Futurizing the Jews

Alternative Futures for Meaningful Jewish Existence in the 21st Century

Tsvi (Howard) Bisk, Moshe Dror

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9780313056819
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Bisk and Dror assert that the 21st Century can be the Jewish Century, that no other people is better prepared to face its challenges. However, to do so, a stress on the Jewish Future must replace a preoccupation with the Jewish Past. They offer a neo-Zionist ideological analysis of modern Jewish life as an alternative to both classical Zionism and post-Zionism. They conceptualize a Jewish Grand Strategy by clearly defining and delineating between ideology, policy, grand strategy, strategy and tactics, with compelling proposals for what such a revised Grand Straegy might entail. They suggest a concept of reinvigorated Israel-Diaspora relations based on this new Grand Strategy and the potential of the Information Technology Revolution. They also offer a conception of Jewish spirituality that could be as appealing to secular as to religious Jews. They reject the concept of a Nation that Dwells Alone. Throughout the ages, Jews have affected and been affected by the world more than any other People they assert. They also reject the view that suffering is the dominant feature of Jewish history as this lachrymose perception cannot inspire needed Jewish ambitions in the young. They stress the needs of the Jewish person and insist that there can be no real significance to the continued existence of the Jewish People unless the real life, concrete needs of the individual are addressed. As former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations and former Cabinent Minister Gad Yaacobi asserts in his foreword, The book is original, iconoclastic and in some ways revolutionary … it challenges inherited assumptions and calls for positive action. I believe we have before us a book that must become a reference point for Jewish policy makers as quickly as possible.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Foreword by Gad Yaacobi
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Task of the Jewish Futurist
• Chapter 1 The World We Live In
• Chapter 2 The Triumph of Zionism
• Chapter 3 Zionism in the Twenty-First Century
• Chapter 4 The Special Case of American Jewry
• Chapter 5 Israeli Grand Strategy: A Historical Critique
• Chapter 6 Reinventing Israeli Grand Strategy
• Chapter 7 Reinventing Israel-Diaspora Relations
• Chapter 8 The Future of Arab-Jewish Relations
• Chapter 9 The Future of Ethnic Relations and Israeli Culture
• Chapter 10 The Future of Jewish-Christian Relations
• Chapter 11 The Future of Jewish Identity
• Chapter 12 The Cyber World We Live In
• Chapter 13 The Future of Jewish Spirituality
• Chapter 14 The Future of Jewish Learning
• Chapter 15 The Jewish Community in Cyberspace
• Appendix: A Brief Introduction to the Cosmotheistic Hypothesis of Mordechai Nessyahu
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index