2.1 New kinds of organizations. I would like to see new organizational forms develop and take root in the Jewish community – the kinds of organizations that other ethnic groups construct for themselves in our increasingly multicultural society. For example:

• Ethnic mini-malls (like the Japanese Mitsuwa mall chain) that foster “ethnic brand identities", especially the brands of businesses based in the home country. The ethnic mall concept has been replicated by several ethnic groups, and these malls serve as powerful communal magnets. One Canadian researcher noted that ethnic malls offer “scope for robust commercial development in the otherwise saturated market for malls and plans”.



• A network of cultural institutions, affiliated with the State of Israel, which is formally charged with transmitting Hebrew and Israeli culture to the Diaspora. While the cultural attaches of the Israeli consulates do offer a range of programming (such as ”HaBayit HaIsraeli”), their current scope of operations generally doesn’t match what many other nations’ institutions produce (i.e. the Alliance Francaise, the Dante Alligheri Society, the Goethe Institute, the Japan Foundation, the Cervantes Institute, the Confucius Institute, the Camoes Institute, the Greek Institute, etc.). In particular, it is noteworthy that China’s Confucius Institute works actively with public schools in the U.S. to promote Chinese language instruction. The closest Jewish counterpart in the U.S. seems to be the Florida Israel Institute in South Florida.



• Widely recognized, trans-national media outlets (such as the Israeli Network and various Hebrew language web sites) that help build an international ethnic mass culture. While many Jewish websites already thrive on the Internet, there are relatively few that reach Jews across national boundaries (sites with multiple language versions, like HaAretz or the Forward, might be considered exceptions to this rule). Truly universal Jewish media outlets would help provide a promotional vehicle for brands and concepts that, hopefully, would be recognized throughout Israel and the Diaspora.



• More emphasis on grade K-12 Hebrew language instruction, both within Jewish day school curricula as well as in public education (like the Ben Gamla Charter School in South Florida, that offers a dual-language Hebrew/English curriculum without any religious studies; or other forms of Hebrew language instruction in the public schools).

2.2 A new understanding of ourselves. While there has always been a debate whether Jews should primarily see themselves (and be seen by others) as members of an ethnic or religious community, the organizational structures of American Jewish life are distinctly religiously oriented. Even the non-sectarian organizations, that tend to emphasize and reinforce the importance of Jewish people hood, are often quite different in their structure and orientation from those set up by other ethnicities.

• None of the structures that I propose here (i.e. ethnic malls, bi-lingual charter schools, governmental language institutes, or foreign language television and Internet portals) are original; all have been successfully adopted by many other ethnic groups who understand, as James Lull states, that “culture can be actively reterritorialized by the ability of communications technology to facilitate social interaction that transcends physical distance”.



• We need to be able to learn from others. As far-fetched as it may sound, it might be wise to solicit advisers from other ethnic communities to help us set up the kinds of institutions they already maintain (for instance, asking Japanese advisers to help develop Israeli mini-malls).



• Furthermore, while we are not directly in competition with other ethnic groups, a failure to keep pace with other groups’ survival strategies will ultimately affect how we see ourselves. For instance, recent studies have indicated growing detachment from Israel among Jewish youth. While this might be linked to developments in Israel itself (and how Israel is perceived by others), another factor could be that many American Jewish youth have difficulty understanding the Jewish community as an ethnic group since it is not organized along recognized ethnic patterns. In other words, if Europeans, Asians, Arabs, and other ethnic groups in the larger society follow a strategy of cultural distinctiveness while Jews do not, then this could indirectly delegitimize our self-definition as an ethnic group.