Continuing Education
Coalition events and programs
#BringThemHomeNow – Hostage Advocacy, Meeting with Noam Peri, Daughter of Haim Peri, 79, Abductee from Kibbutz Nir Oz (October 2023)
Washington, DC, Hostages and Missing Families Forum https://stories.bringthemhomenow.net/
Meeting under the banner of Jewish Peoplehood, about a dozen Jewish community representatives gathered in Washington to meet with Noam Peri and extend messages of solidarity, share early reports of community advocacy and learn from her and the Families Forum what the Jewish community in North America can do. Among the attendees were leaders with senior roles in major national organizations, community experts, local lay leaders and journalists.
“Media and Peoplehood,” Master Class @ the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles (June 2023)
Paulette Light chaired a Master Class on “Media and Peoplehood,” hosted at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Light, the Executive Director of the Charles Bronfman Prize, led a discussion that spotlighted three of the most innovative media projects that are reaching new audiences across North America and beyond. Presentations by JTA, Reboot Studios, and OpenDor Media/Z3 Project showed not only how media can promote greater connectivity and literacy, but also how it can meet the diversity and inclusivity expectations inherent in 21st century peoplehood. Leading media figure and former Jewish Journal editor Rob Eshman served as respondent and offered a set of concluding recommendations.
Dialogue with UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis @JCCA in NYC (June 2023)
Coalition leaders met with Chief Rabbi Mirvis and a team of advisors from the U.K. and traded assessments of challenges and opportunities in our respective Jewish societies. JCC Association President and CEO Doron Krakow, our Coalition co-chair, hosted and moderated the dialogue. In a moving presentation concluding the dialogue, Rabbi Mirvis was presented with a cross-denominational siddur published by the JCCA’s arm that leads chaplaincy work in the US military (JWB, see here: About JWB Jewish Chaplains Council – JCC Association of North America)
“I feel encouraged,” said Rabbi Mirvis, at the conclusion of the dialogue, and participants agreed to stay in touch, noting the benefits of increased contact between our Jewish societies. Rabbis Mirvis, who had traveled to New York for an interfaith meeting at the United Nations, offered a breathtaking set of introductory remarks around the theme of “achrayut,” responsibility, which Doron Krakow published here: https://mailchi.mp/jcca/shabbat-shalom-27-sivan?e=b69fce4177
ANU’s Tisch Dialogue Center, together with ENTER and its North American Peoplehood Coalition, organized a first-time dialogue between millennial Jewish community leaders and Israeli government professionals and elected officials (April 2023)
Following Israel’s 75th anniversary, in April 2023 a dialogue between millennial North American Jewish leaders and Israeli government professionals and elected officials took place at the Tisch Center for Jewish Dialogue at the ANU Museum.
Initiated by the Tisch Center, twelve North Americans representing a diverse range of Jewish organizations engaged with Israeli government officials and elected leaders from a broad spectrum of political parties and government ministries for an intensive day-and-a-half seminar. The Dialogue aimed to foster personal and professional relationships and a set of best practices between the rising leadership of the two centers of the Jewish world. The program took place as part of a larger global Jewish peoplehood dialogue sponsored by ANU’s Koret Center.
See Judah Ari Gross’ article in eJewishPhilanthropy – Tisch Center brings together American, Israeli millennial leaders to deepen ties – eJewish Philanthropy
“Peoplehood and Public Policy,” Millennial leaders dialogue with Abe Foxman (March 2023)
Millennial public policy leaders gathering in Washington, D.C. with legendary Jewish community leader Abe Foxman to talk about “peoplehood and public policy.”
Rabbi Dan Epstein, of GW Hillel, wrote about the encounter in one of his weekly teachings, which can be accessed here: I had breakfast with Abe Foxman (mailchi.mp)
Peoplehood Master Class @ URJ (March 2023)
The March 16 “Jewish Peoplehood Master Class,” hosted by URJ in New York, began with Tracy Frydberg, the recently appointed director of the Tisch Center for Jewish Dialogue at ANU, providing a birds-eye briefing on this iconic peoplehood institution, its reconceived exhibits and its bold plan to become a focal point and platform for dialogue across the Jewish world. In the second segment, Nila Rosen, FJC’s Director of Learning and Research, presents “State of Jewish Camp 2022.” Nila spotlights a range of diversity and inclusivity metrics, unpacks data on the broadest trends in camping (including pandemic recovery) and explains the study’s “peoplehood” findings.
In the education and pedagogy segment, Rabbi Josh Weinberg, VP of Israel and Reform Zionism at URJ, shares the new “Conversation Cloth,” an editable and adaptable Israel teaching tool. The “mapat siach” was created in partnership with the Jewish Agency and the Z3 Project. Josh also shared the URJ’s related 10-part “4HQ” Israel education framework.
Peoplehood Master Class @ JWI (December 2022)
This inaugural “Peoplehood Master Class,” hosted by Jewish Women International (JWI), featured Aliza Lavie discussing her new book, “Now, it’s Your Turn,” (“Achshav Torech”)a popular guide for Israeli families and Israeli girls seeking a deeper b’nai mitzvah experience; Ben Jacobs presenting the “18×18” framework for Jewish young adult literacy, drawing on a Maimonides Fund project and his recent essay in Sapir journal; and Len Saxe presenting the latest findings from Birthright participant studies and recently completed local demographic studies, including Los Angeles – data that suggests peoplehood-centered frameworks and investments in “building community” are some of the most successful on the North American Jewish scene today.
JWI CEO Meredith Jacobs and ENTER’s Amanda Bekkerman offered introductory remarks, as did ENTER’s Dan Shapiro, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, who interviewed Aliza Lavie. Professor Saxe’s slide deck is available here, and Professor Jacobs single page, 18×18 graphic is available here.
Roundtable at Adas Israel congregation in Washington, D.C., with Barak Sella, Re’ut Group (June 2022)
Workshop at the Oshman Family JCC, co-sponsored with the Z3 Project (March 2022)
“Opening Session” of inaugural workshop in New York, American Jewish Committee (January 2022)
Remarks by Laura Shaw Frank, Jeff Solomon, Amnon Rodan, Charles Bronfman
