There is an interesting article in the current issue of Commentary magazine by my JTS professor Jack Wertheimer and now HUC faculty Steven M. Cohen. Peoplehood is definately making a come-back as a concept among Jewish influentials, which is good news. The bad news, however, is that there is still a long way to go between the 20th century notions of peoplehood–which are expressed throughout the Commentary article–and 21st century innovations, which this blog and Sh’ma will continue to press forward. They take an unfair swipe at the Sh’ma essay of Jeffrey Sachs on globalization, to which I will respond to shortly and which exposes the ideological fault lines on the future of the peoplehood debate. This is a conversation that is likely to be satisfying and challenging and for which blog technology can be quite useful.
Good news: Leonid Nevzlin, in his capacity as chair of the board of Beit Hatfutsot, is holding a gala dinner on June 29th to rededicate the museum essentially as a museum of global Jewish peoplehood and to initiate an institute to the study and promotion of Jewish peoplehood. Fingerprints are hard to see but are often there.
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