The Peoplehood Challenge: “Teach Your Children Well”
Source: eJewish Philanthropy
Yossi Prager, the Executive Director – North America of The AVI CHAI Foundation, writes about his organization's vision of Jewish Peoplehood and it's philanthropic strategy to help realize it. For AVI CHAI, Peoplehood reflects the notion that Jews are family, distant cousins from common ancestors, who share a stake in our ancient homeland and now modern state in Israel. This notion of peoplehood encompasses all Jews, whether or not they accept the covenantal destiny of the Jewish people, its sacred texts and modern literature, or Hebrew as a common language.
He writes:
"AVI CHAI’s investments to advance Jewish Peoplehood have focused primarily on generating an unconditional attachment to Israel, stemming from the view that Israel is both the heritage home and political home of the Jewish people. In modern America, deep attachment to Israel may not be innate, drawn from mother’s milk, but learned and absorbed through education and experience. Toward this end, AVI CHAI has funded a series of programs in both day schools and summer camps. In North America, AVI CHAI has chosen these two fields as the locus of our work based on our view, supported by research, that day school and summer camps provide the foundation for the energizing nucleus of the next generation of North American Jews: young people with the values, commitments, motivation and skills to lead the Jewish People intellectually, spiritually, communally and politically in the 21st Century."
Read his article on eJewish Philanthropy.