Once, not that long ago, it seemed that the contemporary Jewish world was essentially split between the United States and Israel with, of course, Soviet Jews eager to leave Russia and to move to one or the other location. How different the world now looks — in part, because of globalization and a more porous notion of boundaries, but also because of the splitting apart of the old Communist world and the heightened vibrancy of Jewish communities across a more significant, if fragmented, Diaspora. This issue of Sh’ma begins to explore why the Jewish world now feels so much larger and more complicated. In short vignettes, Jews from around the world share their stories — short takes on communities thriving or barely surviving. Of course, the United States and Israel remain the dominant spheres for Jewish life, but they are far from the whole story. That being so, we include a roundtable featuring leading Israeli and American Jewish intellectuals and cultural figures speaking about the current state of relations between Jews in Israel and the United States.