Some current intellectual approaches view nations and cultures as transitory kaleidoscopes, nationalism as a fairly recent invention and history as purposeless transmutation. From this perspective, the history of the Jewish people is deconstructed into varying cultural stains that appear and disappear randomly with no particular rhyme or reason, with Zionism portrayed as a movement based on an obsolete and stagnated concept of nationalism.

This unit surveys these approaches and offers an alternative perspective of unity within multiplicity. This perception incorporates the multifaceted and diverse nature of history, but also recognizes the organic unity of all of these parts to foster understanding of and identification with the Jewish people throughout its history.