The Way Into the Varieties of Jewishness

An accessible introduction to the many ways Jews understand Jewishness and identify themselves and their communities—throughout history and today.

For everyone who wants to understand the varieties of Jewish identity, its boundaries and inclusions, this book explores the religious and historical understanding of what it has meant to be Jewish from ancient times to the present controversy over “Who is a Jew?” Beginning with the biblical period, it takes readers era by era through Jewish history to reveal who the Jewish community included and excluded, and discusses the fascinating range of historical conflicts that Jews have dealt with internally. It provides an understanding of how the Jewish people and faith developed, and of what the major religious differences are among Jewish movements today.

An accessible introduction to the many ways Jews understand Jewishness and identify themselves and their communities—throughout history and today.

For everyone who wants to understand the varieties of Jewish identity, its boundaries and inclusions, this book explores the religious and historical understanding of what it has meant to be Jewish from ancient times to the present controversy over “Who is a Jew?” Beginning with the biblical period, it takes readers era by era through Jewish history to reveal who the Jewish community included and excluded, and discusses the fascinating range of historical conflicts that Jews have dealt with internally. It provides an understanding of how the Jewish people and faith developed, and of what the major religious differences are among Jewish movements today.

About The Way Into … Timeline Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Ancient Jews, Homeland, and Exiles Memories Out of Biblical Texts The Early Jews: Hill Country Tribes and Ancient Israelites Kings and Kingdoms Divided Jewish Nations Diaspora Judaism, and a Chance to Return Characteristics of Early Jewishness Democratization and a Tradition of Sacred Interpretation Jewish Encounters with Western Cultures Hellenizers, Hasmoneans, and Jewish Pietists Pharisees and Sadduccees The Essenes Rabbinic Judaism and the Written "Oral" Law Magic, Messianism, and Early Christians Mirror, Mirror: Early Jewishness and Later Jews 2. The Wandering Jews Peoplehood and Jewish Culture in the Diaspora The Jewish Calendar and Life Cycle Jewish Integration on the Iberian Peninsula Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition Jewish Culture in Medieval Christian Europe The Jewish Experience in the Transition toward Modernity Sephardi Jews Strike Out for New Homes Trauma and Messianism in Polish Jewish Life Hasidic and Mitnagdic Jewish Rivalry 3. Emancipating into Modern Jewishness Piecemeal Emancipation and the "Brutal Bargain" Western Europe's Haskalah: Rationalism and the Jewish Enlightenment The Reformer's Challenge Traditionalists Who Synthesized—or Rejected—Modernity East European Haskalah: Secular Modern Movements and a Jewish Enlightenment Zionism and the "New Jew" Exodus to America—Another Kind of Zion 4. Reforming American Judaism A Large Movement with a Wide Tent Custom-Making American “Classic” Reform Judaism East European Jews—and Influence—Enter American Reform The 1960s Bring New—and Old—Styles of Worship and Practice Contemporary Developments: Choosing Covenantal Judaism—or Not 5. Shades of American Orthodoxy Dressing to Accommodate—or Resist—American Culture Centrist Orthodoxy Modern Orthodoxy Ultra-Orthodoxy The Evolution of American Modern and Antimodern Orthodox Models Synthesizing America into Orthodox Lives Day Schools and the Text-Based Revolution Triumphalism—and Tension 6. Conservative Judaism at the Crossroads Conservative “Folk” and “Elites” American Conservative Judaisms Evolve A Conservative Jewish Empire at Midcentury Challenge and Change: Civil Rights Gender Egalitarianism and Conservative Judaism From Comfort to Discomfort in the Center Conservation or Transformation in the Twenty-First Century? 7. An American Kaleidoscope: Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Secular Forms of American Jewishness Reconstructing American Jewish Life Renewing Jewish Spirituality Secular and Cultural Jews Jewish Secular Socialism Secular Social Activism American Secular Jewishness 8. Jews by Choice Converts in the Jewish Community Three Types of Converts Historical Jewish Approaches to Conversion Contemporary Communal Conversations about Conversion Conversion and Jewish Identification Conclusion: Diversity and the Future of the Jewish Renaissance Social Networks and the Jewish Enterprise The Hyphenation of American-Jewish Values Creating Ethnic Capital Jewish Ethnic Capital and the Melting Pot Jewish Counterculturalism A Jewish Renaissance Learning from Each Other Notes Glossary Suggestions for Further Reading Index