Am Yisrael Chai: Reclaiming Jewish Identity Beyond Religion
For centuries, the Jewish people have endured persecution, exile, and attempts to erase their unique identity. Yet, despite history’s darkest chapters, one truth remains unwavering: Am Yisrael Chai — the Nation of Israel lives. This phrase is not merely a declaration of survival; it is a profound statement of Jewish identity, one that transcends religion alone and embodies a living, breathing civilization.
Judaism: A Peoplehood, Not Just a Religion
In today’s world, Judaism is often misrepresented as merely a faith tradition, comparable to Christianity or Islam. This reductive view obscures a central truth: Judaism is not solely about belief in God or religious observance — it is a peoplehood, a shared ancestral identity rooted in common history, culture, language, and land.
The Jewish people trace their lineage to the ancient Israelites, indigenous to the Land of Israel. This connection is not metaphorical. It is substantiated by archaeological evidence, historical records, religious texts, and even genetic studies that demonstrate the continuity and cohesion of the Jewish people, regardless of geographic dispersion — from Ashkenazi Jews in Europe to Mizrahi and Sephardi communities in the Middle East and North Africa.
Throughout history, however, this multifaceted identity has been flattened and distorted. Western colonial and theological frameworks, influenced by Christian and Islamic paradigms, redefined Judaism through their own lenses — as a religion divorced from nationhood. This reframing served assimilationist purposes: if Judaism could be reduced to a set of beliefs, Jews could be more easily absorbed, marginalized, or rejected within dominant societies. The national and ethnic dimensions of Jewish identity were deemed inconvenient or threatening, and were thus systematically erased or suppressed.
Reclaiming a Full-Spectrum Jewish Identity
Against this backdrop, a movement has emerged — not of return to religion per se, but of reclamation of the Jewish self. It is a call to embrace the wholeness of Jewish identity: historical, cultural, ethnic, and national. This movement asserts that Jews must define themselves on their own terms, rather than accept externally imposed definitions that minimize or fragment who they are.
This reclamation is especially urgent in a time of resurgent antisemitism and increasing cultural pressure to conform or assimilate. Jewish identity has too often been narrated solely through the lens of trauma — pogroms, expulsions, the Holocaust. While these tragedies are integral to Jewish memory, they are not the totality of Jewish existence. To frame Jewishness only in terms of victimhood is to participate, however unintentionally, in the erasure of Jewish vitality and joy.
Jewish identity is also one of song, literature, innovation, resilience, and laughter. It is found in the poetic cadence of Hebrew, the culinary traditions passed from generation to generation, the ethical values enshrined in ancient texts, and the collective yearning for and return to Zion.
Am Yisrael Chai in the 21st Century
The affirmation Am Yisrael Chai is not simply a slogan. It is a mission statement. It declares that Jewish identity is alive, proud, and indivisible — not a relic of the past, but a living force with a future. To say Am Yisrael Chai is to insist on the visibility, dignity, and autonomy of the Jewish people.
This affirmation compels us to:
Recognize Judaism as an identity encompassing religion, culture, ethnicity, and nationhood.
Shift the narrative of Jewish history from one centred on suffering to one that celebrates continuity, achievement, and creative vitality.
Understand that Zionism (the movement for Jewish self-determination in our ancestral homeland) is not a political ideology tacked onto Jewish identity, but an organic outgrowth of it.
Reject binary labels like “religious” or “secular” that divide Jews into categories that obscure their shared peoplehood. All Jews, regardless of belief or practice, are integral members of Am Yisrael.
From Jerusalem to Johannesburg, from Buenos Aires to Brooklyn, Jewish life thrives in its diversity and dynamism. The story of the Jewish people is not over — it is unfolding still. And reclaiming our identity in all its complexity is an act not only of self-love, but of collective survival and flourishing.
To embrace Jewish identity fully (unapologetically and joyfully) is the most powerful response to those who have sought, and still seek, to erase it. Our answer to centuries of erasure is this: Am Yisrael Chai.
Yesterday. Today. Forever.