A People with a Past: The Idea of History in Modern Jewish Thought

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A People with a Past: The Idea of History in Modern Jewish Thought

How have Jewish thinkers defined the relationship between the modern Jewish individual, the Jewish people, and the Jewish past?

Claire Sufrin

August 1, 2022

August 1, 2022

Claire Sufrin

Claire E. Sufrin is Director of Research and Publication at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where she edits the award-winning Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, oversees Kogod Research Center seminars, and teaches in the Hartman Teen Fellowship and other programs. Claire earned a PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University, where her research focused on the German-Jewish thinker Martin Buber, and a BA in Religious Studies from Yale University. Claire is co-editor of The New Jewish Canon,

Judaism and Modernity, Jewish Peoplehood, Video, Torah, Ideas for Today

When we think about our Jewishness, we often focus on our individual or family background, belief or practice. But how should we think about the Jewishness of the Jewish people as a whole?

Over 2 sessions, Claire Sufrin examines thinkers for whom being a Jew meant being part of a larger collective, a group formed through history, to see how they defined the relationship between the modern Jewish individual, the Jewish people, and the Jewish past.

Session 1

This session aired on July 20, 2022.

Session 2

This session aired on July 27, 2022.

This series is part of Ideas for Today, our offering of curated courses led by leading scholars addressing the compelling contemporary Jewish issues of the day.