- Calling itself a group, network, to promoted Jewish Peoplehood, it fails or chooses not to define the (parameters) of the term "peoplehood". What are its component parts, its expected common behaviors or attitudes? In other words, how does anyone know that their actions are actually promoting Jewish Peoplehood?
- While bemoaning the low level of affiliation among the current generation of Jews, young and old, the number of attendees (and I assume non present supports) is small. Is this an (other) elite group attempting to present itself as a mass movement? How do they intend to actually attract a massive following?
- If a sense of community is a fundamental element of developing and maintaining affiliation, is a virtual community of an interactive website enough to create the needed interpersonal connections and community spirit? How do you attract the current outsider, generally on the periphery and sometimes even beyond the periphery to come inside?
- Is a virtual community enough to hold together the current "membership" beyond the core?
- Is this a group/concept set up to grow old together or a model or paradigm for the succeeding (next) generation to take over just like the group hopes to do the current power structure (generation)?
The one question that requires further thought and elaboration, that I think I can attempt to work though is: Does today's contemporary reality present fundamentally different challenges to this generation than it did to previous ones?
Here I believe that every generation confronts the common challenge of determining a contemporary and relevant meaning for traditional values in the face of modernity. Modernity is really an ongoing continuous contemporary challenge. While today's challenges of modernity are different than those my parents, grandparents and ancestors faced, each generation, nonetheless, confronted the challenges of a new and modernizing world. The secret of continuity is the ability to respond to those challenges and make life and commonly held traditions meaningful in the new reality.
It's important to understand what's come before us, to appreciate the values and principals of past and current life, if only to understand how the previous generations confronted their challenges.
That said, I don't believe that the underlying issues are that much different from generation to generation. It's how we understand them and how we choose to address them to make our lives meaningful and "authentic" to our heritage. It's how we "frame" our reality.
