Researchers on Jewish identity always include a question forcing a person to check a box indicating whether he or she is "Orthodox," "Conservative," "Reform," "Reconstructionist," or "Other" (there is even a so-called new category of Jews created by contemporary research that lists "Just Jew" as another option).

Hyphenated Jews
Throughout Jewish history Jews adopted or were labeled with "adjectival" descriptions. They were Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Hasidic and Mitnagdic. And today we have Israeli and American Jews. These adjectives actually reflect the richness of a hermeneutic tradition that is sympathetic to diverse views and alternative interpretations.

American Jewry has clearly opted for a potpourri of Judaisms (one of the first questions a newcomer to a Jewish community is likely to be asked is "What synagogue are you a member of?") and one of American Judaism's most prominent characteristics is its denominationalism.

I have come to believe that the prominence of the "adjective" is harming Jewish life. Such great thinkers as Adin Steinsaltz have talked about us as "a shattered people," and that seems to me to be an unhealthy state.

A Time for Diversity and a Time for Shared Legacy
There are times to emphasize and encourage rich diversities and times when we need to emphasize our shared legacy. I believe that in our era too much effort is devoted to the sometimes true but often trivial distinctions that serve to separate us. Ours is an age in which we need to devote more attention to the shared principles, shared contents, and shared values that comprise Judaism. We need to help nourish our young on a basic "food triangle" of Judaism. Once they have ingested this core, they will then be well-equipped to consider and pursue diverse routes.

What I am talking about is what John Dewey once called "a Common Faith" and recently commentators are calling "a Common Judaism."

By "common," Dewey did not mean pedestrian or lowest common denominator. Rather, he meant basic shared principles held by members of a faith community. By the phrase "Common Judaism" I am referring to commonalities of Judaism that have been central to Jewish life throughout the ages. These might include such examples as the primacy of the Hebrew Bible, the belief that ethics are an inherent and interwoven part of Judaism's spiritual and cultural tapestry, and belief that community—the idea of Klal Yisrael— is a central Jewish value and practice.

I increasingly have come to think that a major mission of educators in each of our movements ought to be to focus on seeking the commonalities that unite us, turning them into a core Jewish curriculum. There is no question that there are distinctions that are real and deserve attention. But sometimes, by spending time arguing over different estimates of how many angels can fit on the head of a pin, we lose sight of more important ties that bind us. This is the moment in time to focus on the heirloom of our great legacy rather than on differences that often are of custom, venue, and habit.

The task I am suggesting is not easy. We have no Sanhedrin, we have no central authority, every Jewish group claims sovereignty over its denomination, and ultimately the local institution does what it wants.

But I somehow believe that if we create quality education with a curriculum of core ideas and content, diverse Jewish educators of good faith will be attracted to it. If we build the really good curriculum of Common Judaism, the "uncommon" Jews of all corners of the land will want it.

So, my colleagues, I raise the challenge: let us create a curriculum of Common Judaism that is rich in ways to teach what unites us as a people, and enables diverse schools to adapt the curriculum to their particular needs. It is time to put the pieces back together, remove the black clouds, and allow our young to clearly see the remarkable richness of our legacy.