Israeli Society: Between Cohesion and Fragmentation
Israeli Society: Between Cohesion and Fragmentation
Implications for Jewish Peoplehood and American Jewry
Part of our spring learning series, Israel at a Crossroad—Expanding the Conversation
Monday, May 5, 2025
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Online
With Dr. Elan Ezrahi (Kekst Graduate School, ’94)
Throughout Israel’s history, there have been deep divisions between different segments of society. Israelis are divided on issues concerning national security, religion, economics, majority-minority relations, and more.
Yet Israel’s democratic system contained those divides, and Israelis knew how to unite in times of crisis. What is the Israeli “formula” for division and unity? Are we experiencing rifts that are no longer bridgeable? How do these Israeli divides impact American Jewry?
Elan Ezrachi, PhD (from The Jewish Theological Seminary) is a Jerusalem-based veteran Jewish Peoplehood educator, researcher, and executive. In recent year,s he has been teaching Israelis about contemporary trends in American Jewish life. He recently published a novel, Hashlicha (The Emissary), a story of a young woman who is sent to New York in the early 1980s as an emissary to work with Jewish students on New York campuses.
If you have previously registered for another session in this series, your registration admits you to all sessions in the series, and you may attend as many as you’d like.
About the Series
Mondays, April 28–May 19, 2025
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
This series builds on the discussions from JTS’s Israel at the Crossroads convening, bringing JTS alumni into conversation about the evolving challenges of Israeli identity, culture, and collective resilience. Through explorations of art, spirituality, and national memory, we will consider how Israeli society navigates questions of belonging, pluralism, and meaning in this complex moment. By engaging voices from across disciplines, Expanding the Conversation seeks to illuminate the ways individuals and communities are shaping Israel’s cultural and spiritual landscape today.
