Bainbridge Island Talk-Peoplehood at a Crossroads

Although it was the proverbial dark and stormy night, more than 60 people were recently welcomed by congregation president Jessica Dubey toCongregation Kol Shalom’sfirst Current Jewish Issues Forum on Bainbridge Island. The speaker was Noam Pianko, chair of the University of Washington’s Samuel and Althea Stroum Jewish studies program. He invited his audience to “rethink the American Jewish-Israel relationship.” Although it was the proverbial dark and stormy night, more... Read More

Jewish Review of Books Review

This current issue of the Jewish Review of Books contains a review essay that includes Zionism and the Road’s Not Taken. You can read the review at http://www.jewishreviewofbooks.com/about_us/login.asp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jewishreviewofbooks.com%2Fpublications%2Fdetail%2Fstate-and-counterstate Here are some snippets: “[David] Myers and Pianko are learned historians and deeply committed Jews who write with their people’s best interests at heart and deserve our careful attention.... Read More

American Jewish Archives Book Review

“[The book] is a timely and ambitious attempt to unearth approaches to Zionism that sought to embrace the concept of Jewish nationhood outside of the purely statist model.” —American Jewish Archives Journal (2010, vol 62, No 2) Download the full review. Share and Enjoy:  Read More

At the General Assembly in New Orleans

From: The Canadian Jewish News November 21, 2010 By Frances Kraft NEW ORLEANS — Jewish institutions need to figure out how they wish to respond to new ways of thinking among younger adults, Jack Wertheimer told a packed room at the General Assembly of Jewish Federations last week Speaking at a workshop titled “Visions for the Jewish Community,” which focused on generational differences, the Jewish Theological Seminary professor of American Jewish history said he is not only lamenting... Read More

UW Jewish Studies Program to Pilot Service Learning Course

During Spring Quarter 2010, SJSP Professor Noam Pianko received a grant to design a new service-learning course on social justice and Judaism. Repair the World, a national non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring young adults to give their time and effort to serve those in need, granted the funds to Professor Pianko and the SJSP to pilot this new class and format for replication across the country. Download the complete Stroum Jewish Studies Program newsletter article here. Share and Enjoy:  Read More

Clash Of Zionisms In Academia

The Jewish Week covers a panel I chaired about American Zionsim at last week’s Biennial Scholars’ Conference and discusses how my book fits into a larger context of recent scholarship on Jewish nationalism. Clash Of Zionisms In Academia. Share and Enjoy:  Read More

@ Tablet Magazine

Tablet Magazine’s Joshua Lambert provides a shout-0ut to Zionism and the Roads not Taken at On the Bookshelf. With hand-wringing and finger-pointing on all sides, now’s as good a time as any to consider how differently Zionism might have turned out as a political movement. Noam Pianko’s Zionism and the Roads Not Taken: Rawidowicz, Kaplan, Kohn (Indiana, May) focuses on three interwar intellectuals for whom the promise of Zionism as a political movement was as “an alternative to nation-sate... Read More

The storm ahead

Instead of trying to convince ourselves that it’s not really raining and that there are only a few clouds in the sky, we should be asking a few basic questions on the relationship between Israel and young American Jews via The storm ahead. Share and Enjoy:  Read More

Video from JFN Conference

Clips from the JFN  conversation about continuity and discontinuity are now available on line. You can watch Jack’s presentation, as well as my response, here. Share and Enjoy:  Read More

Generational Clash Over Values at Funders Conference

"Generational Clash" at the Jewish Funders Network Conference Here is the Jewish Week’s take on our conversation at the JFN conference earlier this week (Generational Clash Over Values at Funders Conference). Overall, I think the article does a good job of portraying the debate, although it tended to exaggerate our differences of opinion. On the majority of the findings, I fully agree with Wertheimer’s analysis of changing trends in contemporary American Jewish life.  Where... Read More