Search results for: Jewish identity

Beit Hatfutsot is happy to announce that registration is now open for its flagship project and competition, My Family Story. For fifteen years, Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish People, has hosted the My Family Story program, which gives students from 5th-8th grade the opportunity to research their family stories, identify their personal stories with the ongoing story of the Jewish people, and to join the elements together in a unique and creative representation of their personal history. Outstanding projects participate in the My Family Story competition held at Beit Hatfutsot in June, 2012 and finalists participate in the opening of the My Family Story exhibit in Israel.

Jewish educators are expected not only to imbue their students with Jewish knowledge but with Jewish feelings and Jewish actions as well—in short, with Jewish identity. However, in spite of a growing understanding among researchers that identity is fluid and dynamic, many of the traditional methods for assessing Jewish identity reflect essentialist concepts of identity that assume Jews and their Jewishness remain unchanging across various contexts. Our intention in this article is to review briefly some of the ways in which traditional methods of studying Jewish identity reveal problematic conceptualizations, and to suggest an alternative that seems to us more in keeping with constructivist concepts of identity.

The Israel Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs has launched an initiative for the Jewish New Year. The 'Say Shana Tova' website will allow Jews from around the world to design digital greeting cards with New Year's greetings and send them to Jews around the world. All those who send cards will receive greetings from other Jews around the world. The greetings can be sent in Hebrew, English, Russian, French, Spanish, German or Italian and will be delivered to the recipient via email, translated into his own language.

In an opinion piece in the Jewish Week, Leonard Saxe and Jeffrey Solomon address questions about the political nature of Birthright Israel - Taglit's trip content which have been raised recently. They write: 'Taglit is unabashed in its focus on promoting Jewish identity, Peoplehood and love of Israel. By regulation, and voluminous guidelines, its educators are required to offer apolitical “balanced messages.” To identify with and love Israel does not mean support of a specific political position about Israel.'