Jewish Civilization Webinar: Past – Present – Future

The webinar “Jewish Civilization: Past – Present – Future” was held as part of the “Power of Belonging” webinar series by ConnectED – the Global Educators Network for Jewish Peoplehood and Belonging.

Led by: Prof. Youval Rotman, Founder of the Koret Center for Jewish Civilization and Professor of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University.

In this webinar, Prof. Rotman presented an innovative approach to understanding the resilience and evolution of Judaism as one of history’s oldest civilizations. He explored foundational questions regarding the definition of Judaism and proposed the term “civilization” to describe a dynamic and diverse social framework that transcends the boundaries of religion, nationality, culture, or community.

During the session, we examined the uniqueness of Jewish civilization, which developed without a single center by utilizing connectivity and the transmission of knowledge as a unifying bond. We defined the three fundamental pillars of this civilization: Diversity, Connectivity, and Solidarity. Prof. Rotman guided the participants through various sources from different eras, demonstrating how the definition of a Jewish collective was shaped through the weaving of connections. He further explained methods for analyzing sources based on context, genre, and historical experience, enabling teachers to guide students in reading sources not as detached evidence, but as expressions of a magnificent, living, and renewing civilization.