel or that of does not negate the particular. own. There is birth and there is Shammai. Three hundred years after The idea of the Jewish People is choice. The choice that Ruth makes the time of Hillel and Shammai, it indispensable to Judaism. That is, the is one of joining a family and a peo- had become virtually illegal in the values that Judaism teaches are best ple. It is clear that the Book of Ruth Roman Empire for Jews to convert realized and learned through the belongs to a Biblical tradition of others to Judaism. It is not surpris- medium of living together in the Covenantal Openness in tension with ing that that edict became internal- human community of Peoplehood that Biblical tradition that casts the ized in Jewish understandings of rather than through the abstract intel- Moabites as not only hated but as conversion, and led to later Talmu- lection of an isolated individual’s per- forbidden to Israelites for marriage. dic statements comparing converts sonal process. The Covenantal Family The Covenantal Openness of the to a boil on the body of Israel. The that is the Jewish people does not Hebrew Bible also stands in stark question for our day is whether to exist for the sake of its own survival contrast to an alternative Biblical tra- recognize that we no longer live but in order to demonstrate the values dition that exhorts the Israelites to under the province of an Empire of Judaism in its example to others exterminate non-Israelites whom they hostile to the Jewish people and and to the world. This is an open fam- encounter upon the conquest of the whether we are ready to return to ily, not a closed one. This is a family land. Given archeological evidence, the open spirit of both Hillel and the with a mission greater than its own we can surmise that this wiping out Book of Exodus. existence. Perhaps such an articula- of Canaanite peoples not only never It is no accident that the narrative tion of the idea of the Jewish People happened but represents an anachro- of the People of Israel begins in the can be helpful to those looking for nistic wish from the Deuteronomic with the story of a reasons to be excited about the new- period contradicted by the Biblical family. The Jewish People is an found call of Jewish Peoplehood. ■

SPRING 2008 7 travels through- sion in person and on-line to share best prac- out the world, I tices around how we identify, attract and retain PEOPLEHOOD noticed several top talent in a competitive marketplace. We characteristics had a long-term view. We had a lot of patience. IN of what we We did a lot of research to understand local know as Jewish cultural norms and motivations. We explained ACTION: Peoplehood: a to each of our satellites that in the past, we had A VIEW FROM A CORPORATE EXECUTIVE responsibility to allowed each country to operate as an island as a historic com- long as they provided best-in-class work and n my work at a multinational corpora- mitment; a pride in that commitment and a were profitable. Now we would transform our- tion, I never thought I’d find sustenance desire to sustain it; rituals that transcend selves into a company that would require par- I in the concept of Jewish Peoplehood. continental divide; a wish to be part of a ticipation in certain global processes around And yet, I recently found myself drawing community; communications channels to effective talent scouting, employee develop- inspiration and creativity from the idea of share best practices and information between ment and identification and retention of future clal Yisrael in a global assignment that had communities and potentially with a center; a leaders. These traits will keep us ahead of our nothing to do with Judaism. need for leadership development to ensure a competitors in the global economy. Our company is headquartered in New successful future; and an inclination to par- We then started to require participation in York City, but we have offices in dozens of cities ticipate in tzedakkah and tikkun olam. the programming though an annual process in throughout the world. As part of a restructuring These shared values and goals create the which local office management would report to assignment, I was asked to corral these commu- possibility of a global people that is open to central global management on their achieve- nities under a shared vision and culture. My connecting and sharing, regardless of ments against specific criteria that they had cre- team was to create bonds and locate commonal- whether its constituents come from different ated together. The key to success in this realm ities between employees in Brazil, the United local cultures or whether their lives interact is ongoing conversation, recognition of top States, Greece, China and everywhere else in on a day-to-day basis. offices that embraced the processes and pro- between. As each local community had its own It occurred to me that the very basis of grams with great success, and mutual respect distinct culture and practices, the challenge was Jewish Peoplehood was a perfect model for for cultural differences. obvious: to unify business satellites in far-flung our work. My team began to consider how to Our company has become more competi- and often disparate locales under a single rubric create an infrastructure that would foster a tive and a more compelling place to work. that would attract top-notch employees and similarly compelling reason for people in dif- Now that we have consistent global processes, clients. Not a small task. ferent cities and countries to participate in our employees participate more successfully As a Jew — and, therefore, as a member shared practices. Key to our strategy was the in international opportunities. Local manage- of the global Jewish people — I soon realized concept of independence with accountability. ment can depend on peers in different coun- that my own tradition and heritage offered We redefined our vision to make it generic tries to share best practices and even clients. an interesting parallel. As we look at the Jew- enough to work across borders, but inspiring Naturally, it is difficult to compare a multi- ish people, whether in Argentina, Hungary, enough to promote local relevancy. People national corporation with a religion and cul- Australia or Tel Aviv, what compelling basis began to feel satisfaction belonging to a com- ture. And yet, in some respects, our business do we have for connection? From my own pany that valued concepts in which they could has thrived off a uniquely Jewish concept. Like take pride locally. We created programs that the global Jewish people, our corporation now The author is a corporate executive who wishes to were based on proven sound business practices celebrates individualism while helping our remain anonymous. To contact her, please send an but that also could be customized for local employees achieve that core human need of email to [email protected]. understanding. We created forums for discus- belonging to a larger community. ■

primary on the third “b” — belonging. The JCC in experience Shabbat as a gift to the community. Manhattan embodies this idea of the centrality of By embracing all aspects of life, we broaden the KAPLANAND Jewish Peoplehood. definition of Jewishness beyond the scope of reli- We know that people bring a variety of beliefs gion as traditionally understood. We teach swim- (or perhaps none at all) and behaviors when they ming at the JCC not only because it’s fun and COMMUNITY walk through our doors. We embrace pluralism in because parents want their children to learn how to by RABBI JOY LEVITT the belief that diversity strengthens Jewish life. swim. We teach swimming because our tradition When you walk into the JCC on Shabbat afternoon, understands the supreme importance of being able or Mordecai Kaplan, one of the most important for example, you have multiple options. You can join to save a life — one’s own or someone else’s — Jewish thinkers of the Twentieth Century, more than 500 people working out, take a yoga and being able to swim means someday perhaps F belonging to the Jewish people was central to class, listen to chamber music or study Jewish texts. being able to do just that. And when we’re doing our the Jewish experience. A person might or might not You can see a film that relates to the theme of the job right, parents and children know that learning to believe in God or Jewish rituals (though incidentally, morning’s Torah portion, or do origami with your swim is a deeply Jewish thing to do. he both believed and practiced), but as Jews we child. All of it is free and open to everyone. We Jews enter Jewish life through various doorways. share a civilization that has spanned thousands of make it comfortable for observant Jews to partici- Our job is to make sure we keep the doors open, and, years with a common history, language, literature, pate (there is a Shabbat elevator and public spaces more importantly, that when Jews look inside they will music and tradition. While other denominations of are free from amplified music), and we make no see a place where they can belong. And when they Jewish life emphasize behavior and/or belief as the judgments about individual practice. We take the cross the threshold and find themselves sharing things primary aspect of , Kaplan focused central notion articulated by Ahad Ha-am — “More in common with Jews who came through a different than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept door, then we know we have begun to turn “belong- Rabbi Joy Levitt is Executive Director of the Jewish the Jews” — and we breathe life into it by provid- ing” into “connecting.” At that point, we are on the Community Center in Manhattan. ing opportunities for individuals and families to path to a renewed Jewish community. ■

8 CONTACT SEVEN THESES ON HEBREW AND JEWISH PEOPLEHOOD by ALAN MINTZ

Hebrew is the deep structure of prise. Even if one knows some aspects of Hebrew remains — and is gaining 1. Jewish civilization. Hebrew accu- the language, there are great gains to be ground, especially as manifest in textual mulates meanings in an alluvial sense, derived in access to the treasury of Jew- proficiency — as a key marker of profes- never becoming depleted. The disused ish texts and cultural referents. So, for sional achievement in Jewish education, meanings of terms are retained and held example, if one has not mastered the the rabbinate, the cantorate, and aca- in potential simultaneity with the mean- Hebrew verb system but has learned to demic Jewish Studies across all denomi- ings that have usurped them. When recognize the permutations of some of national lines. Lay leaders increasingly Zionist farmers needed terms for their the key three-letter verb stems — say, recognize that knowing Hebrew is an agricultural work, the realia of ts.d.k, z.kh.r. or y.ts.r., one is in the excit- essential goal, even if they often regard it were there to be mobilized. Ve’ahavta ing position of suddenly seeing how the as one beyond their attainment. contains the arc of divine love as man- permutations of these roots interlace to dated in the Sh’ma as well as the psycho- create the fabric of Jewish thought. Hebrew is a potential bridge logical reticulations of the modern 6. between Israel and the Diaspora. experience of love. The fact that bitahon The enormous outpouring of trans- The asymmetry is stark: Almost all liter- can turn in the direction of either trust 4. lations from classical Hebrew ate Israelis know English; very few liter- in God or military security tells us sources is cause for both celebration and ate can manage a something about the protean potential of consternation. On the one hand, this sentence in the Jewish national lan- Hebrew. In short, Hebrew provides a phenomenon represents an admirable guage. Yet anyone who has learned even plastic medium in which the contradic- democratization of Jewish learning; on some Israeli Hebrew knows that it goes a tions and subversions of the other, it conduces to a belief that the long way toward granting access to the can be negotiated. Hebrew original is simply an obstacle to inner struggles of Israeli society beyond be overcome as well as a medium for the media — and fundraising — images. Hebrew, in far more than a figura- messages that can be better, or at least There are possibilities of reciprocity, as 2. tive sense, is the unitary key to more rapidly, understood in English. well. The Hebrew of American Jews Jewish culture. It is the incredible — There is virtually no sense of the sacri- tends to be a mixture of the Hebrew of one might say miraculous — fortune of fice and renunciation — however neces- the prayerbook and and the Jewish People that its ancient lan- sary they may be — inherent in the Israeli conversational practices — so guage and its modern language lie within reliance on translation. Translation that that when we speak our Hebrew, how- close conversational distance from one acts as an adjutant to understanding the ever haltingly, we enact the richness of another. A Jew who can read a poem by original is a far cry from translation that our Jewish identities in conversation Yehuda Amichai can understand large effaces the original. with our Israeli brethren. sections of Genesis, and vice versa. It is the “vice versa” of Hebrew that makes it Hebrew is a potential bridge Hebrew, finally, is a point of consen- such a powerful tool. The fact that one 5. between the observant and non- 7. sus among the contentious and key can open so many doors is a strong observant communities. This proposi- divergent parties in Jewish life. It is pro- argument for concentrating our resources tion is self-evident in Israel, where tean in its prestige, being not necessarily on finding ways to make the acquisition Hebrew is the shared linguistic medium; religious and not necessarily secular and of this key more widely attainable. even in the Haredi world, Hebrew has definitively fused with Israel. Even if increasingly become the standard for this prestige is often only lip service, the “Knowing Hebrew” is a modular, daily life. To be sure, this commonality unexploited potential of this moral capi- 3. rather than an all-or-nothing, enter- often serves only to underscore the radi- tal is enormous. For there are so very cally divergent experiences of the two precious few sancta of Jewish life that Alan Mintz, Ph.D., is the Chana Kekst Professor of communities. At the same time, how- cut across so many boundaries and Hebrew Literature and chair of the Department of Jew- ever, as a portal of return and reconnec- maintain such a high level of acceptabil- ish Literature at The Jewish Theological Seminary. tion for Israelis who wish to explore ity. The protean nature of Hebrew is no Among several other works, he is the author of Trans- their Judaism, Hebrew provides the kind conceit. Hebrew is the joystick of Jewish lating Israel: The Reception of Hebrew Literature in of automatic access that is largely absent life, and it can be pushed in a number of America (Syracuse University Press, 2001), and edi- tor of Reading Hebrew Literature (Brandeis Univer- in Diaspora Jewish life. Yet even within directions to enrich and accelerate sub- sity Press/University Press of New England, 2002). the parameters of American Jewry, stantive Jewish identity. ■

SPRING 2008 9 Beyond the

AmA Different Perspective on Peoplehood by DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF

erhaps the most compelling and as their own. We have internalized the dangerous misconception held by faulty, racist arguments of the peoples P Jews today is that the longevity of whose provincial gods and beliefs we Judaism is dependent on our ability to refused to accept — and, in the process, We have cling to a rather specious claim of Peo- accepted a similarly provincial, race-based plehood. For while there is great com- and limited view of the Jewish project. As a internalized the fort to be found in the mythological result, we forget that we are an intentional faulty, racist origins of a Jewish People chronicled in amalgam of peoples, or even that a “Peo- the Torah, when they become the foun- ple” might possibly be united by choice arguments of the dation for a sense of racial or historical instead of by a supreme creator. entitlement, they undermine the very Even a cursory understanding of peoples whose premise of Judaism. Torah reveals that the shared heritage To be sure, Jewish myth and history described in Genesis was a story bor- provincial gods are both rife with proclamations of our rowed from other faith systems and Peoplehood. It’s just that these asser- repurposed to serve as a reunion myth and beliefs we tions are usually made by our worst ene- for the disparate nomadic tribes rebelling mies, looking for a justification to wipe against Egyptian rule. The first hearers of refused to accept us out. It was Pharaoh who first used Torah surely understood the inside jokes, — and, in the the term “am,” or a people, in the Torah, as the sons of Jacob were used as carica- as a way of identifying the Israelites who tured stand-ins for traits that had become process, accepted threatened to outbreed his loyal soldiers. associated with each of the tribes. The first references to a Jewish race, or Judaism — if we can even call it that a similarly blood, came during the Inquisition. — was as much a set of principles Many Jews had converted to Catholi- through which a people could behave provincial, race- cism, yet still maintained their foothold ethically as it was a religion in any mod- in the rising middle class of merchants. ern sense of the word. What distin- based and limited So the Inquisitors decreed that the prac- guished this new way of life — what tice of Judaism was no longer the crime; made it an exodus from the death cults of view of the Jewish now it was simply having Jewish Egypt — was that it was not considered a project. “blood.” Finally, it was Carl Jung who, pre-existing condition of the universe. interpreted through a Nazi lens, held Whereas the laws other people fol- that Jews carried a “genetic memory” for lowed had always been tied to place and the sort of abstract thought that under- local gods, the Israelite system was to be mined any fascistic enterprise. universal. More than anything, it was The irony, of course, is that over cen- the invention of text which made this turies of illegitimate persecution, Jews have possible. With the power of the alpha- come to accept the logic of their detractors bet, it would be people and not only priests who could read the law. More Douglas Rushkoff, Professor of Communications at importantly, it would be people who NYU, was chosen as one of the Forward Fifty Most could write the law. Influential Jews in 2002. He was the founder of This is the revolution described in Reboot and the author of Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism. Exodus: a group of tribes gathered

10 CONTACT together to write their own laws in sup- whether or not those of us calling our- times in history we have insisted on port of life. L’chaim isn’t just a song from selves Jews ever get the credit. maintaining our principles in the face of Fiddler on the Roof — it is a declaration If what makes Jews particular is our supreme rulers or fascist despots, we of independence, and a profound asser- fictional history — whether mythic or were met with harsh collective sen- tion of living agency in the face of for- genetic — then all is lost. We would have tences. Dictators never like people who merly inviolable decrees. no choice but to practice in secret and don’t acknowledge the reality of their As media theorist Walter Ong has distance ourselves from the rest of the claims to natural sovereignty over a sup- pointed out, the transition from oral cul- world, like any other cult, to preserve our posed family of people. ture to literate culture is not without its uniqueness. As our most fervent philan- The trick, as I see it, will be to utilize a problems. Text is necessarily abstract, thropists fear, we would eventually either little more skillfully the brief reprieves we disconnected from its writer in a way intermarry or fight ourselves into extinc- enjoy every few centuries. After World War that the spoken word could never be. tion. (Even the Tanakh demonstrates the II, for example, it was quite understandable But it also allows for a new sort of mem- need to bring new peoples into the mix, why we’d accept a nation state as the ory and accountability. lest we fall victim to the infertility of too world’s apology for its reluctance to pre- That’s why the covenant was written much inbreeding.) Luckily, even though vent numerous atrocities. But this may in the form of a contract. Imagine that: ghettos and isolation have certainly dwin- have been a moment for us to press our Jews received God through a contractual dled our chromosomal variety, it’s not our advantage. Instead of accepting the con- arrangement. And then we continued to genes that define us at all. And while temporary and limited notion of People- negotiate this relationship, as well as our there are doubtlessly those who view the hood associated with a nation state, instead ethical obligations, over centuries of Torah as a literal (if contradictory) history, of demanding a place like the Irish, the legal discussions known as the . Judaism has always been open to move- Tibetans or any other regional people, we It is an open source religion. ments that accept more allegorical under- should have demanded what our persecu- This is the prime advantage of the standings of our most sacred narratives. tors most feared: universal citizenship. abstract monotheism that text permitted: What first made Judaism unique was Indeed, we must resist assimilation. instead of depending on a particular the contention that human beings could Instead of accepting a plot of turf, an place or racial makeup, Judaism would write the law. Where earlier faiths oper- official church, and an externally be defined by a set of behaviors. We ated under the presumption of pre-exist- defined classification of Peoplehood, we belong through our actions. ing moral codes created by a deity and might better push for a relationship to This is not to say that Judaism is enacted by the deity’s chosen leader, it was the world that more accurately reflects devoid of particularism. It’s simply that now up to human beings to engage with what makes Judaism so particularly dan- racism, nationalism and particularism the sacred through a contract. Covenant gerous to the biased, xenophobic and are different things, not to be confused became a two-sided contractual obliga- territorial claims of the people amongst with one another, and not at all interde- tion. (Even a boy “born Jewish” isn’t offi- whom we have almost always lived. pendent. What makes Judaism particular cially a Jew until he is circumcised.) Yes, it’s easier to get along with every- — different than, say, joining the ACLU Of course, centuries of pressure by one in the short term if we pretend we’re or doing just works — lies in the moti- more traditional, parochial religions just another people — another house of vations for action. Jews find their have borne their toll on Judaism. It’s worship on the block. But to do so is to strength in their shared stories, laws, hard for Jews to engage with the world’s deny the premise that people can tran- history and community. We have to many peoples with the clear-headedness scend false, mythological distinctions remember, though, which of these are of our ancestors — especially since we and instead pursue universal justice. If the means and which are the ends. The well understand the price for abandon- we’re serious about Jewish continuity, it object of the game is a just society, ing superstition and racism. The few is this thread we must keep alive. ■

SPRING 2008 11 synagogue) and mostly shorn of its own lan- guages. Alas, there is no universal. There is only the individual, the detail, the particular. What else is Jewishness than a culture of dis- tinctions and details? Where assimilation was somewhat more difficult, as in Poland, the Yiddish intelli- THE LIVING LANGUAGE gentsia attempted to create a modern Jewish- ness, one that didn’t demand such a high price of entry as that of the German reform- OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE ers. I.L. Peretz’s Warsaw was one of the nodes on the new map of Yiddish mod- by ROKHL KAFRISSEN ernism, and it glowed with the interchange of energies between worlds, traditional and modern, rural and urban, Jewish and non. As the Jewish people of Eastern Europe became more varied (economically, politically, A Jew of my acquaintance sat down near me in very un-Jewish language and made it very religiously), Yiddish, too, became more var- a Warsaw park and asked me why I was so sad. Jewish. German bumped up against Loshn- ied, growing to accommodate new Jews and “Graetz is dead,” I answered. koydesh ( and Aramaic) in the new Jewish lives. And rather than shrinking formation of Yiddish, just as Jews and Chris- Jewishness down to fit into synagogue time “God’s will!” said my acquaintance. “One of tians encountered each other in real life. Jew- and synagogue space, modern Yiddish culture our townsfolk, I suppose?” ish communities were self-contained and expanded to fill the lives of modern Jews ...When I informed my neighbor that Graetz self-governing, with the Talmud providing the streaming into urban centers. Whether or not was an historian who wrote the history of the infrastructure of daily life. And yet, no matter they ever stepped foot in a shul, the lives of Jewish people he commented: how much their lives differed, Jews always the Yiddish modernists were suffused with “Oh history!” His voice had the same ring as if interacted with their non-Jewish neighbors. Jewishness — in their books, their songs, he were told that somebody had eaten a dozen Perhaps, like me, you had the same revelation their cabarets and even their political move- hard-boiled eggs at one time. upon visiting Poland for the first time. ments. By speaking Yiddish, these modernists Just as I was about to get angry, he continued Borscht? Polish. Kasha varnishkes? Yup, that were never far from Loshn-koydesh, and the very naively: too. And don’t get me started on the caraway Jewish point of view, no matter how far they seeds. Jewish culture was in constant dialog traveled. The Yiddish modernists (as well as “And what’s the use of history?” with its neighbors, above and beyond the culi- plain old modern Yiddish speakers) were on — From I.L. Peretz, On History nary. But Yiddish — both the language and their way to creating a truly liberating, mod- (Translated and Edited by Sol Liptzin, 1947) the culture — was the fence erected by Jews ern Jewish culture, one in which different love this passage from Peretz’s On History, around themselves to control that dialog and kinds of Jewish lives, secular and observant, and not just because it shows that Peretz protect the integrity of the community. enriched each other and moved each other I had a deliciously dark sense of humor. Through prosperity and peril, Yiddish was forward. Sadly, we all know what happened Substitute “Yiddish” for “History” and you’ll the buffer and filter that helped the Jews of next. It’s true, as Google reminds me each find a familiar bit of dialogue taken from my Ashkenaz to flourish in non-Jewish lands. Like morning, that the world in which my beloved life as an evangelical (lehavdil) Yiddishist. a Jewish photosynthesis, Yiddish took in the Yiddish modernists lived was ruthlessly Much of the Jewish world is, inexplicably, goyish and made it Jewish, constantly renewing destroyed, wiped out, is no more. committed to the notion of the uselessness of Jewish culture and Jewish life. The most mov- And yet, the majority of American Jews Yiddish. Am I crazy? Or are they? (Wait, ing Hasidic nigunim (wordless tunes) began life come from Yiddish speaking backgrounds. Jew- don’t answer that yet.) as (non-Jewish) shepherd’s tunes, beer hall ish popular culture in the U.S. is largely a prod- As an experiment, I set a Google alert for songs and even national anthems. Noted Yid- uct of Yiddish and Yiddish culture. One-third of “Yiddish.” Every day, Google sends me a long dish historian Michael Wex talks about how Jewish all-day schools in the United States today list of pages that make some reference to Yid- the Yiddish term gezeygenen zikh (to bid use Yiddish as their main medium of teaching dish. And nine times out of ten, the articles farewell) actually comes from a Latin (and then (Joshua A. Fishman, Can Threatened Languages feature some permutation of “dead,” “dying,” German) term meaning to cross oneself. Be Saved, Multilingual Matters Limited, 2001). “wiped out” or “kaddish.” It’s no surprise I’ve Yiddish allowed the Jews of Europe to According to the latest New York City census, started unconsciously checking my pulse. live in a non-Jewish place and to absorb non- there are about 82,000 Yiddish speakers in New Google is usually right. But when it Jewish culture without fear. Yiddish was York City. Contrast this with the approximately comes to Yiddish, I think one has to look a always on, always performing its peculiar 48,000 Arabic speakers and 50,000 Hebrew little bit deeper. So, what is the use of Yid- alchemy, making everything, even the sign of speakers in the city. Yiddish is both our immedi- dish? As Peretz would probably agree, we the cross, Jewish. ate history as well as a living part of the Jewish have to know our history and the history of Then along came modernity, and the people. Personally, I learned more about Jewish- Yiddish as a language of the Jewish people. Haskole, or Jewish Enlightenment. Jews were ness in four semesters of college Yiddish than I For centuries, Ashkenazic Jewry took a free to become, for example, Germans of the did in years of Conservative Hebrew school. If Mosaic faith, as long as they could leave we are truly interested in strengthening Jewish behind those Jewish characteristics not uni- life and culture, we would do well to under- Rokhl Kafrissen recently left the world of corporate litigation to become the web editor for Jewish Cur- versal or religious. stand the unique stature of Yiddish as a lan- rents magazine. She is working on a book about Modernity seemed to demand that Jew- guage of the Jewish People. We should think American Jewish culture called The Myth of the ishness be shrunk down to a religion, segre- twice before writing off millions of Jews, and Yiddish Atlantis. gated to its appointed places (specifically the the history of millions more, as irrelevant. ■

12 CONTACT has a way of clinging to always considered as a fundamental value you even if you try to their belonging to the Jewish People.” (René- escape its clutches. Samuel Sirat and Martine Lemalet, La ten- The Many Things changed in the dresse de Dieu, Nil Editions, 1996) 1960s, after the end of the Some European initiatives have been Hues of French colonial era, when taken to revitalize European Jewry. Some, Jews left North Africa for such as Paideïa, the European Institute for France en masse to bring Jewish Studies in Sweden; the European Jewish new blood, practice and leadership programme of Israel Connect; or ideas; a new pride in being a the range of activities organized by the Euro- Jew, in the words of my pean Union of Jewish Students, aim their Peoplehood grandmother Gaby Yarhi, in efforts at young European leaders. “the Country of Victor Hugo Other programs are meant for broader by RUTH OUAZANA and of Human Rights.” Also, participation. In England, a new concept has in 1967, the Six Day War revolutionized the notion of Jewish People- But I thought Sephardic Jews installed a political conscience about Israel and hood, bringing it within everyone’s reach. were small, ugly and dark… the importance of keeping it safe. Limmud, the Festival of Jewish Learning, “ Today, the largest Jewish communities in was created in 1980, and began to spread You are not like that! And I Europe are in France, England and Hungary. around the world in 2000. It now reaches don’t understand why you Other communities struggle, with a few about 40 countries on four continents, and thousand Jews, to maintain a Jewish life. it continues to grow at an amazing rate. came here to help me. How do we keep alive the richness of our One of the reasons for Limmud’s success ” traditional culture while remaining in the is that it reinforces a feeling of being part of ILNIUS, WINTER 1994: This elderly countries of our birth? the Jewish People; no matter whether you woman, a widow of a General, was For years, it has been said that it was are Ultra-Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, V struggling with the reason why some thanks to religion that Jews remained Jews. secular or completely unaffiliated; no matter young French Sephardic Jews were concerned But these days, with so many your age or your country, you are part of the enough about her People, past and future, that opposed to religion, and with so many Jews Jewish People. Furthermore, the organization they had travelled all the way to Vilnius to throughout the hear her story. And we were surprised to dis- world choosing cover how ill she thought of Sephardic Jews! to live secular I grew up in France in a half-Moroccan, lives, this claim half-Tunisian family. From childhood on, I is less reliable. had the opportunity to interact with many There was also Jews from other countries. Each time, I was once the claim surprised to discover that many of the values that thanks to the and concerns that I had as a Jew were the creation of Israel, same as those of any other Jew. And this was Jews would at not only a matter of religion or connection to last be safe. But Israel. It was more profound than that. Israel has not We know the complicated history of the solved the prob- Jews in Europe and around the Mediter- lem of anti-Semi- ranean. In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth tism, nor has it Centuries, after centuries of ambivalence, been chosen as a distrust and frequent hostility, Jews obtained homeland by some rights and duties of regular citizens in much of world most European countries. However, as the Jewry. Now more than ever, we must articu- is run entirely by volunteers, giving each of French revolutionary Count of Clermont- late a new, inclusive notion of Jewish People- us the opportunity to actively do something Tonnerre said regarding the citizenship of the hood that might help us overcome the Jewish: learn, share and give. Jews in 1791, “Everything for the Jews as challenges of assimilation and the loss of Limmud’s conferences succeed in attract- individuals, nothing for them as a Nation.” Jewish values. ing many Jews who would otherwise have Henceforth, one was no longer a Jew in René-Samuel Sirat, former Great Rabbi of left the community, thus enhancing future France, but a French citizen with a Jewish France, has summarised the issue beautifully: Jewish leaders and presenting the full diver- faith — an “Israélite.” In the Twentieth Cen- “What is mandatory for both Jews from the sity and values of the Jewish People. tury, many of these Israélites did not want to Diaspora and Jews from Israel is the feeling of I now live in England, with a British be associated with “the Jews” from Eastern being part of the same People. The notion of Ashkenazi partner, and the Jewish community Europe who came fleeing the Nazis, and yet Jewish Peoplehood is difficult to understand. is almost like at home. The food is different, they perished in the same camps. Peoplehood This notion does not fit into the usual norms the melodies are different, but so is England. of thinking. For thousands of years, Jews did And I know that if we decide to move else- not live in the same territory, were not sub- where in the world, we will always find this Ruth Ouazana is Founder and President of Limoud in jects of the same king, did not speak the same warm feeling of discovering another branch of France and a member of the Board of Limoud Interna- language. However, in the suffering of the the family — whether it’s in Italy, Argentina, tional. She is also a member of KolDor (www.koldor.org), exile, in the imposed ghettos, in the necessity Israel, the United States, Australia or Lithua- a worldwide network of young Jews dedicated to rethink- ing the Jewish world from a global perspective. She can of leaving everything behind in order to save nia. Wherever we find ourselves, we will also ■ be reached at [email protected]. their lives and practise their religion, they find new dimensions of Jewish Peoplehood.

SPRING 2008 13 Peoplehood WITH PURPOSE by YOSEF ISRAEL ABRAMOWITZ

very once in a while, mostly when group as well as the lowest belief-in-God gaNewz educational team has been teaching I’m feeling like the Jewish People quotient, the 200-year compact the Jewish two kinds of Jewish values to kids in 3,500 E are drifting, I reach into a basket People have had with Western Civilization, classrooms: distinctive Jewish values and next to my bed, pull out a small black vel- and with each other, needs to be altered. those values that are shared with other faith vet bag and take out a heavy, 200-year-old Appeals to religious solidarity are ineffec- communities or with Western Civilization. French coin. It is French. Napoleon is on tive in a Jewish values vacuum. We have to There are actually very few distinctive Jew- one side; flip the coin over and Napoleon set our sights higher than those of most of ish values — Talmud Torah, Yediat Eretz Yis- is there, too, this time receiving the Ten our demographers, sociologists, commu- rael, Areivut, etc. — so we seem to share Commandments from a weakened and nity planners and philanthropists and most of our values with others. humbled Moses. The coin celebrates the become advocates for a vision of inspired Yet, we must be moral archaeologists acceptance by the Jewish people of a New Jewish Peoplehood in the Twenty-First and dig deeper into those values to find World Order under the Rights of Man. Century. the distinctive Jewish differentiation in The historic choice made by the Jewish Peoplehood — and its univer- either defining, understanding or, most French in answering Napoleon’s salistic, noble purpose — must replace the importantly, expressing and acting on challenge — to define themselves as eroding definition of Jews as essentially a those values, particularly in the context of “Frenchmen of the Mosaic Faith,” rather faith community. community. We need to align the educa- than as part of the Jewish People — ush- Neither faith nor nationalism can tional institutions, or at least the messages, ered in a new era for humanity and for the continue to be the grand, unifying field across world Jewry’s institutions and Jewish People. Eviscerating our national theories of world Jewry. Only Peoplehood instruments of communication to promote characteristics paved the way for Jewish can, because it is inherently inclusive Jewish values. individuals as well as for Judaism, both in and encompasses religion, nationalism Jewish values are most effectively lived law and in the public imagination, to be and culture. not only in the context of interdependency equal to Christians and to Christianity. The goal should be for a critical mass of people, but also in relation to Jewish The culture of individualism that is so of our institutions, endeavors, philanthro- time and to Jewish action. When Christian- quintessentially American accelerated the pists and leaders to be engines and agents ity elevated the place of belief over action, equality of Jews and of Judaism. The great- of Peoplehood. it divorced values from obligation. When est public relations coup of the Twentieth How can we accomplish this? By rec- Jews come together and synthesize values, Century for American Jewry was the main- ognizing that Jewish values are the build- time and action, our moral contribution is streaming of the term “Judaeo-Christian,” ing blocks of vibrant Jewish Peoplehood. most powerful. It is an expression of Jew- which meant that 2 percent of the popula- Jewish values must be the new DNA of our ish Peoplehood’s greatest attributes. tion had not only equality with the super religion, nationalism and culture. They Our struggle for communal re-defini- majority of Americans, but even top have always been there, but we usually fail tion is not isolated. It is mirrored in the billing. This served our community’s pub- at crystallizing what they are, where they State of Israel and in other Jewish commu- lic policy interests and assimilationist came from, how they can be expressed in nities around the world. This would sug- yearnings. everyday life and how they inform the gest the need for a core curriculum of This remarkable achievement must now actions of our people. Likewise, we have Jewish values from which all educational be undone, and the artificial Napoleonic failed to link them to a larger mission for endeavors could draw and hopefully coor- split of the essence of our People must be the Jewish People. dinate in a rubric of “Peoplehood Time.” mended. Shared values are a trademark of a peo- Making the celebration each year of global There is a drastic need for a paradigm ple. They can be equally relevant to those Jewish Social Action Month during the shift in planning for a strong Jewish who consider themselves faith Jews as they month of Cheshvan is another example of future. With American Jewry having the can to those whose Judaism is more a mat- Peoplehood Time in this new era. highest attrition rates of any religious ter of nation or culture. And Jewish values A word of caution: Peoplehood will not are not owned by any denomination, polit- work as a rallying cry to the Jewish public, Yosef Israel Abramowitz, based on Kibbutz Ketura ical party or kind of Jew. We will need to which is post-tribal in its inclinations and in Israel's Arava Desert, serves as President of the define Jewish values in order to enable commitments. Peoplehood is, rather, an Arava Power Company, a leader in Israel's solar them to be shared. organizing principle to recalibrate and syn- energy sector. Yossi is also founder of Jewish Family What are Jewish values? BabagaNewz, chronize the Jewish enterprise and philan- & Life! (JFLmedia.com), a member of Kol Dor and a sponsored by AVI CHAI, is an award-win- thropy. It is our future blueprint. winner of the Covenant Award for Excellence in Jew- ning Jewish values-based kids’ magazine, Because the centripetal forces of West- ish Education. He blogs daily at www.Peoplehood.org and can be reached at [email protected]. website and teacher’s guide. The Baba- ern Civilization are more powerful on the

14 CONTACT A word of caution: Peoplehood will not work as a rallying cry to the Jewish public, which is post-tribal in its inclinations and commitments. Peoplehood is, rather, an organizing principle to recalibrate and synchronize the Jewish enterprise and philanthropy. It is our future blueprint. individual than are the gravitational forces morality in civilization. frankly, the catalyst role is basically how it of Peoplehood, we must increase the den- It is ongoing because I am not so faith- has worked for four thousand years). sity of Peoplehood in order to increase its ful to the messianic idea in Judaism; I In a digital age, we can connect more. gravitational pull. This density is created believe civilization will always need us to The more Jews are connected, the more by promoting shared Jewish values and be its moral nudniks. they will express, at the very least, a particularism (without parochialism) It is distinctive in that we are a unique familial areivut — mutual responsibility through formal and informal education. people, with a unique reading of the — toward each other. And if we are able And this education must look anew at human condition, with a unique history, to mobilize the collective Jewish imagina- every ritual, holiday, Torah portion and religion, heritage and culture. Maintaining tion to help not only ourselves but also law with a view to redefining them in the our distinctiveness in an era of cultural the entire world, then we will have some- context of rededicating the Jewish People globalization is a prerequisite for maintain- thing durable to pass along to future gen- toward a purpose. ing our place and role in history. erations of Jews. Instilling a sense of I argue that the purpose of the Jewish And on a planet with close to seven bil- Peoplehood With Purpose, we will be People — the essence of Jewish People- lion souls, we can realistically be a catalyst able to answer the age-old question of hood — is to be an ongoing, distinctive cat- only toward systemic changes rather than “Why Be Jewish?” for at least our era alyst for the advancement and evolution of the giant implementers of change (and and maybe the next. ■

SPRING 2008 15 The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life Non-Profit Org. 6 East 39th Street U.S. Postage 10th floor Paid New York, NY 10016 Rockville, MD Permit No. 800