Nurturing Jewish Peoplehood in the 21st Century Calls for an Educational Revolution
Posted on August 20, 2012
Shlomi Ravid and Lisa Grant are calling for an educational revolution and I am all in favor of it! They write that “Jewish education needs to undergo a revolution that will place the nurturing of the Jewish collective identity as a core and integral component of the Jewish educational agenda” because modern Jews don’t see peoplehood as a relevant aspect of their Judaism. Jews in the 21st century don’t relate to the ideas of peoplehood from ages past and as such, need to see the collective Jewish peoplehood as relevant and important to their lives. The authors propose developing a new educational field called “Peoplehood education.” They propose the “pillars of this field” to be the following:
1) Establishing a common language
2) Developing a network
3) Creating a professional learning infrastructure
4) Identifying core Peoplehood “practices”
5) Incubating tools and programs
6) Conducting research
7) Setting communal priorities
We at Areyvut understand that education is essential for all of us at each and every stage in our lives. Bearing this in mind, it is essential for all of us to keep learning and to bring ourselves up to date with knowledge of all things relevant. The same applies to the educational world which needs to evolve as time goes on and as generations evolve. Caring is the first step in taking action. “At the end of the day Jewish Peoplehood will survive if the Jews will want it and care enough about it.” Areyvut cares about Jewish peoplehood and the evolution of the younger generations of Jews. That is why we work hard on our programming and events that cater to their age group with activities that build identity with themselves, one another, and the Jewish people as a whole. It’s good to see that Jewish peoplehood is a priority to other groups and we look forward to seeing what evolves as a result.
