LEGACY AND VISION: THE KORET-TAUBE INITIATIVE ON jEWISH PEOPLEHOOD
In a unique exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, visitors can watch as soferet (female scribe) Julie Seltzer writes an entire Torah over the course of a year. Contemporary artists' responses to each weekly passage will fill the gallery walls by next fall.
For over two thousand years, the idea of Jewish Peoplehood has fascinated, intrigued, and perplexed Jews and non-Jews the world over. Is Judaism a culture? Can Jewish culture exist in the absence of religion? Are Jews a nation? How has the concept of a cohesive Jewish “people” changed since the birth of the State of Israel? The very act of wrestling with these complex issues and questions has helped to define what it means to be Jewish in the modern world.
The Koret Foundation and our sister organization Taube Philanthropies have long shared a commitment to actively cultivate a thriving Jewish community in the Bay Area and to celebrating our Jewish cultural heritage/history while creating a shared vision for our Jewish future. In support of this goal, the two organizations recently launched a new initiative on Jewish Peoplehood.
Our Peoplehood initiative represents a logical progression building on the Taube Foundation’s Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland (JHIP). By supporting and creating educational, communal and cultural programs for the growing Jewish population in Poland, JHIP links Polish Jewry to Jewish communities in the United States
and Israel. The JHIP expands the view of Peoplehood by celebrating 1,000 years of Jewish culture in Poland and awakening American and Israeli Jews to their heritage in ways that inform identity and continuity.
“The historical legacy of the Jewish people has undeniably served as the cornerstone of Western civilization,” said Koret President and Taube Foundation Chairman Tad Taube. “That heritage is embodied in the Judeo-Christian values that form the underpinnings of American culture. The Koret-Taube Peoplehood Initiative explores and promotes programs which define Jewish Peoplehood in the context of these cultural and historical influences on Jewish, Western and global cultures.”
Grants to the Peninsula Jewish Community Center and the Oshman Family JCC on the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life will support the exploration of Jewish life and culture through the twin lenses of legacy and vision. We support the development of cultural, educational, and community programs that inspire a living Jewish heritage and... Continued on page 7