Jewish peoplehood

Jewish peoplehood (Hebrew: עמיות יהודית, Amiut Yehudit) is the conception of the awareness of the underlying unity that makes an individual a part of the Jewish people.

The concept of peoplehood has a double meaning. The first is descriptive, as a concept factually describing the existence of the Jews as a people. The second is normative, as a value that describes the feeling of belonging and commitment to the Jewish people.

Some believe that the concept of Jewish peoplehood is a paradigm shift in Jewish life. Insisting that the mainstream of Jewish life is focused on Zionism, Jewish nationalism, they argue that Jewish life should instead focus on Jewish peoplehood.

Others maintain that the concept of peoplehood, or "Klal Yisrael" has permeated Jewish life for millennia, and to focus on it does not constitute a shift from the focus on Jewish nationhood. Jews have been extremely effective in sustaining a sense of joint responsibility towards their people and its members for over 2,000 years.

At the same time, the concepts of Jews as a nation and as a peoplehood are not necessarily at odds with one another. The very concept of defining Judaism as a people or a "civilization" suggests a wide variety of values within the context of Judaism.

The concept of a distinctive Jewish people has been part of Jewish culture since the development of the Hebrew Bible. Throughout the Torah, Prophets and Writings, Jews are variously referred to as a congregation, a nation, children of Israel or even a kingdom, all implying a connection among people.

"And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you, and to your seed after you". Genesis 17:7/8

"There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people". Esther 3:8

"In each generation every individual should feel as though he or she had actually been redeemed from Egypt". The Haggadah

"Kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh" – "All Israelites are sureties for one another". Talmud Shevuot 39a

Goy גוי, in Biblical Hebrew, literally means "nation", and historically Jews are most commonly described with variations of this concept. In Genesis 12:2, God promises Abraham that his descendants will form a goy gadol ("great nation"). In Exodus 19:6, the Jews are referred to as a goy kadosh (גוי קדוש), a "holy nation". One of the more poetic descriptions of the Jewish people in the Hebrew Bible, and popular among Jewish scholarship, is goy ehad b'aretz, or "a unique nation upon the earth!" (2 Samuel 7:23 and 1 Chronicles 17:21). The "nation" concept refers not just to a territorial or political entity, ie the Kingdom of Judah, but in the ancient sense meaning a group of people with a common history, a common destiny, and a sense of connection to one another, an ethnos. The nationhood concept adhered to the biblical and religious identification as a chosen people, a holy nation set apart from the other nations in obedience to the One God. This conception of Jewishness helped to preserve the Jewish people during the diaspora, when Jews were "scattered among the nations". It was similarly invoked by the Zionist movement, which sought to Negate the Diaspora (shlilat ha'galut) by Gathering the exiled of Israel (Kibbutz Galuyot) back to their homeland, where they would achieve national self-determination.

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