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Jewish Priorities: Sixty-Five Proposals for the Future of Our People
An unprecedented, large-scale collection of timely and provocative essays from a wide range of Jewish thought leaders that aims to start a global conversation among Jews about their future as a people.
“…a mind-expanding look at how Judaism can survive and thrive in the 21st century.” – Publishers Weekly
Imagine having the entire Jewish people over for dinner—and hosting a raucous, creative, riveting debate about their collective future. Jewish Priorities offers, for the first time, a wide-ranging, ambitious, and genuinely “pan-Jewish” conversation. Encompassing more than sixty top authors from around the Jewish world—Israelis and Diaspora writers; younger influencers and veteran opinion leaders; rabbinic and communal leaders, journalists and scholars, and literary and cultural figures, ranging from secular to ultra-Orthodox—each contributor offers a different priority for the Jewish people. In the process, Jewish Priorities captures the tremendous breadth, depth, and passionate commitment that has long defined this unique community in history.
These essays are all original and come from some of our greatest luminaries—thought leaders like Natan Sharansky, Dara Horn, Yossi Klein Halevi, Ruth Wisse, Shaul Magid, David Wolpe, Fania Oz-Salzberger, and many more. Their topics vary widely, from Zionism and antisemitism to education and philanthropy; from the Holocaust to Jewish intimacy; from the quest for God to the failure of Jewish institutions, to the best way to study the Torah in an age of viral videos.
Jewish Priorities offers an unprecedented snapshot of the cultural, political, and religious currents driving an entire generation of Jews—but also the deepest aspirations and dreams of this beautiful, unique people at a pivotal moment in our history.
“…a mind-expanding look at how Judaism can survive and thrive in the 21st century.” – Publishers Weekly
Imagine having the entire Jewish people over for dinner—and hosting a raucous, creative, riveting debate about their collective future. Jewish Priorities offers, for the first time, a wide-ranging, ambitious, and genuinely “pan-Jewish” conversation. Encompassing more than sixty top authors from around the Jewish world—Israelis and Diaspora writers; younger influencers and veteran opinion leaders; rabbinic and communal leaders, journalists and scholars, and literary and cultural figures, ranging from secular to ultra-Orthodox—each contributor offers a different priority for the Jewish people. In the process, Jewish Priorities captures the tremendous breadth, depth, and passionate commitment that has long defined this unique community in history.
These essays are all original and come from some of our greatest luminaries—thought leaders like Natan Sharansky, Dara Horn, Yossi Klein Halevi, Ruth Wisse, Shaul Magid, David Wolpe, Fania Oz-Salzberger, and many more. Their topics vary widely, from Zionism and antisemitism to education and philanthropy; from the Holocaust to Jewish intimacy; from the quest for God to the failure of Jewish institutions, to the best way to study the Torah in an age of viral videos.
Jewish Priorities offers an unprecedented snapshot of the cultural, political, and religious currents driving an entire generation of Jews—but also the deepest aspirations and dreams of this beautiful, unique people at a pivotal moment in our history.
- GenresNonfictionJewishJudaism
528 pages, Hardcover
Published October 24, 2023
45 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
David Hazony
26 books41 followersDavid Hazony is the editor of "Young Zionist Voices: A New Generation Speaks Out" (Wicked Son, 2024; order: https://www.amazon.com/Young-Zionist-...) and "Jewish Priorities: Sixty-Five Proposals for the Future of Our Peopls (Wicked Son, 2023). (Order here: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Priorit... )
His first book, "The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life" (Scribner, 2010), was a finalist for the 2010 National Jewish Book Award.
From 2004-2007, Hazony served as editor-in-chief of Azure, the quarterly journal of Jewish public thought published by the Shalem Center. He completed his PhD at Hebrew University in Jewish Philosophy, and has focused his research on the thought of Eliezer Berkovits, including two major essays on his thought, and editing two volumes of Berkovits' writings.
Hazony also translated Emunah Elon's novel "If You Awaken Love," which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in 2007; and Uri Bar-Joseph's Bestseller "The Angel" (HarperCollins, 2014).
He is the Director and Steinhardt Senior Fellow at the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities.
From 2013-2017, he moved to Washington DC where he served as Founding Editor of The Tower Magazine, a publication covering politics and culture of the Middle East.
He lives in Jerusalem.
His first book, "The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life" (Scribner, 2010), was a finalist for the 2010 National Jewish Book Award.
From 2004-2007, Hazony served as editor-in-chief of Azure, the quarterly journal of Jewish public thought published by the Shalem Center. He completed his PhD at Hebrew University in Jewish Philosophy, and has focused his research on the thought of Eliezer Berkovits, including two major essays on his thought, and editing two volumes of Berkovits' writings.
Hazony also translated Emunah Elon's novel "If You Awaken Love," which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in 2007; and Uri Bar-Joseph's Bestseller "The Angel" (HarperCollins, 2014).
He is the Director and Steinhardt Senior Fellow at the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities.
From 2013-2017, he moved to Washington DC where he served as Founding Editor of The Tower Magazine, a publication covering politics and culture of the Middle East.
He lives in Jerusalem.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 16, 2024
If you are interested in the future of the Jewish people, you will find the essays in this collection thought provoking. Even though this book does not reflect the most recent atrocities in Israel and Gaza, it does have articles on anti-semitism on college campuses and on the nature of Zionism in our time. In addition, well-known scholars write about how to revitalize Jewish institutions, creating solidarity among our various “tribes”, embracing Mizrahi culture, revamping Jewish education in America, and creating new Jewish heroes, to name a few subjects. Rabbi David Wolfe, in his essay, writes, “The law of averages means most of us will be wrong about most things since there are infinitely more ways to be wrong than being right.” A sobering thought!
May 3, 2024
This book is an amazing effort to bring together Jews from different professions, geographic areas, political viewpoints, and religious groups. In this book, the reader is exposed to important and diverse voices.
December 8, 2024
Interesting insight into ways to improve the global Jewish community. This was written before October 7th; I'd love to see a follow-up up.
June 5, 2025
There were a lot of valuable ideas in this book. I hope it will be widely read and discussed.
Really good collection of essays. There are 65 essays in the collection, from a broad range of perspectives written mainly by American and Israeli authors. Because there is such a a wide range of topics and perspectives included, I think it’s fair to say that most readers will learn something, be given something to think about, and will disagree or even be offended by something. Sometimes I found myself both agreeing and disagreeing with an author in the same essay. I appreciated that most of the authors remembered to offer suggestions for how Jews today can move forward, though a few offered criticism or opinion without suggestions for doing better.
My one critique (and hence the taking off of one star) is that the collection had some essays that were redundant in content, and this made it harder to finish the book than if it had been trimmed to only include essays that approached each topic from a new perspective. Because the essays were written before Oct 7, 2023, there were a few times when I thought “they’d change or add a few sentences if they could today!” Mainly, however, the issues that have plagued Jews around the world since Oct 7, 2023 were already so prevalent that they are addressed multiple times in these essays!
Really good collection of essays. There are 65 essays in the collection, from a broad range of perspectives written mainly by American and Israeli authors. Because there is such a a wide range of topics and perspectives included, I think it’s fair to say that most readers will learn something, be given something to think about, and will disagree or even be offended by something. Sometimes I found myself both agreeing and disagreeing with an author in the same essay. I appreciated that most of the authors remembered to offer suggestions for how Jews today can move forward, though a few offered criticism or opinion without suggestions for doing better.
My one critique (and hence the taking off of one star) is that the collection had some essays that were redundant in content, and this made it harder to finish the book than if it had been trimmed to only include essays that approached each topic from a new perspective. Because the essays were written before Oct 7, 2023, there were a few times when I thought “they’d change or add a few sentences if they could today!” Mainly, however, the issues that have plagued Jews around the world since Oct 7, 2023 were already so prevalent that they are addressed multiple times in these essays!
June 10, 2025
This book took me more than a year to finish, not just because of its length and my slower reading speed. But also for the fact that there are 65 essays on 65 different topics that deserve time and space to really consider. Reading a book about Jewish Priorities after 10/7 with writings from before 10/7 was slightly disorienting, but also extremely telling. While not all essays resonated, many did and gave me a different perspective to consider. All were timely and likely will continue to be for a while to come.
June 13, 2025
"Jewish Priorities: Sixty-Five Proposals for the Future of Our People" is an interesting premise with an all-star lineup of contributors. But, aside from a few stand-out essays, the book fails to go beyond its articles' headlines, leaving many of the proposals feeling vague and empty.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews