Assuring Jewish Responsibility in a Changing World

Publication Date: January 2005

Publisher: Jewish Communal Service Association of North America

Author(s): Steven Schwager

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Diaspora Relations; Jewish Identification; Ethics

Type: Report

Abstract:

The modern world offers us opportunities to express that sense of Jewish responsibility more universally than ever before in our people's history. Aviation and telecommunications have created a global village, enabling us to bring help within hours to any Jew in need, no matter how remote. Further, with the great geopolitical changes of the late twentieth century, we also have unprecedented access to our fellows in virtually every country in the world. And even though hundreds of thousands of Jews remain in dire need, as a people we possess the resources needed to overcome their suffering. With these conditions in our favor and with a Jewish State in Israel that is strong and enduring, the Jewish people should be enjoying a Golden Age that surpasses any other in the past 2,000 years. In this era of globalization, indeed, we - the most global of peoples - should be confronting the challenges we still face and soaring to unparalleled heights of Jewish achievement. Instead, there is an air of crisis in the Jewish world.