ANNOUNCING: The Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities

A New Jewish Think-Tank for the Post-10/7 Era

David H.— I’m just thrilled about this. For me it is a major personal milestone, an intense honor, and a humbling moment.

Instead of explaining, I’ll just share the press release below, which says enough for now. I’m sure many of you will have questions—stay tuned for more.

Palo Alto, CA–March 4, 2024–The Z3 Project, a global initiative to reimagine the relationship between Diaspora and Israeli Jews, and which is based at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, CA, has announced the establishment of the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities. This research-based think tank aims to help transform the way the Jewish world talks about the next era in Zionism, Diaspora-Israel relations and Jewish Peoplehood. It will be led by author and editor David Hazony, who will take the role of Director and Steinhardt Senior Fellow at the Institute.

Since 2015, the Z3 Project has been working around the world to help Jewish communities rethink how to engage with each other across mounting division and divergences. The centerpiece event is the annual Z3 Conference, which is hosted in Palo Alto each winter and welcomes thousands of attendees, while Z3 satellite events have been hosted in a dozen other locations.

The Z3 Project also produces educational material that reaches tens of thousands of students worldwide each year, in addition to content that extends beyond the conference. A video series that addressed core questions of Jewish Peoplehood helped reach millions of viewers.

The Z3 Project is also host to the Leadership Lab, which provides leaders of Jewish organizations with the language, tools and supporting framework to implement Z3 projects and programs, and to build a supportive community within their own organizations.

Between its annual conferences and other events around the U.S., and its networks of JCCs, youth movements and other high-leverage partnerships, The Z3 Project, under the leadership of Rabbi Amitai Fraiman and Zack Bodner, is positioned to make a major mark on Jewish life. At the heart of Z3's success is its ability to create communal buy-in around the Jewish "public square" as embodied by its being housed at a JCC, an organization that is non-partisan, unapologetically Jewish and proud of its connection to Israel.

The Need
The Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities is being formed to address critical academic, cultural and social questions around the interconnected relationship of Jews around the world and the role of Israel in Jewish identity.

The Z3 Institute believes that the Jewish people need new ideas—not just about terrorism, security and antisemitism—but covering every aspect of Jewish life: rethinking Zionism and the Israel-Diaspora relationship, philanthropy and education, religious and political alliances and more. The Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities aims to set out new strategies and pathways to both develop and implement these new ideas effectively—through communities, leaders, philanthropists, media and institutions.

Rabbi Amitai Fraiman, Director of the Z3 Project, explains, "I am thrilled that David is joining the team. With the Z3 Conference, Leadership Lab and now the Institute, this completes our strategy to shift the discourse around Israel and Jewish Peoplehood. The Z3 Project has been in this space for a decade and will continue to lead the conversation about Zionism and Jewish Peoplehood."

Zack Bodner, President and CEO of the Oshman Family JCC, observes, "For the first time in Jewish history, there is a strong Jewish homeland and a strong Jewish Diaspora, and we need a new paradigm for how these two centers of Jewish life should engage with each other. We cannot continue to let our shared trauma define our sense of Peoplehood. Many Jewish organizations lacked the language to have productive conversations about how Israel and the Diaspora should embrace each, but October 7 has made this task even more urgent. The Z3 Institute will help give all of us that language."

About the Director
Dr. David Hazony is an award-winning editor, translator, and author. He is the editor of Jewish Priorities (Wicked Son, 2023), the former editor-in-chief of the journal Azure and was the founding editor of TheTower.org. His book The Ten Commandments (Scribner, 2010) was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. His translation of Uri Bar-Joseph’s The Angel (HarperCollins, 2016) was a winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He has edited two previous anthologies: "Essential Essays on Judaism by Eliezer Berkovits" (Shalem, 2002), and, with Yoram Hazony and Michael B. Oren, "New Essays on Zionism" (Shalem, 2007). He has a Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy from the Hebrew University and lives in Jerusalem.

Comments Hazony, "This is the first new think tank in the post-October 7 world. We live in a time when Jewish communities need new ideas, new thoughts and new playbooks to deal with everything. What we are trying to do is rethink the fundamentals of Jewish life in the Diaspora."