Israel’s former Ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, and currently the head of the international law programat the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, aptly expressed the frustration and anger of most Jews when he recently wrote: “On a daily basis, we are witnessing a mass-phenomenon of deliberately one-sided accusations being leveled solely against Israel, alleging human rights violations against Palestinians. Slanted social media platforms, once-reputable international media outlets, politically-biased UN bodies and human rights committees, and clearly ignorant show-biz celebrities all unthinkingly accuse Israel of genocide, apartheid, cruelty and disproportionate military actions.”
The frustration and anger have boiled over in a cauldron of seething emotion because we know – and it has been well documented – that the onslaught of anti-Israel invective was planned before October 7 and erupted full bore onto the streets of the Western World on October 8 (2023) before any IDF soldiers had crossed into Gaza to hunt down the murderers and the slaughterers. We also know that the anti-Israel campaign of hatred has been funded and fiendishly orchestrated by, among others, Qatar, Iran, and Turkey.
Coping with our emotions and our fears these past 27 plus months has been the chief preoccupation of Jewish individuals, their families and organizations in every Jewish community around the world. Shlomi Ravid, the founding director of the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education and the editor of The Peoplehood Papers, offers his own prescription for coping with and even surmounting these difficult days.
Ravid’s path forward “begins with reframing Jewish Peoplehood.” He defines Jewish peoplehood as resting on two interconnected tiers: the constitutive and the operational.
The constitutive tier gives rise to the sense of Jewish collectivity. It is based upon two covenants:
a. the covenant of fate, the idea that all Jews are responsible for one another; and
b. the covenant of destiny, the idea that the Jewish people share a collective mission.
These covenants define what Jewish Peoplehood is and what makes it unique among collective identities.
The operational tier gives rise to concrete communal structures that translate into how to achieve a sense of peoplehood. These include:
• The communal–civilizational enterprise that sustains Jewish life and ensures its future.
• Zionism as the framework for Jewish national expression.
• Pluralism as the method for turning core values into practical and political guidelines.
• Tikkun Olam as the expression of the Jewish commitment to the broader world.
• Jewish education as a collective priority.
Ravid suggests that the operational tier includes other principles as well. But the above-mentioned ones are the core. He wishes to achieve a new and powerful unity within the Jewish people “where most Jews can find common ground.” But first, Ravid reminds us, that there must be “clarity about who we are and what we stand for”.
It is in this regard that we point out Ravid included Jewish education as one of his pre-eminent peoplehood-building principles. We share his analysis on this point. This truth vital. By now, we hope it is also evident.
Ravid’s article can be read at:
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Shabbat shalom
Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
January 23, 2026
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 