The current challenge of Jewish Peoplehood is both conceptual and pedagogic.
Conceptually speaking for almost two thousand years Jewish Peoplehood was the only
framework that defined Jews and in which they were allowed to express themselves
as a collective.

Even a superficial review of modern Jewish history shows they embrace the opportunity to become active in numerous ways of making the world better (not the least of them – social activism)

Peoplehood is a complex and not fully understood phenomenon. Furthermore,
those who feel a deep sense of responsibility to their people and are
concerned with the weakening of the sense of belonging, believe that if we are to work
for strengthening and teaching Peoplehood we need to at least understand and define
what it means.

This study, commissioned and funded by the Hertog Foundation, and conducted by a team of academic researchers, was undertaken to learn about Chabad on Campus International, an organization that seeks to enhance Jewish identity and practice among Jewish college students at almost 200 American college campuses.

The hope that a challenge to Jewish collective identity will be met with an appropriate educational response has not yet materialized.

Jewish culture and the arts play multiple roles in both the process of interpreting what Jewish peoplehood can mean and the challenge of nurturing a Jewish collective consciousness. It is about the shaping of the what of peoplehood and about the how of nurturing it.

In order to understand how organizations might best craft initiatives that most effectively target, recruit, train and retain leader advocates, the study surveyed participants and interviewed professionals and mentors involved in some key Israel advocacy organizations.

In the past thirty years transformative changes have occurred within veteran Jewish organizations and new forms of organized Jewish life are appearing.

One of the most exciting and welcome developments in Jewish life in North America at the beginning of the 21st century is the growth of extraordinary partnerships between energetic Jewish social entrepreneurs and innovative Jewish funders.

Through exposure to opportunities for Jewish involvement, including learning opportunities, this approach posits that young Jews will have “meaningful Jewish experiences” which will deepen their engagement with being Jewish and help them to advance on their individual Jewish journeys.

The challenge of Jewish Peoplehood finds a unique manifestation in the case of Israel

Assessing Jewish growth among the non-Orthodox.

Pulling Jewish educators into and up the Israel education professional development ladder.

What it takes to climb the Israel education professionalization ladder.

This evaluation found that the Global Day filled a unique niche, providing a platform that promotes global Jewish belonging and peoplehood through a focus on Jewish learning and Talmud.

Rather than build Peoplehood on the connection to Israel, it should begin with Peoplehood as the foundation for the Jewish local communal enterprise (it did work for 1800 years). The challenge is to develop our collective consciousness as a Jewish sensibility.

American Jews are phasing out of the Peoplehood paradigm that dominated the post WW2 and Six Day War era

The intention was to take the conversation about what
is Peoplehood to the next level of how to make Peoplehood in practice happen.

Sustaining a sense of Peoplehood in an age framed by the value of pluralism presents a real challenge. Jews today differ on core Jewish issues. Sustaining a sense of commonality in that environment becomes increasingly complex.

The time has come to recognize the 70 faces of Zionism. To open the door for every Jew who cares about Israel to choose his or her Zionism and to participate in the important conversation regarding the Zionist vision and future.

The growing interest we have been witnessing in the notion of peoplehood in recent years is, in my opinion, an attempt at sustaining a sense of Jewish unity in a Jewishly pluralistic world.

Paradigms in Contemporary Zionist Education and the Question of the Ideological Relationship between Israel and Diaspora

A hundred years later, though much has changed the debate between caring for "your own" and
Tikkun Olam is heating up again.

Increasing numbers of Diaspora Jewish
organizations are sending their members or
constituents to Israel.

In recent years however, there is a new shift towards a Peoplehood-based Zionism

This report summarizes Pardes’s unique approach to training Jewish educators and highlights key learnings from a thorough survey.

Through the use of Senior Jewish Educators and Campus Entrepreneur Initiative interns, the innovation seeks to engage students outside the traditional Hillel venues and outside the profile of those students typically reached by Hillel, as well as those students who have had Jewish experiences in their past but are not currently engaged in Jewish life.

September 24, 2024
Peoplehood, Areivut, and the Limits of Pluralism. The Israel-Hamas War and its Impact on Pluralism in Jewish Communities

Looking at the conditions for sustaining pluralistic Jewish education.

This research report is written as part of larger strategic evaluation currently conducted by AMHSI to understand the changes taking place in the American Jewish community and the manner in which AMHSI should respond.

Exploring the role of Israel and Zionism education.

Embark is a cohort-based initiative that empowers mixed-heritage and interfaith couples to explore and integrate Jewish life in ways that feel authentic and meaningful. The 2024 evaluation assesses Embark’s impact, demonstrating its success in supporting participants' transition from passive observers to active participants in Jewish life.

One2One recruits Jewish teens from Israel, North America and other countries, who are paired and provided with a platform that enables them to meet one another for one-on-one conversations in English. With just five meetings these teens from different countries, who did not know each other, report new friendships and a positive contribution to their conversational English.

Through the use of Senior Jewish Educators, and Campus Entrepreneur Initiative interns, the innovation seeks to engage students outside the traditional Hillel venues and outside the profile of those students typically reached by Hillel, as well as those students who have had Jewish experiences in their past but are not currently engaged in Jewish life.

This paper represents the first stage of a two stage project for creating “educational measures”
that will enable conceptualization of “excellence” and evaluation of “success” in the area of
Jewish cultural education in the Israeli Mamlachti (non-Orthodox) school system.

The JCC Global Strategic Plan 2025-2029, developed by Research Success Technologies (ReST), provides a data-driven roadmap for strengthening Jewish Peoplehood, global connectivity, and local resilience through leadership development, peer collaboration, and crisis response.

A Survey of Jewish Educators and Engagement Professionals

To what extent, how, & for whom does Masa Israel participation affect Jewish involvement and Israel?
attachment?

The Pardes Educators Program (PEP) is a two year program consisting of advanced Jewish text learning and education that takes place at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem.

What is the role of an Israeli staff member in an American Jewish summer camp?

The intent of this publication, created in collaboration with HIAS was to initiate a public conversation on Jewish responsibility to refugees and the nature of the 21st century Peoplehood.

This paper tackles the question from the perspective of research conducted for program evaluation or strategic planning.

This study, commissioned and funded by the Hertog Foundation, and conducted by a team of academic researchers, was undertaken to learn about Chabad on Campus International, an organization that seeks to enhance Jewish identity and practice among Jewish college students at almost 200 American college campuses.

Most people mistakenly view Peoplehood as a global, amorphous and abstract concept that presents an optional ideological approach towards the Jewish collective.

Dr. Kopelowitz outlines here how Jews over the last two centuries have refashioned the nature of their connections with each other, and have passed from a traditionalist perspective of Jewish belonging to various redefinitions of what constitutes the Jewish collective.

There is much handwringing among the lead-
ership of Israeli and Diaspora Jewry about the
“Jewishness” of young Israeli Jews in general
and their commitment to the relationship with
Diaspora Jewry in particular.

In the past thirty years transformative changes have occurred within veteran Jewish organizations and new forms of organized Jewish life are appearing.

A richer and more nuanced understanding of the concept of Peoplehood can and should influence our educational goals and help us to better and more effectively address today’s challenges

One of the most exciting and welcome developments in Jewish life in North America at the beginning of the 21st century is the growth of extraordinary partnerships between energetic Jewish social entrepreneurs and innovative Jewish funders.

Through exposure to opportunities for Jewish involvement, including learning opportunities, this approach posits that young Jews will have “meaningful Jewish experiences” which will deepen their engagement with being Jewish and help them to advance on their individual Jewish journeys.

Assessing Jewish growth among the non-Orthodox.

What it takes to climb the Israel education professionalization ladder.

How do we think of time as it impacts Israel Education?

With this interview sample, we seek to describe Israel education at its best, in a variety of American Jewish education contexts.

This report shows, with a focus on Jewish leaders, that the investment in Jewish education is vital to
American Jewry’s future.

in recent decades internal rifts and ideological disagreements threaten the continuity of Jewish Peoplehood

Peoplehood is the consciousness that constitutes our collective being, our ever evolving civilization, our aspiration to improve the world and our sense of solidarity and mutual responsibility.

We have witnessed a rise in individual philanthropy and a decline in collective giving, accompanied by a diversification of the giving.

The growing interest we have been witnessing in the notion of peoplehood in recent years is, in my opinion, an attempt at sustaining a sense of Jewish unity in a Jewishly pluralistic world.

While Jewish unity does not and cannot depend on some fake sense of consensus regarding core ideological issues, it can be based on our collective interest in the issues themselves

A look at a learning ritual that brings together American and Israeli Orthodox and Non-Orthodox Jews

In recent decades, particularly in North America, pursuing social justice and Tikun Olam has become central to the Jewish conversation.

In the last few decades, we have been witnessing a significant rise in the Jewish public's interest in the notion of Tikkun Olam. The shift in focus - from catering to the “good of the Jews”, to seeking to bring justice and help to communities in need, coupled with the call to personally serve that cause, represents no less than a paradigm shift.

There is an expectation that people can move between the peoplehood belief system and the mitzvot of everyday life in a clean way, like Haredim aspire to do with religion.

The current challenge of Jewish Peoplehood is both conceptual and pedagogic.
Conceptually speaking for almost two thousand years Jewish Peoplehood was the only
framework that defined Jews and in which they were allowed to express themselves
as a collective.

In the past decade, instilling a sense of belonging and responsibility for the Jewish
People has increasingly become part of the expressed agenda of Jewish educational
institutions and programs including schools, camps, Hillel, and Taglit.

On October 7th, the Hamas invasion of Israel sent shockwaves through Jewish communities worldwide,
prompting an urgent need for reflection and response. The session provided a platform to explore the challenges faced by Jewish educators and to develop strategies for fostering resilience, identity, and communal unity in the wake of the invasion.

American Jews are phasing out of the Peoplehood paradigm that dominated the post WW2 and Six Day War era

In these fluid times, MAKOM's mission is to empower Jewish educators, rabbis, arts and community
leaders to develop deep, sophisticated, and honest Israel programming through
both hugging and wrestling.

This research report is written as part of larger strategic evaluation currently conducted by AMHSI to understand the changes taking place in the American Jewish community and the manner in which AMHSI should respond.

This report seeks to assess the impact of the Ein Prat experience upon young adult learners, and through them to its contribution to Israeli society.

One2One recruits Jewish teens from Israel, North America and other countries, who are paired and provided with a platform that enables them to meet one another for one-on-one conversations in English. With just five meetings these teens from different countries, who did not know each other, report new friendships and a positive contribution to their conversational English.

Engaging young adult Jews is a subject of much discussion in the Jewish community of
late and increasingly of programmatic funding as well.

This study investigates the effectiveness of ISRAEL21c's efforts to influence young American adults (ages 18-25) towards Israel.

In the past decade, with the support of UJA Federation of New York, JCC Global is focusing on cultivating partners at local JCCs, who serve as change agents for deepening their JCC's involvement with Jewish Peoplehood and the global JCC network.

The 2023 JCHS Alumni Survey, conducted in the summer of 2023, continues a longstanding series of JCHS alumni
surveys spanning nearly 15 years.

The story of Limmud is undoubtedly a story of diversity,
success and growth.

Jewish Educators, Clergy, Engagement Professionals, And The War In Israel

Jewish education – be it day schools, overnight camps, Israel travel, campus engagement or other modalities – has helped forge a committed Jewish lay and professional leadership, as well as an engaged Jewish public.

The manner in which a camp implement the Goodman programs likely interacts with the various factors described in this report to produce higher and lower impact on campers.