Throughout history, the persecutions of the Jewish people have been central to their identity and to the cohesion of their religion and cultural heritage. But now, with the success of the Jewish State of Israel and the prosperity of Jews in the United States, the collective sufferings that have forged the Jewish identity are disappearing. The compelling question Bernard Susser and Charles Liebman ask in Choosing Survival is: Will this success paradoxically prove fatal to Judaism? Susser and Liebman paint a disturbing portrait of the decline of Judaism in both Israel and the United States and the various--and mainly ineffective--efforts to reverse that decline. In Israel, as Jews are increasingly drawn to cosmopolitan Western culture, Jewishness is in danger of being reduced merely to communal folkways, while political tensions between religious and secular Jews threaten to pull the state apart. In the U.S., assimilation and secularization is even harder to resist. Efforts to strengthen Jewish identity by claiming the U.S. is still anti-Semitic and by pointing to the Holocaust and the threats to Israel's survival have not worked. The authors do, however, see a hopeful sign in Jewish Orthodoxy which, while not a viable solution to the problem, is successfully passing on its tenets and practices and attracting many non-Orthodox Jews. They identify several aspects of Orthodoxy that can be emulated by all Jews and hold the best hope for Jewish survival--its reverence for study, its ability to set and maintain boundaries, and its deep belief in community. For anyone concerned about the fate of Judaism and what it means to be Jewish, Choosing Survival is an impassioned, troubling, and essential book.

Choosing Survival: Strategies for a Jewish Future

History

Susser, Bernard

Liebman, Charles S.

World

Oxford University Press

In this book a political scientist living in Israel and a sociologist living in America explore how Israeli and American Jews differ in the way they conceive of their Judaism. It shows what it means to be Jewish in Israel and in America and how each group interprets their Jewish tradition.

Two Worlds of Judaism: The Israeli and American Experiences

Cohen, Steven M.

Americas

Yale University Press

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1983.

Civil Religion in Isræl: Traditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State

Don-yehiya, Eliezer

Middle East

University of California Press

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1983.

Civil Religion in Israel: Traditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State

Religion & Spirituality

Judaism

Deceptive Images is a profoundly thoughtful effort by a social scientist—who is a participant observer in American Jewish life—to come to terms with his concerns about how American Jews and Judaism have been studied, and his sensitivity to the policy implications of such studies. Liebman writes about what he cares deeply about; as a social scientist he is able to use concepts and theories in which he has been trained, although not without a sense of their limitations.  In the passionately argued book that results, Liebman contends that those concerned with American Jews, both social scientists and communal leaders, have placed too much emphasis on what Jews do and too little emphasis on Judaism itself. Because they have depended too much on quantitative studies to help them understand contemporary American Jews, they have given too little encouragement to efforts to probe the meaning of Judaism in the lives of American Jews.  This stimulating volume takes exception to the notion that American Jewish life is flourishing. It calls for reassessment both of the study of American Judaism and the priorities of American Jewish organizations.

Deceptive Images

Reference

Routledge

First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Religion, Democracy and Israeli Society (Sherman Lecture)

Christian Books & Bibles

Deceptive Images is a profoundly thoughtful effort by a social scientist—who is a participant observer in American Jewish life—to come to terms with his concerns about how American Jews and Judaism have been studied, and his sensitivity to the policy implications of such studies. Liebman writes about what he cares deeply about; as a social scientist he is able to use concepts and theories in which he has been trained, although not without a sense of their limitations. In the passionately argued book that results, Liebman contends that those concerned with American Jews, both social scientists and communal leaders, have placed too much emphasis on what Jews do and too little emphasis on Judaism itself. Because they have depended too much on quantitative studies to help them understand contemporary American Jews, they have given too little encouragement to efforts to probe the meaning of Judaism in the lives of American Jews. This stimulating volume takes exception to the notion that American Jewish life is flourishing. It calls for reassessment both of the study of American Judaism and the priorities of American Jewish organizations.

Religion, Democracy and Israeli Society (The Sherman Lecture Series)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Liebman, Charles S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Liebman, Charles S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Liebman, Charles S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Choosing Survival: Strategies for a Jewish Future

Two Worlds of Judaism: The Israeli and American Experiences

Two Worlds of Judaism: The Israeli and American Experiences

Civil Religion in Isræl: Traditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State

Civil Religion in Israel: Traditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State

Deceptive Images

Religion, Democracy and Israeli Society (Sherman Lecture)

Deceptive Images

Religion, Democracy and Israeli Society (The Sherman Lecture Series)