Jewish peoplehood, one person at a time
A month ago, I attended a tikun olam workshop organized by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tel Aviv
University. The purpose of the workshop, whose participants included representatives of Jewish organizations promoting relief worldwide, was to coordinate Jewish community relief and volunteerism efforts aimed at assisting developing countries facing the ravages of hunger, malnutrition, and unsanitary conditions.
In the opening remarks, one of the speakers mentioned that among the goals of such efforts would be to attract younger Jews by offering “hands-on” volunteer opportunities addressing these international issues. Because these young people have not lived through the Holocaust, the creation of Israel, and attendant wars, the speaker reasoned, they do not readily identify with Israel or global Jewish concerns.
After hearing this assertion, I mentioned to the group that while I support tikun olam efforts in developing countries, I wondered why our younger constituents would not be moved by the existential threat to Israel by Iran’s nuclear quest or by a government at its doorstep committed to its destruction? Would they be unmoved by the anti-Semitism confronted by Jews in Europe, frighteningly reminiscent of the 1930s and reinforced by the spread of rabid anti-Semitism by radical Islam? Should not the relative indifference of the next generation to these issues also be on our agenda?
At the time I posed this challenge, Israel was not embroiled in defending itself from a coordinated two-front assault, as is the case now. What is going through the minds of our young people as these events unfold? Do they consider this another unfortunate outbreak of violence somewhere on the planet, or is there a sense that they are actors in the drama that is unfolding in a country that is dear to them?
I recently read “Whatever Happened to the Jewish People,” an article by Steven M. Cohen and Jack Wertheimer in the June issue of Commentary, which confirmed what I had begun to realize: that the concept of Jewish peoplehood has eroded among younger members of our families. Klal Yisrael (Jewish peoplehood) has always been inextricably linked to our religious faith and identity as an ethnic group. Certainly, the Holocaust taught us that our fate as Jews is the same irrespective of our faith or lack thereof. Jews are unique, in the words of Martin Buber, because we have been “both a nation and a religious community.” The prophetic exhortation of being “a light unto the nations” was not meant as individual self-actualization but as a manifestation of our peoplehood.
Yet our current cultural milieu emphasizes individualism over community, the search for personal meaning at the expense of social responsibility, the global “we” versus “tribal” identification.
This issue is also a concern in contemporary Israeli life. Several weeks ago, when I was in Israel, I heard a debate between Israeli novelist A.B. Yehoshua and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the head of the Reform movement. They discussed whether Jewish nationalism can be separated from religion. I wholeheartedly agree with Rabbi Yoffie that this distinction is not only artificial, but that acting upon it would be disastrous. Dividing one from the other is like cutting the “Solomonic” baby in half.
But reinforcing Jewish peoplehood will require an affirmative commitment. For hundreds of years in America, participation in the religious life of the synagogue has been the sine qua non of Jewish identification. But unless the religious movements, necessarily segmented denominationally, emphasize the collectivity of the Jewish people in formal as well as informal education and encourage involvement of their congregants in the larger Jewish community and with our coreligionists in Israel and worldwide, we place our history and our destiny as one people at risk.
We must all, therefore, include the “klal Yisrael” agenda in our curricula, sermons, language, activities, and mission. We must help people in their journey of Jewish identity, a journey that takes them as individuals to the joys of Jewish family, to the purpose of Jewish community, and to the pride of Jewish peoplehood — recognition that we are all indispensable parts of klal Yisrael.
The glory of Jewish peoplehood cannot be imposed from above but must be taught, person by person. Clearly we all have a role to play in imparting this message — our families, federation, agencies, synagogues, and Jewish organizations. While we should never be uniform, we must be united in confronting the essential challenges facing our Jewish people, conceptually and in deeds.
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